1976-05-20

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A Prize Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920 15Q
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VOL. 57 NO. 27 Second Class Postage Paid
in Farminisdalr, N. Y. 11735 Thursday, May 20, 1976 Copyright 1976 by
bland— Wide Publications, In< price 15^ - $ 5 per year
Hardscrahble Fair Saturday
FullDayOfFun
Set For Farmingdale
•
•
FORMER FIRE CHIEF Joseph Schweitzer was honored by the village trustees Monday night for his
" exemplary service" to the Farmingdale Fire Department. Presenting the proclamation to Chief Sch­weitzer
and his wife, Rose Mary, are Rocco Posillico, chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners,
and Mayor John T. Hallahan. [ Post photo by Bob Starrett]
The 1976 Bicentennial edition of the Farmingdale
Hardscrahble Fair will be held this Saturday, May 22,
on Main Street in the village. The fair will open at 10
a. m. and close promptly at 9 p. m. with the street closed
to vehicle traffic from Richard to Front Streets.
Over 100 booths of various
types will occupy the Village.
Green and one isle of the ad­jacent
parking lot # 4, along with
rides for" the Children. Two huge
balloons will fly over the fair
area to mark the spot.
Along Main Street the various
stores of the merchants of.
Farmingdale will conduct a huge
sidewalk sale and offer many
inside- the- store special bargains
for shoppers. Local artists will
also be displaying their talent at
assigned locations along Main
Street.
A full day's schedule of en­tertainment
will also be provided
at two stage locations; at the
[ Continued on page 24]
Plans Suit
For Damages
A Levittown woman told the
Post that she plans to take legal
action against the Farmingdale
Federation of Teachers for
damage to her son's car during
last week's teacher strike.
Mrs. Audrey Cummings said
her son, Steven, drove two other
substitute teachers to Parkway
Oaks School in his car. After
leaving the school, she said, her
son dropped off his two com-
[ Continued on page 24]
Strike Settlement Good For Taxpayers Too
With the seven school day
strike of the Farmingdale
Federation of Teachers coming
to an end officially Monday
morning with the union mem­bership
voting to accept the
negotiated contract, ap­prehensive
taxpayers can relax.
The setUement achieved between
the Board of Education and the
Teachers can still produce a zero s
tax rate increase this year and
perhaps next.
The $ 500,000 is additional
money initially offered to the
union before the strike was
covered in the proposed budget
through cuts made by the board,
including the two year phase- out
of Parkway Oaks School,
elimination of the job security
clause and fourth and fifth grade
foreign languages, among others.
The additional $ 250,000 to make
up the total $ 750,000 money
package negotiated with the
union will more that be covered
by the Taylor Law penalties
assessed against the teachers
and their union for the strike
action.
The striking teachers have
already been " docked" $ 455,000
from their pay checks as of last
Friday's payday. Taylor Law
fines for the strike will probably
not be collected until after the
close of the fiscal year and will
. thus appear in next year's budget
as surplus funds.
The $ 750,000 package the union
will receive in the settlement will
also include allocation for in­crement
raises, benefit funds,
life insurance increases and 20
union days. This breaks down to a
1.90 percent for increments and
4.19 percent salary increase for a
6.09 percent total salary package
increase.
During the second year of the
contract, which will run until
June 30 instead of March 31,
teachers will receive a 6 percent
salary increase, plus or minus
the cost of living increase as of
March 31, 1977.
The job security clause was
entirely deleted from the con­tract.
The board and union
mutually agreed upon an early
retirement incentive program,
which could save some jobs for
younger teachers. Senior
teachers who agree to take early
retirement will receive a $ 10,000
bonus to retire. This will not,
however, cost the taxpayers
money. In the long run it will save
money as well as jobs.
Top step teachers in Far­mingdale
earn $ 25,000 per year. If
a teacher near retirement ear­ning
$ 22,000 elects to retire before
Oct. 1, he/ she would receive the
bonus. The younger teacher hired
to take the position might earn
$ 12,000, which would equal the
total salary of the retired teacher
in the first year figuring in the
bonus paid. But, the second year
the new teacher would be on a
lower step and savings would be
realized. In the nine or ten years
that it would take the new teacher
to reach the old teacher's salary
scale, the board would save a
total of about $ 45,000. If all
retiring/ new teacher com­binations
work out according to
the theory, the savings could be a
considerable amount over the
long term.
In addition to the previously
mentioned items, the board and
union agreed that nurse- teachers
be replaced by attrition rather
than eliminated; kealth In­surance
increases will be paid
75/ 25 by the district the first year
and paid fully by teachers the
second year ( a saving to tax­payers),
extended sick leave
provisions to begin only after two
years service to district rather
than from first day of em­ployment,
Group insurance
coverage increased from $ 5,000 to
$ 6,500 ( cost from total money
package); Federation members
may take leave without pay for
federation business; Federation
may take grievance action rather
than individuals; transfer and
reassignment policy ( voluntary
and involuntary will be places in
contract; Unused money out of
settlement not negotiated
within 30 days will be subject to
binding arbitration; unused sick
time part payment will be paid to
retirees and excessed teachers
but not to terminated teachers.
Federation business days in­creased
from 9 to 20 days, but
union pays for " substitute
teachers and payment for ad­dition
study set at a minimum of
[ Continued on page 24]
MTA Land Lease Eyed
The Lambert land parcel at
Republic Airport in Farmingdale
could be leased for commercial
and industrial development
under an agreement reached
between Assemblyman Philip B.
Healey ( Massapequa), Senator
Owen H. Johnson ( Babylon),
Assemblyman Lewis Yevoii
( Bethpage) and William Allison,
head of aviation facilities for
MTA.
Assemblyman Healey said that
about 70 acres of the parcel is not
required for air safety. " As a
result, we have urged MTA to
lease this property so that
commercial and industrial
development can be encouraged.
This leasing could bring in
( Continued on page 24]