Bethpage-Tribune_1973-12-20

              BETHPAGE
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OLD BETHPAGE
Thursday, December 20, 1973
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BETHPAOE tlB
A7 POWELL *V
BETHPAOE |* 11714
also serving ISLAND TREES
PLAINVIEW PLA1NEDGE SEAFORD
10 cents per copy
The BETHPAGE TRIBUNE is pleased to announce
the winners of the POETRY CONTEST.
The BETHPAGE ROTARY CLUB sponsored this
contest and provided four $25.00 bonds to the winners.
The theme of the contest is "International
Brotherhood and Ecumenism." The contest was open
to young and old alike and was initiated after the
publication of the BETHPAGE TRIBUNE'S An­niversary
Issue dedicated to BROTHERHOOD and
ECUMENISM. (October 18, 1973).
We wish to thank our local poet Leo Schottland and
his wife Harriet for the hours they spent judging these
poems. We thank the ROTARY CLUB for their
monetary contribution and we thank all the budding
poets who entered the contest.
The holiday season is a" perfect time to reflect on
these poetic words and it is our hope and prayer that
"Ir^^iEBiE^^jfeftr^^mPP^. •fr°r a l u m®n ar*d nations will
taiiwr-uttT "UlUUgiltts *»iu titove bur actions to a greater
understanding and love of one another."
God Love and Bless You All!
Florence M. Cullem
Publisher
Winners
TWO MORE IN ONE
To reach out and touch would be the key,
To the map of your freedom
For both you and for me.
To seek in the person and not in the race,
The real and the truthful
In this beautiful place.
Give your mind to people, give your joys and your woes,
If you're as real to them as you are with yourself
Then neither will care if either one goes.
As long as you both know you have given all you could
To bring just two more together means One more in
Brotherhood.
j
Bethpage School Board Report
By Mary McCutcheon and Lorraine Carley
Virginia Quinn
THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST
A life was given for our sins
By Christ, from heav'n above.
The reason for His sacrifice
Was pure and simple love.
Jesus strove for truth and friendship
Not to mention love and peace
He wanted to stop hatred
And let all fighting cease.
He wanted us to be a friend
And lend a helping hand
To everybody we should meet
From every single land.
He wanted us to really treat
Our fellow men with care,
To love the Lord above all things •"
And speak to Him in prayer.
. He taught that the way to a saintly life
Is loving and being kind,
And if we follow these two rules
Heaven we will find.
He needs us now as messengers
To spread His holy word,
And then the world can truly say,
"The Good News has been heard!"
(Continued on Page 3)
The regular monthly meeting
of the Bethpage Board of
Education was held on Thursday,
Dec. 6, 1973 with all board
members present and ap­proximately
16 taxpayers in the
audience.
Mr. Anthony Cotton, Vice
President, called the meeting to
order at 8:30 p.m. and requested
the audience stand for a moment
of silence in respect to the
memory of Mr. Herman Slavin,
Board of Education President
who died suddenly on Nov. 29,
1973. Mr. LoFaso then continued,
"On November 29th, 1973 we all
received the shocking news that
our Board President Mr. Herman
Slavin died of a heart attack that
afternoon."
"Before starting the agenda for
the evening, I would like to move
to establish a blank page for
November 29, 1973 in memory of
Mr. Slavin with the following
comments:
"Mr. Herman Slavin served as
trustee for the Bethpage schools
from July 1971 to Nov. 1973.
During his entire tenure in qffice
he served as the Board President.
His untimely death which cut
short his service will be a
grievous loss to the Bethpage
community as well as to his
family and friends."
"He was a public servant who
believed in education and in
youngsters. He dedicated himself
to both these beliefs by spending
untold hours of his personal time
and energy as Board President
for the educational system in
Bethpage and in helping
youngsters in any way that he
could."
"I also request that we
maintain the flag at half mast
until December 29th."
"A personal note -* while
Herman and I may not have
agreed on many subjects,
philosophically, I have always
enjoyed his wit and admired his
intelligence and his eloquence. I
considered him a friend of mine
and I shall miss him very much."
At this point, Mr. Cotton in­formed
the audience that when he
accepted the position of vice
president of the Board of
Education, he was aware it was
the vice president's responsi­bility
to assume leadership if the
president could not continue his
services for any reason. Un­fortunately,
he continued, "...no
one could predict these sudden
circumstances...since July, I
have reorganized my business and
also; I have personal family
problems, however, I have
handled my commitment as a
board member but to assume the
role of president is impossible. It
would be a disaster to my family
and a disaster to the district...the
district is entering into difficult
times and therefore, I have asked
Mr. LoFaso to assume the role of
president lor this fiscal year,
provided Mr. LoFaso has
unanimous support of the board."
