Bethpage-Tribune_1974-02-07

              BETHP/iGE mi^ ? * » ? • * , .
OLDBETHRKE
BtTHPAGt H'S
BETHPAGt NY 11114
also serving ISLAND TREES
PLAINVIEW PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
VOL. 8 NO. 12 Thursday, February 7,1974 10 cents per copy
Dear Reader
About two months ago
we presented in this
column an article entitled,
"Classrooms? or Clinics?"
in which we explored some
of the innovations now
going on in our public
schools in the name of
education. We relied
heavily on the NEA's own
statements about what
was really happening to
"I'm Not Afraid To Make Decisions"
our children. The expose
was very well-received by
parents all over Long
Island. Many civic groups
and some newspapers
have already reprinted the
article, with our per­mission.
The following is a
sequel to that article. I
have witnessed happening
in fact things which used to
exist only in theory.
Ann
Plainedge Greets New Superintendent
consider fins...
The Inmates Are Running The Asylum
*K
The articulate middle-aged
gentleman stood
an audience
a s e d of •/•-BfioiBurcl' of
Education members,
teachers, and ad­ministrators
from all over
Long Island. He informed
them of his new plan for
the busing of students:
instead of having the buses
go from home to school
then back home again, he
would like to see the buses
proceed in a rotary pattern
around the district from
school to school to school,
allowing the children to
get off at whatever school
they pleased! What if all
the children got off at one
school, and none got off at
another? His response:
"Well, then, I think they're
trying fcp tell us
something." Who was this
guy? some crackpot who'd
create an administrative
nightmare trying to keep
track of kids? some wild-eyed
hippie pushing the
"do your own thing" craze
to the limit? No. He was
none other than the
Superintendent of the Glen
Cove sch»ols> Mr. Robert
Finley, presumably a
respected member of his
chosen profession. Among
other things, Finley was
preaching more of the
gospel according to John
Dewey: every school
should be different, one
curriculum doesn't make
sense, schools should
accept children as they are
and change to meet their
needs, too much built-in
failure, etc., etc., ad
ann conroy
nauseum. What he was
offering is more of the
same bankrupt/philosophy
thathas crippled the entire
generation of young
Americans that it has
affected and infected.
The audience was then
treated to 'slides Of the
Gribbin school as seen
through the eyes of its
principal, Mary Kellar.
Now Mary was admittedly
a little biased about the
school she runs. But, she
did have a few
enlightening things to say
... if you know how to.read
between the lines. She
showed slides of the open
space (read: open class or
individualized instruction)
classes with the
technological laboratories
for reading and math, the
tape recorders and
casettes, the interest
centers, earphones, and
projectors. She admitted
that the program was
modeled after the British
primary school, where
there was no discipline at
all. There was a snack bar
outside the classroom
where kids could go
whenever they wanted,
and lots of animals for the
children to play with and
carry around. Even the
corridors of the school
were utilized, except when
the fire marshalls showed
up. At one point Mary said,
as if remembering that
this was supposed to be a
school, "We do teach them
to read and write even
though it's open space."
(Continued on Page 5)
Richard Wood
Reiterating the fact that the
Plainedge School District is,
indeed, "a very fine school
district," Dr. Raymond Blank
addressed an audience of nearly
200 persons while formally ac­cepting
the position of
Superintendent of Schools for the
Plainedge School District last
January 24th.
The reception for the new
Superintendent, co-sponsored by
the Plainedge Board of
Education and the Plainedge
P.T.A. Council, was held in
Plainedege's spacious high
school auditorium.
Plainedge School Board
President Franklin J. McGrath in
introducing Dr. Blank to the
P l a i n e d g e community,
graciously allowed Dr. Blank the
.spotlight, of the,,evening hy
making a brief but apropos in­troduction.
"It gives me great pleasure,"
said McGrath, "to introduce that
really outstanding educator that
took us a long time to find."
"I'm very pleased to join the
Plainedge School District," said
Blank, and I say that sin­cerely."
