Bethpage-Tribune_1970-04-30

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Island Trees Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees.- Plainedge — Seaford Old Bethpage
Vol. 4 No. 28
Thursday, April 30, 1970 • / . - 10c per copy
ON THE LINE: Plainedge School Board President
James Ackley and Supt. of Schools Dr. John Rinehardt
(1.) listen to comments at an April 23 meeting.
Photo Credit -Donald Coquelin
Plainedge Parents Hit
Some 150 Plainedge taxpayers
attended their district's first
budget hearing last Thursday
night, but bussin, not budgets,
was the main concern expressed.
The pre-budget hearing was
delayed two hours while the
Board considered arguments for,
and mainly against, bussing
approximately 75 kindergarten
children from Northedge to
Baldwin Drive school. Both
schools, are located in Plainedge.
After two hours, the Board ,
voted 4-2 to table a motion that
would have prevented bussing
this year from Northedge. Under
rules of procedure, the motion
MUST be taken up at the next »•
regular school board meeting.
Board president James Ackley
gave the parents a brief
background on the original
bussing decision. He noted that
there were two empty classrooms
in Baldwin Dr., while Northedge
lacked an art and music room for
grades 1-6. Therefore, the Board
had approved an administration
request to move Northedge
kindergarten children to the
empty Baldwin classes, and
converting the extra rooms in
Northedge into art and, music
classes.
The main parental objections
were the possibility of their
< children becoming sick at a
school earless mothers could not
reach; the alleged "secrecy" of
the Board's decision; the chance
of higher costs in equipment and
transportation; and the "risk"
that kindergarten bussing might
be a "precedent" for bussing of
other grades.
It was not made clear whether
the fear of bussire other grades
was that they be sent out of the
district or merely moved to a
centrally located school for
certain grades, but within the
district.
The Board agreed that children
might become sick without their
parents being close by, but
Ackley argued that the only
possible cost' Would be in ret
fitting the Baldwin Dr. rooms for
kindergarten pupils. He pointed
out that many busses are idle
during the day, and that the
district pays the same price
whether they are in use of not.
Ackley also maintained that no
secrecy had been involved. "It
just broke this week", he
declared, although the audience
reaction seemed one of disbelief.
School Supt. Dr. John
Rinehardt disputed the
"precedent" charge. He noted
that kindergarten children had
been bussed in large groups since
1962- in Plainedge. According to
Rinehardt, the district attempts
to get the best use out of its
classroom space, and this
sometimes requires moving
students from one school to
another. .
Rhinehardt explained that the
Board's policy was to transfer
only Kindergarten children, and
to keep grades 1-6 at' their
"neighborhood schools".
The debate on the motion,
sponsored by Dominic Gagliardo,
seemed to»hinge on a choice
between, evils. AH members
agreed that the kindergarten
children might suffer from the
. bussing. Opponents to the motion
felt, however, that depriving 500
children in Northedge the use of
an art and music room, out­weighed
the inconveniences to
the 75 kindergarten pupils.
Trustee Robert Macreth voiced
support for the motion on the
grands that the Board had
handled situation in an "inept"
manner. He argued that no great
harm would be done by recon­sidering
the motion, and he urged
a general review of the at­tendance
and transportation
systems.
Board members Hugh Burr,
Donald Kaiiter and Michael
Lanzarone declared against the
motion, citing the greatest good
(Continued on I'ttge 4)'
Proa ram
Debate still smolders over an
exchange program between
Wyandanch and Bethpage,, but
the possibility of such a project
seems dead, at least for this year.
That conclusion follows a
Board meeting Tuesday night.
Approximately 40 parents and 10
students attended.
Tuesday's session was in quiet
contrast to a meeting last month.
Then, some 60 taxpayers voiced
strong objection to a tentative
exchange program between,
Bethpage and Wyandanch, a
predominantly black school
district.
.The program would have in­volved
six students from each
district for a period of three days,
at no coal to Bethpage. Tran­sportation
was to be provided by
the High School's Human
Relations Club, which has an
unpaid moderator.
