1972-05-11

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i IT^ S 1SERTER AN OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER _ . nt VILLAGE OF FARMINGDALE
SERVING THE GREATER FARMINGDALE AREA, BETHPAGE, MELVILLE \$
A MEMBER OF THE OISSIIS \ I 15 / I HI BUME GROUP OF NEWSPAPERS
Vol. 9 No. 38 rcond Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y 11735 • PubHshed by THE OBSERVER, INC., Box 146, Farmingdale, N. Y. Thursday, May 1 1 , 1 9 72
KILKENNY- BOUND: Nassau County Executive Ralph G. Caso, left, presents Ben McGarry, past
president of the National Grand Council of Irish Emerald Societies, with a Nassau County flag as
McGarry's granson, Stephen Gray of Farmingdale, looks on. McGarry will present the flag to the
Lord Mayor of Kilkenny, Ireland, later this month.
Candidate Jean Looney: People
Do not Trust Library Trustees
In announcing her candidacy
for the Farmingdale Library
Board last week, Miss Jean M.
Looney noted that one of the
issues integral to her platform is
that of the role of the public in the
operation of the library system.
In her latest statement she ex­plores
that point in some detail:
" Do the people make frequent
use of the library facilities? Do
the people have confidence in the
Trustees' ability to spend tax­payers'
money in a wise and
thrift- conscious manner? The
statistics offer a resounding " no"
to both queries.
" In the past year, between
12,000 and 15,000 books have been
borrowed by Farmingdale
residents from neighboring
libraries. Why are Farmingdale
residents patronzing the library
less frequently?
Is the reason, perhaps, that the
library's offerings are not
adequate because money that
could be spent to procure needed
books is being used to pay for
ancillary activities, such as film
shows, field trips and hobby
demonstrations? These must be
priorities when working within
the limits of an austerity budget.
" Why this absolute rejection
of proposed budgets by a public
that is learning - conscious
enough to borrow 12,000 to 15,000
books from other libraries? The
answer: the public has little
representation regarding the
expenditure of their money for
library purposes. If ihe people
were confident that the Trustees
would spend their money wisely,
I feel sure that a new budget
would be approved.
How, then, do we make our
library system more democratic
without infringing upon the
professionalism of the librarians
and the authority of the Board?
One possible solution is a district-wide
poll. This would offer each
citizen the opportunity to express
his views on various aspects of
Cancer Society Dance Was A Great Success
The first annual dinner- dance
of the Farmingdale branch of the
American Cancer Society, held
last Friday at the Holiday Manor
was a great success. The com­mittee,
headed by Mrs. Hose
Diana, Mrs. Helen Wolfe, Mrs.
Mildred DeMarco and others,
wants to thank all who attended
and all the merchants for their
generous donations of gifts.
The proceeds will be used for
research and for the cancer
detection clinic at Elmont. The
Farmingdale branch wants to
remind all who have lost a loved
one to cancer to avail themselves
of the Sword of Hope living
memorial program of the
American Cancer Society. For
inlorinaton call PIG 7534 or the
local branch memorial chairman,
Mrs. Mildred DeMarco, CH9 -
0023.
library service, such as: the
types of books he would like to see
more of in the library ( popular,
fiction, children's books, classics,
non- fiction, etc.); the value of the
ancillary programs; and, the
hours during which he would like
to see the library open. It would
be understood, of course, that
such a poll would be purely ad­visory.
" A second possible solution to
the problem is increased com­munication
between the Board
and the public, particularly the
younger segment of our
population. If elected, I would be
willing to set up office hours in
the library on a Saturday mor­ning
every other month to talk
with anyone who might have an
idea on improving the library.
Citizens Advisory Committees
have been organized before but,
in my opinion, they have ex­cluded
the young and those, who
for educational or vocational
reasons, are unable to be
members of a CAC. The plan I
suggest would hopefully reach
out to a wider range of the public.
" The average citizen wants a
library in which he can take
pride, a library that will con­tribute
to his self- improvement.
Moreover, I believe that he is
more than willing to pay for that
library, provided that he has a
voice in how his money is spent
and provided that he lias con­fidence
in the Trustees who spend
it. Unfortunately, such has not
been the case in Farmingdale for
too long."
Voters Get Say on
Main Street School
At its special meeting last Monday night at Weldon
E. Howitt Junior High School, the Farmingdale board
of education decided to add two propositions to the
budget proposal which will be voted on June 14. The
first one deals with the rental in whole or in part of
Main Street School to BOCES while the second one
calls for a $ 130,000.00 bond issue to install a fire, heat
and smoke detection system and a vandalism alarm
system in all schools of the district.
Proposition one would allow the
board of education to rent Main
Street School to BOCES for a
period not to exceed five years.
The lease would, however, have
several escape clauses to ter­minate
the rental agreement
sooner.
Superintenent of schools, Dr.
William Kinzler, reported to the
board that BOCES was definitely
interested in renting the facilities
of Main Street school for bringing
together approximately sixty
retarded students of junior and
senior high school age who are now
scattered over many schools in
Nassau County.
BOCES would be able to con­solidate
its services for these
retarded students, make the
services more effective and more
economical.
Authorization of a $ 130,000.00
bond issue had originally been
approved by school district
voters in 1964. At that time the
money was to have been used for
the expansion of Albany Avenue,
Parkway Oaks and Woodward
Parkway Schools. As it turned
out, the money did not have to be
used after all at that time.
The reason for the new bond
issue is based on the need of fire
and vandalism detection systems
in order to protect current in­surance
rates and the investment
of valuable equipment in the sch­ools.
There would be a con­siderable
saving if the in­stallation
of such systems would
be carried out in all buildings at
the same time. It would also be
considered as an improvement to
the buildings and thereby become
eligible for state aid.
In other action Monday night,
the board of education rescinded
a motion only passed last April
which would have transferred
children entering kindergarten
classes from their Albany
Avenue area to Woodward Park­way
School. New studies by the
administration brought to light
that Albany Avenue School will
be able to handle its new kin­dergarten
clajs after all.
Another motion which was
adopted finally calls for the av­ailability
of a choice for 5th -
graders who initiate their foreign
language studies. Until now, 5th -
graders had to take what was
being offered at that particular
year, either Spanish or French.
Now, students can choose either
one of the two languages. This
will not result in any additional
costs to the taxpayer.
The school board also decided
to appeal the newest decision of
the State Human Rights Appeal
Board in the maternity leave
issue before the Appelate
Division of the Supreme Court.
The board could not report any
further development in the
settlement of the teachers'
contract. The contract has not
been signed yet, although basic
agreement had been reached on
April 27. Both sides are still
considering the question whether
the contract should be in effect
over two years or just one year.
NORTHSIDERS RAISE FUNDS: Five Northside boys held a bake
sale last week in order to raise money for the Tracey Reis Memorial
Fund. Helping a young miss select her lunchtime dessert are ( 1. to
r.) Kevin Ward, Steven Comboy, Nat Corrao, Michael Green, and
Robert Lucien. Collections were taken up in each intermediate
classroom with the receipts destined to help the Reis family, in­cluding
two other Northsiders, Steven and Debbie. By the end of the
week the fund had reached $ 671.16 according to Northside student
council president Suzanne McAfee. Another $ 50.00 to the Reis fund
was donated recently by the Farmingdale Republican Club.