For David Fowler, the time he has served as a trustee on the Floral Park and Sewanhaka Central High School boards has been well spent.
“It can be very time consuming. But you can have an impact on what’s happening,” Fowler said. “It’s a difficult time but an exciting time to be involved in education.”
Fowler, who was elected president of the Sewanhaka school board last month, has served for 16 years on the Floral Park board – nine of those as president. And for the past five years, he has also served on the Sewanhaka Central High School board.
All of which, he said, prepares him well to take the reins at Sewanhaka as the district grapples with the state-mandated tax cap, new common core academic standards and a proposed $78.18 million bond issue to repair and upgrade the central high school district’s five buildings.
“They’re here to stay. And what we have to do is make it work,” Fowler said of the tax cap and the new common core academic standards.
Fowler, a Floral Park resident who is a principal in the Carle Place law firm of McCabe, Collins, McGeough & Fowler, said as board president he is committed to having the district make the repairs and upgrades recommended for the central high school district by Hauppauge-based Wiedersum Associates Architects, the firm commissioned to evaluate the district’s facilities.
“We have buildings that are aging. With the Sewanhaka district, we’ve always tried to do things within the capital budget,” Fowler said. “To maintain the integrity of the buildings, we need to pass a bond issue to make these facilities the sort of buildings our students deserve.”
As a member of the Floral Park school board, he said his priority is to enlarge the Floral Park Memorial High School auditorium. He said concerts there have been presented in two parts because of space limitations in the auditorium.
But he also recognizes the needs at other district high schools, such as the track at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, which is unable to be used for competitions with other schools.
Fowler, 57, said he considered becoming a teacher when he was younger but instead following a career in law.
After earning a bachelors degree in political science at St. John’s University, he earned a degree at St. John’s Law School. He then worked in lower Manhattan for Newman Schlau in negligence defense and subsequently joined McCabe & Cozzens doing the same kind of legal work.
“That was a lifestyle change,” he said of working on Long Island.
A Floral Park resident since 1984, he eventually became a partner in the law firm and became a principal there in 1998.
He and his wife, Margaret, raised four children and both became active in the John Lewis Child School PTA in Floral Park. Fowler joined a decision-making committee involved in day-to-day school operations there.
Fowler said he was also a member of the Floral Park Little League board of directors and coached baseball, soccer, softball and basketball when his children, now adults, were younger.
He was asked to run for the school board and said he felt ready to step up.
“I really felt I could have an impact on education and make a difference,” Fowler said.
And after discussing a possible transition with longtime Sewanhaka board President Jean Fichtl over the past few years, he said they mutually agreed on him taking the top spot on the board.
“I think she’s done an excellent job in making sure that everyone’s voice is heard,” Fowler said.
It’s an example he said he hopes to emulate during his term in office.
“He’s dedicated. He’s committed,” said Joan Romagnoli, a fellow trustee on the Sewanhaka school board.
