The top reported proficiency rate is 76% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Westmoreland Elementary School
Westmoreland Elementary School serves children from pre‑kindergarten through fourth grade in Fair Lawn, a residential Bergen County borough about a dozen miles northwest of New York City. The school is part of the Fair Lawn Public School District, and its grade span means it feeds into upper elementary and then middle and high school elsewhere in the district. For families weighing this school, the picture is one of solid academic performance in a well‑established suburban setting where housing costs are high and the local economy recently lost its longtime largest employer.
Academically, Westmoreland’s state test results are a clear strength across the grades it serves. In both third and fourth grade, a strong majority of students met or exceeded the state’s proficiency bar in English language arts, with particularly high performance in fourth grade. Math results were similarly strong at both tested grade levels, with roughly three‑quarters of students performing at or above the state standard. The school’s overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint when compared with other districts in Bergen County. Science results were available only from an earlier testing year that used different assessment and proficiency criteria, which limits what can be said about current science performance. Because the school serves only through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate, and state testing for science is administered in fifth grade, so that gap is simply a function of the grade band.
The school’s enrollment is moderate for an elementary school. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, with the largest group being white students, followed by a substantial share of Hispanic students and a meaningful proportion of Asian students. Black students and students of two or more races make up smaller shares of the population. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced‑price lunch is modest, which aligns with the community’s overall economic profile. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners were not reported in the available records, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about special education and language support programs.
Westmoreland is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it does not appear to receive Title I funding. No information was available on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course access, which leaves gaps in understanding the day‑to‑day learning environment and support structures. A family considering the school would need to seek those details from the district or through school visits.
Fair Lawn itself is a primarily residential community that grew steadily through the late twentieth and early twenty‑first centuries, with most of its housing stock being single‑family homes. The borough has a high commuter population, served by two NJ Transit rail stations that connect to New York City. Its built environment is typical of a close‑in New Jersey suburb: commercial strips along major roads, walkable pockets around the train stations and a few commercial nodes, and otherwise car‑dependent residential neighborhoods. One distinctive feature is the Radburn section, an early planned community with separated pedestrian and vehicle pathways. Homes in the area carry a high price tag relative to national benchmarks, and the housing market has been active with a mix of listings and pending sales, reflecting strong demand and an owner‑occupied character.
The most significant local economic story is the closure of the Nabisco/Mondelēz bakery plant, which had been the borough’s largest employer and taxpayer for decades. Demolition began in 2023, leaving a large redevelopment site along a major route. No replacement employer of comparable size has yet emerged, and this shift may have implications for the district’s tax base over time. The district itself did not have any major recent changes publicly reported in the available research, so there is no indication of recent program overhauls, boundary adjustments, or leadership turnover that would alter the school’s current trajectory.
For a family, Westmoreland offers a strong academic foundation at the early elementary level in a community that is well‑established, convenient to New York City, and expensive to buy into. The school’s diversity is a plain feature of its student body rather than something unusual for the area. Parents whose children will eventually need services for special education or English learning should confirm directly what is available, since that information was not in the record. The lack of secondary grades at this school is a given of the grade configuration; families should expect to transition to other district schools after fourth grade. The broader community context of a large corporate site awaiting redevelopment is something to watch, but it has not yet produced visible changes in the district’s offerings or finances.
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