Bethpage-Tribune_1971-05-06

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Island Trees
VOL 5 No. 26
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Regan, Gorman and Slavin
Announce Candidacies For
Bethpage School Board
BETHPAGE PROJECT: Towirofficials participate
in the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Town of
Oyster Bay senior citizens housing project on Burkhart
Avenue, Bethpage. Town Councilman Sal Mosca and
Town Supervisor John W. Burke (far right) handle the
heavy chores while Mrs. Ruth Linder, president of the
Bethpage Senior Citizens Club, Town Housing
Authority Chairman Jesse Harmon and Joseph S.
Corsentino, developer of the project, look on. The
Department of Housing and Urban Development is
funding the project.
Call For Tax Cut At
Harwood Albany Hearing
More than a score of- school
district superintendents from
across the State testified last wek
at an Albany hearing called by
Assemblyman Stanley Harwood
(D. Levittown). .
Hie superintendents, including
Martin Walsh of East Meadow,
Robert Neidich of Levittown and
Leo Miller of Island Trees ex­pressed
concern over reports that
high tax aid may be deleted or
reduced by the State.
In the past several years the
Legislature has approved
changes in the basic aid formula
which give special financial
consideration tocertain qualifying
districts. They are primarily
residential -communities such as
Levittown, East Meadow and
Island Trees, with large school
populations and little local in­dustry
to provide revenues. To
qualify, a district must also in­dicate
an extraordinary local
effort to support its schools.,.
Several of the superintendents
spoke of reports of recom­mendations
from the Governor's
office or from legislative com­mittees
eliminating the special
aid.
Several of the superintendents
spoke of reports of recom­mendations
from the Governor's
office or from legislative com­mittees
eliminating the special
aid.
Harwood and his colleagues,
Assemblywoman Mary Anne
Krupsak (D. Albany) and
Assemblyman Daniel Haley (D.
St.Lawrence), assured the
superintendents of their active
support. Harwood, who is
ranking minority member of the
Assembly Education Committee,
said his own district was a classic
example. Levittown received
almost a million dollars last year,
Island Trees, $375,000 and East
Meadow, $538,000 under high tax
aid.
Harwood pointed out that the
Democrats were the minority in
both houses, but assured the
superintendents they would
battle "the leadership, the
Governor's office or any other
source" that proposes to
eliminate or reduce the high tax
aid for such distressed districts.
After the hearing was con­cluded,
the three local
superintendents visited the of­fices
of Senator Anderson,
Chairman Of the Senate Finance
Committee, Assemblyman
Stephens, Chairman of the
Assembly Ways and Means
Committee and other
legislative leaders, and were
assured that efforts would be
made to continue assistance to
hard-pressed school districts.
According to Harwood, "Much
credit goes to the people of the
11th Assembly District who have
supported me in the fight for
state ajd to education, and have
helped me tell their story to the
majority leaders of the
legislature."
BETHPAGE SCHOOL BOARD
CANDIDATES UNITED: Betty
Regan, Richard Gorman, and
Herman Slavin, have united
to form a slate in campaigning
for election to the Bethpage
School Board, District 21. The
election will be held on June 9,
1971. .
Betty Regan, the busy mother
of seven, has cared enough about
the Bethpage educational system
to attend School Board meetings
conscientiously almost every
month for the last two years, and
with another Bethpage resident,
has run a regular column on
school matters in the Bethpage
Tribune.
Gorman, who is with L.I.
Lighting Co., and Slavin, who
manages an office /or the N.Y.
State Employment Service, are
both members of the United
Nassau-Suffolk Educational
Council. Along with several other
members of the Council, they met
with Nassau and Suffolk
legislators in Albany recently to
make clear community support
for legislation which increases
local control of educational
matters and offers some hope of
stemming the tide of rising costs.
A spokesman said, "The
canH: 'ites plan to emphasize,
.ually, inadequate educational
achievements, questionable
business practices, and rising
costs. The School Board recently
approved a "New Science
Program" without giving parents
or students a chance to voice%
their objections to its academic*
shortcomings and over the
vigorous opposition of the
Citizens' Budget Committee.
Last year, the School Board tore,
up the Superintendent's contract
and replaced it with a new one
which makes him one of the
highest paid administrators in
Nassau County.
Also last year, after two budget
defeats, the Board hired a Public
Relations Man at $16,000. When a
parent telephoned, recently, to
the Superintendent's office to
learn more about a reported
transfer of children from one
school to another, she was
shuttled from one individual to
another, finally reaching the
Public Relations Man. When she
asked him whether he knew
anything about such a plan, he
said, "Yes, but it's a secret." "A
secret, why?" "Because if we
told you about it, the community
would become hysterical." For
this, the School Administration
needs a "public relations man?"
The School Board has
repeatedly reported that the
cafeteria is in the black, yet it has
put $30,000 in its new budget for
(he operation of the cafeteria for
1971-72.
In meetings with community
groups and in letters to residents,
the candidates plan to elaborate
on these and other points. They
are united on one basic principle:
the best school system possible,
at a price the community is
willing to pay. They plan to at­tract
new residents to Bethpage,
rather than drive out the present
ones.
NEW COUNCILMAN: Salvatore R. Mosca (1.) is
sworn in as an Oyster Bay Town Councilman by New
York State Supreme Court Justice Howard T. Hogan,
as Mrs. Mosca and the Mosca children, Ralph, Joanne
and Robert show pride in their father's advancement
to the Town Council.