Bethpage-Tribune_1972-03-30

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Island Trees Serving Bethpage - Plain view — Island Trees — Plainedge — Seaford
Vol. 6 No. 21
Old Bethpage
Thursday, March 30, 1972 10c per copy
HAPPY "PANIC"; Directed and guided by teacher,
Robert Meserve, a sixth grade class from Charles
cainpwgmrisrtfw^ in a play, "Panic in the
Palace" for Bethpage Public Library Story Hour,
Saturday March 18. Local children and families 'of
members of the cast filled the auditorium to "standing
room only". Background decorations and costumes
were made by the students themselves. The sixth
grade actors and a c t r e s s e s gave up their Saturday
morning free-time so that other community children
could enjoy the play.
Oil Tank Hearing Set For April 11
Town Clerk Isabel R.
Dodd has announced that
the Town Board has
scheduled day and night
public hearings on an
application by Northville
Industries Corp.
Mrs. Dodd said that the
hearings will be held at
10:00 A.M. and again at
8:00 P.M. in the public
hearing room at Town
Hall. The hearing date was
previously changed from
April 4 to April 11 at the
request of civic leaders in
the Plainview area who
felt the original date
conflicted with holiday and
vacation commitments
made by many residents of
the area.
Northville Industries
seeks special permission
to receive, store and
transship petroleum
products on a 6.5 acre
parcel of land presently
zoned Industrial H District
on the northerly side of
F a i r c h i l d Avenue,
Plainview.
Island Trees Delays
Personnel Change
Some 400 people filled the
general purpose room of the M.F.
Stokes school Tuesday night,
March 28, but the Island Trees
School Board meeting they came
to attend was called off.
Delayed for two hours while
trustees met in executive session,
the meeting was cancelled at 10
p.m. by Board President Anthony
Lancellotti. Board member
Robert Evans spoke with the
crowd after Lancellotti returned
for the private, executive session,
and many people remained after
Evans told them he would try to
get the Board to begin the public
meeting. But the meeting stayed
called off.
What drew out the crowd was
the unofficial news that the job of
assistant superintendent would
be abolished. The Board
acknowledged that it was
discussing a personnel change,
but did not say whether the post
was that of Eugene Reilley, who
has held the $26,500 assistant's
position for six of his 15 years in
the district.
But James Olsen, Reilley's
attorney, seemed convinced this
was the Board's attempt. He
(C.outinm'd on fVjffii' &)
Plainedge Board Votes
To Close Baldwin School By Richard Wood
The Plainedge School Board
decided March 23 to close the
Baldwin Drive School. The direct
t result of School Superintendent
Dr. John Reinhart's "Feasibility
Study for the Elimination of
School Facilities in Plainedge,"
which was initially undertaken at
the board's request, the vote was
6 to 1 to close the facility for the
1972-4973 school year.
The decision same as no sur­prise
to the 350 persons who at­tended
the March 23 meeting. At
a public meeting held last
February 24th, School Board
President' Terri Bahnken
revealed that the board, in
executive session, had already
decided to close the elementary
school.
'The lone dissenter Was School
Board Vice-President Don
Kanter. Although Kanter agreed
with his fellow board members
that the school should be closed,
he said he couldn't vote in favor
of the ruling without the ad- '
ditional stipulation that the
facility be leased. "I can't see
this 5 million dollar building just
going to waste," said Kanter.
Despite Ranter's objection, it
appears that the Baldwin Drive
School will be rented, rather than
leased. In fact in an 8-page
resume of Reinhart's study, of
which 250 copies were distributed
at the meeting, a financial entry
is included for potential rental
fees from the Nassau County
Board of Cooperative
Educational Services (BOCES).
Providing a "new financial
sheet," revised figures, and what
Dr. Reinhart called "a refined
outlook considering the new
possibilities" (an apparent
reference to BOCES), the total
savings to be realized from the
closing is expected. to reach
$203,000 the first year and
$247,000 for the next.
According to trustee Henry
Cardella, the closing would mean
a reduction for taxpayers of 28
cents for each $100 of assessed
valuation, a figure that could
escalate to 51 cents per$100 if the
building is rented or leased.
