Bethpage-Tribune_1972-10-19

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island Trees Serving Bethpage Plainview.- Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
VOL. 6 NO. 49
Old Bethpage
Thursday, October 19, 1972 10c per copy
People Power Spurs
Bethpage Group
The call went out last
week for interested adults
and youths to attend a
meeting aimed at
renewing community
interest in improved
communications between
the adults and young
people of the area. Beth­page
met the test with
flying colors as nearly 60
persons met on October 12
at the Senior High School
to frame a new
organization which will
henceforth be known as
"PEOPLE."
Some former members
of Bethpage Against Drug
Abuse (B,AJ>.A.) were
joined by a host of other
civic and religious leaders
in an effort to give the
community some unified
effort involving the
everyday dilemmas faced
by both parent and child.
A number of teen-agers
attended the formation
meeting and it was at their
suggestion that the new
title of the organization
was adopted. Bethpage
Youth Organization
Unlimited (Y.O.U.) was
an early supporter of the
new effort, with both
current President Loretta
Butehorn and Advisor J.
Gordon Schaetzel in at­tendance.
They pledged
full cooperation with
PEOPLE.
Schaetzel and Tom
Morris were elected co-chairmen
of a sub­committee
to investigate
similar efforts in the
region to determine what
course will be best for the
new organization to take.
The next meeting of
PEOPLE, is scheduled for
Thursday night, October
26 at 8:30 at Bethpage
Senior High School with an
open invitation to anyone
living in Bethpage to at­tend.
The sub-Committee
on Adult-Youth com­munications
will meet
Tuesday, October 24.
Robert Parry, named to
chair the initial meeting of
"PEOPLE", said the
turnout was a most hopeful
sigh, an indication that
Bethpagers were indeed"
concerned* about the
direction their children
were taking and about the
alarming absence of group
communications between
parents and young people.
Various Clergymen are
meeting this week with
School Superintendent Dr.
Roper T. Larson to discuss
the expansion of
PEOPLE'S program.
Meanwhile a spokesman
for Y.O.U. said their group
is meeting with Oyster
Bay Town Councilman
Salvatore Mosca to talk
about a Bethpage Com­munity
Center building..
As one adult noted on
leaving last week's
meeting, "It's off to such a
flying start, we can hardly
wait for October 26."
Call Gene Mazzara, WE
1-3141 to sign up.
Yevoli Urges'No"Vote
On Landfill Question
. This article is Councilman
Louis Yevoli's answer to
Supervisor John Burke's
criticism's in last week's
Tribune.
On August 29, the Oyster Bay
Town Board, by a vote of six in
favor, and one opposed,
authorized the issuance of almost
$6 million-dollars in bonds to
purchase a sixty-five acre tract
of land in Plainview to be
developed as a sanitary landfill
(garbage dump) project. Prior to
casting my negative vote on the
bond authorization, I.pointed out
several Caste to my colleagues on
the Town Board, which they
unfortunately chose to ignore.
The 65-acre site in question was
purchased several years ago by
two land developers who paid no
more than $1 lk million for the
parcel.
From 1966 - 1970 they were
successful in having the property
downzoned from residential "B"
(1 acre) to Industrial "H"
(commercial). During this time
they never made a valid attempt
to develop the property, but chose
instead to strip the land and
engage in a major sand mining
operation, which caused so much
controversy that their milium
• (Continued on Page 2)
Board Admits Misjudgment
In School Nurse Controversy
By Richard Wood '
"Two wrongs don't make a
right," said acting School Board
Vice-President Donald Kanter,
applying the old cliche to the case
of a suspended nurse at a meeting
of the'Plainedge School Board
last Thursday night, Oct. 12.
"The Board has agreed they
were perhaps wrong, and we
dpn't wish to do it again," added
Board member Franklyn J.
McGrath.
"We have received numerous
letters in support of Miss Stein,"
said Mrs. Terri Bahnken,
President of the Plainedge
Board. "But the Board feels it
would be too time-consuming to
go into all the letters tonight.
Therefore, none of the
correspondence will be read
concerning the matter."
The Board's statements were
an obvious disappointment to Mr.
Harold Ewen, President of the
Plainedge Federation of
Teachers, who was at the October
12 School Board meeting to
protest the district's handling of
the affairs. ' ___
"This is the decision of the
Board," said Mrs. Bahnken with
finality.
"If thirty-five people yelled and
screamed," interrupted district
teacher Shiela Goldberg, "would
you allow Mr. Ewen to read his
letter like you did last time with
Mr. Galiani's letter?"
A man stood up to address the
board.
"You've opened up the box, a
can of worms,".he said. "All
sorts of rumors are going around
the district. Let the people know
in public what's going on."
But the Tillie Stein affair was
obviously not going to be
discussed in public again.
BACKTRACKING
"What's going on" started at
the September 14th meeting of
the Plainedge Board.
It was an uneasy, hectic,
confusing meeting.