Mr. LoFaso was nominated by
Mr. Iannello and seconded by Mr.
Gorman and was unanimously
approved by the Board. Mr.
LoFaso thanked everyone for
their confidence and hoped that
their confidence would be justi­fied.
Mr. Louis Orfan, School
Attorney, then administered the
Oath of Office.
Board member, Mrs. Elizabeth
Regan, made the following
statement, "Mr. Herman Slavin,
Board of Education President,
who died untimely in office, was
dedicated to education. In
memory of his dedication, I
propose that the Board of
Education, individually and co­llectively,
support the formation
of a scholarship to be given an­nually
to a youngster in the Beth­page
School System. This will
represent a continuing living
memorial to Mr. Slavin's belief in
education."
Mr. LoFaso commented, "it
will be a living memorial in an
educational sense, he would want
that more than anything else." A
motion was made by Mrs. Regan
and seconded by Mr. Cotton and
approved unanimously.
Playground and
Cafeteria Monitors
A representative of the play­ground
aids and cafeteria
monitors, from the Pine and
Kramer Complex, appeared
before the board to discuss a
letter they had sent to the board
requesting an increase in salary
and their group being initiated
into social security. Mr. LoFaso
said the board would take into
serious consideration one or the
other, either 5 per cent hourly
increase in salary or an approxi­mate
equivalent of 5 per cent into
social security and retirement.
He continued,"...to consider both
requests would be too much of an
impact on the budget for this
year." The aids agreed on a 5 per
cent increase in salary. After
discussion in executive session,
the board unanimously agreed to
the following increase: from $2.00
to $2.10; from $2.05 to $2.15; from
$2.10 to $2.20.
Supervision-Teen Center
A parent in the audience
related to the Board of Education
an incident that happened last,
Thursday night at the junior high
school. She explained, "...when
driving by the junior high, there
were fire engines there ajtd police
re-routing traffic, at the same
time the students were being
dismissed from the Teen Cen­ter...
the grounds were swarming
with teenagers rolling on the
grass." She continued, "...I am a
substitute teacher in the district
and in other districts and I
question the supervision both
within and outside the teen
center..." She sated, "...what
goes on in our junior high during
the day does not go on in other
junior highs, our students have a
great deal of respect for the
powers of authority and this
should not be allowed to be
disintegrated at night in the teen
center..." She noted...if the kids
were around my house at 10 p.m.
I would register a complaint...I
consider this a very serious
situation and questioned how
many children were at the teen
center that particular evening?
She was told there were 270
students. The parent con­cluded...
it's unfortunate that it's
not mandatory that parents pick
up the students or form car
pools...parents must assume
more responsibility...
Mr. Chomsky, Plant and
Maintenance Engineer com­mented
he was there and nor­mally
in a {iita»
of time, most of the students have
left the building and grounds. He
continued, "...I was told that a
student had set fire to the grass
and another student pulled the
alarm box...My personal feelings
are that some one threw a
cigarette out of a window of a
passing car..." In reference to
the students behavior outside the
school that evening he stated,
"we don't encourage it but we
don't discourage it either...they
are in high spirits when they
leave..."
Mr. Iannello said, "...you
would need an army to control
the students coming out of the
teen center and we certainly
can't supply bus service...I
personally believe also it is the
parents responsibility to be there
to pick up their youngsters,
however, I also believe this is an
isolated incident..." Mrs. Regan
interjected, there were letters
sent home which indicated the
dismissal time of the teen cen­ter...
once the students get into
the teen center they have to stay-if
they want to leave early the
parents have to pick them up. "I
believe we have very good
coverage in the teen center,"
Mrs. Regan stated.
Mr. LoFaso concluded, the
Board would request the director
of the teen center to observe and
monitor the situation outside and
if there are any more distur­bances,
come back to the board
with a report. Mr. LoFaso further
suggested an article be put into
the Educational Bulletin con­cerning
the teen center dismissal
and pickup.
Regular Agenda
The board approved the
minutes of the meeting of Oct. 18
as corrected, and the meeting of
Nov. 1. A thank-you note was
received from Mr. Mazur, former
high school assistant principal,
for a plaque that was presented to
him.
An invitation was received
from the Bethpage High School
PTA inviting the board members,
as the PTA's guests, to the
(Continued on Page 8)