Responding to questions from
the audience, Dr. Reinhart tried
to reassure the parents and
taxpayers that there would be
"no changes in curriculum"
resulting from the closing, "only
changes in housing." He further'
emphasized that the board and
administration "had to work
within the framework of current
financial support." fie reiterated
the fact that the increased class
sizes in the district's five
remaining elementary schools
would not be "excessive
enrollments for those facilities."
In response to comments by
Shiela Goldberg, a district
teacher, Dr. Reinhart said the
classroom size was not too high
compared to neighboring
districts. "I know the cost in­volved
in running an educational
system," said Reinhart, "and if
these classroom sizes caused me
any deep concern I'd be the first
to say."
In the most dramatic moment
of the early part of the evening, in
terms of collective community
support, Mrs. Anna Schiliro
presented the board v^jth an open
letter signed by 737 taxpayers
expressing general disagreement
with the closing and emphasizing
their concept of quality versus
economy education.
Harry Freeze, a resident,
suggested that the closing be put
up as a public referendum. But
the School Board attorney ex­plained
that under current state
law "it is the board of education's
decision to make, not the public's
despite their great concern...The
result of any such referendum not
being legally binding, the board-would
still have to vote on the
closing.
Larry Small, another resident,
proclaimed "I feel like Romney
when he came back from Viet­nam...
We voted for new
buildings, additions, and new
administration buildings and now
we're cutting back. How far in
advance are you planning?"
Dr. Reinhart replied that the
study w a s <& five-year projection
that enrollments were .%•• ..~t.^»
at a rate of 200 elementary pupils
per year and that "finance" was
the sole determinant of the
closing.
After a number of residents
expressed their disagreement
over* the possibility of leasing the
Baldwin Drive School to BOCES,
trustee Frank McGrath stated
that a "public referendum would
be necessary to rent the facility
to BOCES or any other interested
agency."
Despite everything, the
audience still remained generally
unconvinced. Although a few
supported the board's decision,
most probably believed in Gloria
Rosenthal's words:
"Considering the society we
live in today...we need more
enrichment in our educational
processes, more individual at­tention,
more of the things a child
needs to grow... I beg you to think
(Continued on Page 8)
Planners Explain Befhpage Bind
Before its regular meeting
Tuesday night, March 28, -the
.Bethpage School Board learned
from town officials just how hard
it is to plan for the future of this
community.
Members and advisers to the
Town of Oyster Bay Advisory
Planning Board explained that no
plan-not even a preliminary one-had
been made for Bethpage,
since the Board has been con­centrating
on plans for
Hicksville, Jericho and Syosset-
Woodbury, considered the chief
growth areas among the unin­corporated
parts of Oyster Bay
township.
When a Bethpage plan is finally
put forth, the officials pointed to
several problems:
(1) The deteriorating condition
of the Bethpage business district,
namely Broadway and Stewart
Ave.
(2) A shortage of commuter
and customer parking facilities.
(3) Traffic from the Powell
Ave. exit of the Seaford-Oyster
Bay Expressway.
(4) The elimination of railroad
grade crossings on Broadway
and Stewart Avenues.
The last two problems
illustrate the bind Bethpage is in.
As the planning board's
representative admitted, the
Powell Avenue exit was buijt
because it was "easier" for the
State Transportation Depart­ment
to put it there, rather than
on Central Avenue. Another state
agency -the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority-will
have the final say on how to end
the grade crossings.
The MTA is reportedly
reluctant to depress tracks on
Long Island, so the only alter­natives
are to elevate the tracks,
or to build the roads a minimum
of 16 feet over tracks. The first of
these choices has been opposed
by Beth pagers before, and the
planners argued that it would
affect downtown Bethpage badly
by dividing it in half, as in
Hicksville. Since Bethpage's
business district is much smaller
than Hicksville, the con­sequences
are presumed more
serious.
Raising the road, on the other
hand, may cut off access to
certain commuter parking near
the station, and would "leave the
Fire Department in a hole" (as
one School Board member put it),
forcing trucks from the Broad­way
Fire House to labor uphill.
The planners suggested a
combination of road-raising and
track depression as the only
practical solution. Whether they
can convince the MTA of this, or
whether they can convince the
Town Board and the local public
to make the changes needed to
solve the other problems,
remains to be seen.