With reference to Newsday and
its continual references to the
Plainedge District as a "con­troversial"
district, Dr. Blank
said, "Let me say this, ladies and
gentlemen, problems are nothing
more than to be solved."
Dr. Blank, who recently served
as Superintendent of Schools in
Cinnaminson, New Jersey, will be
the Plainedge Superintendent in
early March, 1974.
Dr. Blank, who has functioned
for five school districts in three
states in positions of teacher,
principal, assistant and associate
superintendent of schools, and
superintendent of schools, earned
his PH.D. in Education from New
York University. His doctoral
dissertation highlighted the
leadership functions of principals
in instructional programs.
School Board President
McGrath thanked the ad­ministration
for doing a fine job
. during the six-month interim
period, during which the chief
position was held down by Gerald
Bretton, Assistant Superin­tendent
of Schools.
Commenting on the selection of
Dr. Blank, • Stto&ti Board Vice-
President Don Kanter stated that
the board's choice had been
"unanimous."
"Dr. Blank was by no means a
compromise candidate on which
the board had to settle because of
a deadlock in choices," said
Kanter. "We were beginning to
get a bit disappointed after in­terviewing
the first selection of
the N.Y.U. screening committee.
Only after the second group of
candidates come in for in­terviews,
among them Dr. Blank,
could we finally find the right
man."
Dr. Raymond Blank, "new Plainedge Superintendent of Schools.
Recently Superintendent of Schools in Cinnaminson, New Jersey, Dr.
Blank will succed Dr. John S. Rinehart, who was dismissed last year
by the Plainedge Board amidst cries of protest and outrage from
residents and teachers.
"My feelings are very
positive," said Blank to the 200 in
attendance, "and (your) children
are (my) main focus."
Expressing the fact that he
plans to utilize "a team ap­proach"
in Plainedge, the new
superintendent said his principal
function would be "to provide
leadership."
"I want to meet the parents and
students and get to know them
closely," said Blank, ...to be a
part of (the school district) and
not (exist) in isolation."
"I will listen very carefully to
what people have to say," said
Dr. Blank, "but one thing must be
. made clear - although we bring a
lot of people into the process, the
decision making process is at the
superintendent's office...I'm not
afraid to make decisions."
"I feel the board of education is
one of the most sincere and
knowledgeable boards I have
come across. We're in accord, in
concert with each other."
"I'm not happy about leaving
(Cinnamison Township, New
Jersey)," said Dr. Blank in an
earlier interview with Plaintalk,
.the Plainedge School District
Newsletter, "because Cin­naminson
has a fine school
system and it certainly would be
a place where I could spend the
rest of my life."
"I am a New Yorker by
choice," continued Blank, (and)
I am very happy that this op­portunity
arose when it did. I am
very pleased to join the
Plainedge School District* I have
lived in New York most of my
life. I know the problems
everyone is concerned about."
Volunteering his educational
philosophy, Dr. Blank said at the
January 24th reception, "(my
educational philosophy) is totally
childoriented... Children have a
great many similarities and a
great many differences and its
the differences that count.
Students are human beings and
not inanimate objects coming off:
an assembly line."
With respect to teachers:
"Teachers have got to teach with *
their foot in tomorrow," said Dr.
Blank. "The schools of yesterday
aren't the schools of today, and
the schools of today won't be the
schools, of tomorrow."
Prior to Dr. Blank's January
24th public reception he issued
the following statement con­cerning
his educational
philosophy:
"I am a strong proponent of
individualized or personalized'
instruction and the concept of
continuous progress. I believe
that if, as we know, all children
are different, that they learn at
different rates and in different
ways and have different styles of
learning, and that children are
not carbon copies of each other •
or interchangable parts, then we
must take into consider* tk,v?
these facts of individual dif­ferences
in planning for their
education.
"Finally, in this too short
statement, I want to express the
deep commitment I have that
education must be a continuing
process from birth through
death, whether formal or in­formal,
and with the accent not
only on learning but on learning
how to learn. In the final
analysis, the way children feel
about themselves and learning is
(Continued on Page 81