Students from Wyandanch
were to take art courses at
Bethpage. Their counterparts
were to study computer
programming at Wyandanch.
At the close of hist month's
meeting, the Board cancelled the
program. They stated at that
time that community misun­derstanding
had nullified any
benefit the program might have
had.
Asking,"where does the Board
stand?", Karen Culp, vice-president
of the Club, struck the
keynote for the rest of Tuesday's
discussion. Between Board
statements and audience
response, the answer, included
fears of community "schism",
admissions of poor com­munications,
and charges of
racism and bending to minority
pressure.
Arnold Keiler questioned the
Board's method of gauging
community opinions. He argued
that 60 people at a meeting do not
represent the entire community
Board members responded
that they had received numerous
phone calls, overwhelmingly
opposed to the project. When
Keiler mentioned that the same
people might be calling over and
over again, Board President
Joseph Dawson answered that he
knew most of those who called
him.
Trustee Lee Hilton added that
many Board members had 10 and
more years of experience, which
gave them a greater sensitivity
for perceiving community
feelings.
The Board's main point was
that community misun­derstanding
and suspicion had
negated the potential worth of the
program. They contended that
the "schism" that the project
might create would outweigh its
limited educational benefit.
According to Board member
Anthony LoFaso, the community
Boos, Kudos
did not believe that the Board
wished Only to establish a limited
program. They saw it as an
"insidious plot" on the Board's
part, an attempt to establish a
precedent for full-scale bussing
and integration between the two
districts, he said.
Keiler implied that aborting
the project had already created a
division in the community. ."It's a
question of degree", answered
LoFaso. The Board did not think
the issue was worth a community
split, he reported, declaring that
schism-creating issues in the past
months'had distracted the Board
from more crucial tasks, such as
the preparation of the budget.
Some speakers questioned the
Board's resistance to pressure.
'Any group of *fr people can l^asd.
this, Mrs. Kurz added that no
vote had been taken.
Barbara Keiler, a member of
the Club, disagreed that three
days of computer work were
"worthless." She also asserted
that the Board had not tried to
communicate the correct idea,
but had made a decision on the
basis " of "60 misinformed '
people."
Dawson and LoFaso repeated
that the Board's impression of a
community misunderstanding
was not limited to the meeting.
LoFaso agreed that the Board
had handled thui^ ppwfo. .bat
correct them.
"Communications on this issue
may be impossible", added
imMtommiimiit
overturn a program by yelling",
stated Mark Aronsen, sum­marizing
their feelings.
LoFaso denied this. He pointed
to previous cases' where the
Board has resisted community
pressure.
"You can't just, barge ahead
against rumor", declared Hilton.
He added that the Board cannot
act solely on principle but must
weigh the feelings of the com­munity
and the consequences for
the entire educational process.
LoFaso disputed the assertion
that opposition, had come from
"60 racists", as Keiler had
suggested. Later, Mrs. Evelyn
Rieger declared that people were
"distrustful" because they saw
"no educational value" to
studying computer programming
for three days.
Mrs. Phoebe Kurz, claiming to '
speak for a majority of "class
mothers" (a group that assists
teachers), of which she is
chariman, said they approved the
Board's decision. When some
women in the audience disputed
This brought a response later
from another student in the
audience. Claiming that "a vast
number of students" would be
disappdinted by the Board's
refusal to reconsider the
program, he warned that "many
students will plan further ac­tion."
Trustee Hugh Coyle im­mediately
asked Dawson to cut
off discussion. "This is
pressure", explained Coyle, who
likened the student's remarks to
a threat at last month's meeting
to "bring down a thousand
people" if the Board did not veto
the exchange program.
The Human Relations Club
gave no official statement to the
Board. According to Miss Culp, -
they will wait at least until after a
private meeting Tuesday evening
with the Board.
Dawson reported that the
meeting was called a the Club's
request to discuss the Board's
reasons for ending the program-
However, the project itself is
dead for this year, he noted.
SPOTLIGHT: Anthony LoFaso seems all alone as he
gets ready to answer a question at Tuesday's Bethpage
Board Meeting. Photo Credit - Donald Coquelin