Alyson Fischer wants the Lawrence High School student-athletes to know that she cares. She wants it understood that as the Cardinals athletic director, they will be her priority.
“If I don’t know my athletes,” Fischer said, “and if I don’t know what kind of family they are coming from or what they want to do or where they want to go to school, than I’m not doing my job.”
That job becomes official on Jan. 1, when the current LHS assistant principal takes over for Ken Mason after spending the last several months with him learning the ropes, working with budgets and attending league meetings.
“She asked me a lot of questions, she got to know the scheduling through the arbiter with all the officials so she’s not walking into all that uninformed,” Mason said. “She’s been great. She knows most of the coaches and supervisors.”
And that is one of the most important details of the AD job—dealing with people. Fischer, who will also serve as the middle school’s AD, must handle athletes, parents, coaches, band directors, teachers, officials, other athletic directors and unruly spectators, just to name a few recurring characters.
The good news is, she has the background for it.
Fischer was an athlete, playing field hockey and softball at Cinnaminson High School.
She has been an organizer, having served as president while playing with the club field hockey program at The College of New Jersey.
She has taught on the field and in the classroom, as Fischer was a math teacher and technology instructor at Jackson Memorial High School while also serving as the head field hockey coach and assistant softball coach. She’s not just slanted toward girls’ sports, as her husband, John Yaros, is a track and wrestling coach at Hillsborough High School.
“Being a head coach is harder than being an assistant principal,” Fischer said. “You have a rulebook as an assistant principal, you have policies that you can follow. But as a coach, nothing is black and white. Playing time isn’t black and white. There are a lot of gray areas.”
She dealt with hostile crowds while serving as site supervisor at Jackson. In that position, she essentially ran the athletic events, overseeing officials and crowd control. She also understands athletics go beyond just the on-field competition, recalling her time serving as Jackson’s student council advisor, where she orchestrated the pep rallies, homecoming festivities and Spirit Week.
She has an administrative background, as Fischer came to LHS two years ago as a vice principal. In that role, she basically laid the groundwork for becoming an AD. She already has a relationship with the school’s athletes, which is something she said Mason had, too.
“So I’m in a unique position,” she said. “I have a head start on that.”
Her situation is unique, too. Most educators use an AD position as a stepping stone to become a vice principal, but she has taken the opposite approach.
Fischer’s desire to work at Lawrence came after she and her husband purchased a home in the township three years ago; it was the halfway point between their jobs in Hillsborough and Jackson.
“When the assistant principal’s job came up, I thought it was a great opportunity,” she said. “If the AD job had opened I would have applied. As an assistant principal I absolutely loved my job. I’m glad I did it, but I really do miss my athletics. I miss being on the field and that culture.”
Fischer will still have some input as far as education goes. She is also the K-12 supervisor for health and physical education.
“That gives me a chance to supervise and give some instruction, too,” she noted.
Fischer inherits an athletic program that is outstanding in some sports and struggles mightily in others. After having some time to survey the situation from within the school, she has a pretty good idea of what needs to be done: recruitment. And Lawrence, she said, has a massive pool to pick from.
“That’s something I really want to work at in the next few years,” she said. “We have a lot of athletes here that are stuck in one sport or don’t come out for athletics at all. They just haven’t been part of that culture before. Nothing can change overnight but I definitely want to get more kids involved. When you do that, the program will grow. Athletes aren’t a problem with our program. It’s participation.”
Part of her game plan includes reaching out to families to explain what the athletic programs have to offer and having her coaches work with their players year-round.
“A lot of it is me just making sure that students are aware of what’s going on,” Fischer said. “It’s about communication. We need to advertise big events, big games. We have to make sure people know when the physicals are. I want to have a better communication with the local recreation programs. You want to start it younger, and get to those programs, so when the players arrive at the middle school and high school they already have the skills.”
And while wins and losses are nice, and packed gyms and bleachers make for a lot of fun, Fischer has one goal beyond all the rest.
“I’d say the main job is to make sure you’re building character amongst your student athletes,” she said. “You need to make sure the coaches are making sure the students know why they’re playing the sports they are. So the main role is to make sure everyone knows the purpose of sports and build their character.”
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