The Board had opened that
meeting by reading an am­biguous
resolution. '
"Whereas the school district is
concerned with the mental and
physical condition of all em­ployees,
it is resolved that the
Superintendent of Schools is
authorized to order and obtain
medical and / or psychiatric
examination for any employees
by medical officers approved by
the Board of Education for the
school district."
At the time it was apparent to
no one what the context of the
resolution was. But then things
began slowly coming to light.
Francis Galiani demanded that
the Board read a letter he had
written to the Board.
School Board President Terri
Bahnken revealed that the
Board, prior to the September
14th meeting, had voted not to
read the letter.
Ex-Board Member Henry F.
Cardella, whose resignation was
subsequently accepted by the
Board on October 5th, responded
by saying, "If the man has taken
the time to write the letter, it
should be read."
After a brief, confusing debate,
the Board reversed its decision
and voted in favor of the reading
of the letter.
At last Thursday's meeting,
McGrath admitted that School
Board Attorney Leroy Van
Nostrand. had recommended in
executive session that the Board
not read. Galiani's letter,
although the Board had ignored
the recommendation.
McGrath's comments came off
« i - a n indirect admission ot-misjudgement.
THE LETTER
According to Galiani's letter,
his kindergarten daughter had
experienced difficulty iri ad­justing
to the new environment of
public school. She had been
crying. She was taken t o East
Plain school nurse, Miss Tillie
Stein. Galiani, advised of the
situation by his wife, went up to
the school. He said he found the
child lying on a cot with a thin,
sheet covering her and her
clothes removed.
Galiani, stating that he
received no satisfaction from the
school principal, took the matter
to the Superintendent of Schools,
Dr. John Reinhart on September
11th.
Feeling that something should
have been done about what he
called "unprofessional behavior
oh the part of the school," Galiani'
insisted on reading his letter in
public at the September 14th
meeting.
The Board capitulated.
After the letter was read, the
resolution concerning psychiatric
examination fell into context. The
Board then admitted that Miss
Stein had been suspended.
It was later revealed that East
Plain school principal Mrs.
Eleanor Newark had also been
temporarily suspended.
At the September 28th Board
meeting, the most recent one
, prior to last Thursday's meeting,
there were a number of people
who wished to speak in favor of
the suspended nurse, but Board
President Terri Bahnken strictly
limited the discussion to the
district's Speech and
Psychological Services.
In the meanwhile, the
Plainedge Federation of
Teachers issued a protest against
the dual suspensions, claiming
that the Board should not have
allowed an unfully investigated
personnel matter to come before
the public's attention.
"It's like convicting someone
before all the information is
available," Ewen had said at the
time.
He also asserted that Miss
Stein was qualified to handle the
situation and that in view of the
fact that the child was semi-hysterical
and severely
overheated it was not unusual to
remove her clothing.
PRESENT SITUATION
Dr. John Reinhart was asked to
speak on the present status of the
situation at last Thursday's
meeting. '*••-
"I do not like to discuss per­sonnel
matters at public
meeting," said Reinhart, "I want
that made very plain. But a
careful investigation is being
carried on by very capable
people in the medical profession
and I expect a report within two
to five days. If the record is clear,
and I hope it is, those involved
will be reassigned to their posts."
"A report will then be made to
the Board4" he continued. "Yes,
the matter is unfortunate. It
should not have gotten to the
point where it is. But that's where
it stands right now. We do not
have all the information as yet."
Mrs. Bahnken then ruledKwen
out :«r:'irtpSe^'andf "Href"' qiscdssibh
dissolved into normal, routine
school board matters.
Although Ewen walked out of
the meeting, he left behind a
leaflet containing the letter his
teacher's union had sent to the
Board and which he wished read.
It opened by expressing the
union's strong indignation over
the Board's handling of the
matter.
"In your apparent haste," he
wrote to the Board, "You have
allowed violation of accepted fair
and proper procedures and have
permitted rumor and innuendo to
take precedence over the rule of
equity and decency."
"We do know the facts in the
case are somewhat different
from what the public has been
allowed to think and certainly did
not require the over-reaction that
seemed to give support to the
unfounded and unjustified
rumors."
"The fact is that the nurse-teacher
had consulted with the
parent about what to do and acted
with the mother's approval and
did nothing furtive or un­derhanded."
"What teacher," concluded
Ewen's letter, "will be able to act
in a confident and calm
fashion...without the inhibiting
fear that her job and reputation
may be placed in jeopardy by
public outcry?"
Although a further gulf now
exists between the Plainedge
Board of Education and the
Plainedge Federation of
Teachers, perhaps the Board's
admission of misjudgement may
prove to be the cornerstone to the
bridge of understanding that
must be built again between
them.
OTHER MATTERS
In other matters, the Board
indicated it was now accepting
nominations to fill the seat
vacated by Board, Member
Cardella.
It also ruled in favor of
establishing three separate
citizen's committees.
(Continued on Page 12)