1973-06-21

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FARMINGDALE
AN OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE VILLAGE OF FARMINGDALE
SERVING THE GREATER FARMINGDALE AREA. BETHPAGE AND MELVILLE
VOL. 10 No. 44 Second Class Postage Has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735
Published by THE OBSERVER, Inc., Box 146, Farmingdale, N. Y. Thursday, June 21, 1973 15c
A Very Good Year High School Learning:
Is It Really Worthless?
Farmingdale High School had graduation last Sunday and the following story written
by our student columnist Toby Elbaum, is really not a news story, but a personal view
on the graduation event itself. Perhaps some students, certainly a number of parents
were shocked by invocator, Rev. Larry Sims, during his address to the student body.
Here is what Toby Elbaum thought about the graduation exercises:
The athletic program at Farmingdale High School has just completed a highly
successful year and there was much to cheer about during the annual awards
night. Among the successful teams were the wrestlers, seen above receiving
special awards jackets.
Bottom row: ( 1- r) lorn Byrnes, Richard Williams, Darryl Berger and Mark
Tambini; top row: Pete Sofia, Dan Dean of Dad's Club, Captains Jim T^' om and
Joe Patrovich, Coach Irv Apgar aoH Bob Masciana. ( See story on pagt
School Budget Faces Its
Second Hurdle on Saturday
The 1973/ 74 Farmingdale School
Budget with a proposed tax rate decrease
of 36 cents will soon be up for a second
vote. This is nothing new for the residents
of Farmingdale. As a matter of fact, it is
par for the course, something which has
taken place for four of the previous five
years. In the past six years, only the 1972
budget was accepted on the first try.
While a second vote passed the budget in
1968, 69, and 70, voters went to the polls
three times in 1971.
Voting will take place this Saturday,
June 23, at Weldon £. Howitt Junior High
School, from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. Although
only 41 per cent of the registered voters,
4,116, came out for the original proposal
only half of these are expected Saturday.
Based on prior years, only 55.6 percent of
the original voters return a second time,
meaning a little over 2,000 this year.
The proposed tax rate now stands at an
increase of $ 1.04 per hundred in the Town
of Oyster Bay and $ 2.31 per hundred in
the Town of Babylon, a decrease of 36 and
53 cents respectively.
We're Taking Time off
Not only will the Fourth of July bring
vacationtime to many of our readers, but
also to the staff of the Observer / Tribune
offices, changing regular copy deadlines.
Our offices will close at 5 p. m.,
Tuesday, July 3, and reopen again on
Monday, July 9. The regular circulation
schedule will not be affected by our move
although deadlines will be moved up. All
material for our issueJuly 5 issue must
be in our offices by Monday, July 2, at
noon.
Here it is, a few days after graduation,
and I'm still trying to figure out what that
somewhat archaic, somewhat tedious
and somewhat touching ceremony was
all about. The first picture that comes to
my brain when I think of the events last
Sunday is the long procession of green
and white figures moving onto the field
and being bombarded by clicking camras
and sobbing mothers. Seeing this mass of
one thousand students caused me to
reflect upon the tremendous power this
group of young people has, in their
number, their strenghth, their op­portunity.
During the graduation ceremony, five
members of the class of 1923 were
presented with honorary diplomas and I
could not help but think of the ten
^ riembers of that class at thoir
same zealous idealism that we feel today.
The accomplishments of not only those
graduates, but all those before and after
them, have made the life of luxury we
now enjoy and our class will someday
contribute to world progress. The high
school diploma means much more than
the " up to $ 50 more per week salary"
that the television drones into our heads.
Material gain is only one small aspect of
the meaning of education.
The invocation was made by the
Reverend Larry Sims. Although his
speech was amusing to the graduates,
there seemed to be one controversial
point with his reference to all the " crap"
we learned in high school. It is genuine
pity I feel for those who agreed that their
high school years were meaningless
because they had foolishly wasted three
years of time. Not every course or
subject can be important to everyone,
but if a student did not steer himself in
any direction and waited for the school to
do something for him, he completely
misunderstood the meaning of education.
The requirements of the school are so
minimal they are essentially the basic
necessities to get along in life, even in
math and science. After they are com­pleted,
there are so many different
directions for a person to go. Even those
totally idealistic people who claim no
need for any information as they plan to
simply help people, it is ridiculous for
them to claim that school could offer
nothing relevant.
How many kids claim over and over
that they want to work ; or peace, yet
know next to nothing about any of the
wars or governments of our time? How
many kids speak again and again of
striving for an enlightenment, yet they
never read the best literary works? High
school was a time to work toward your
goals and to enrich yourself as much as
possible in order to be of even greater
value to the field you wish to enter. Many
tud « * ntb < J. id waste their *- im. e with
'•' £ i ap in iiiga scixooi because ti- s- y uiJ
not have the sense, the ambition or the
perseverance to put anything into their
education and therefore they got nothing
out of it.
The Salutatory address was made by
Karen Duzy and the Valedictory address
was made by John Suler, the two top
ranking Seniors. The Board of Education
Award was presented to Robert Mule.
After the presentation of diplomas, Mr.
McLennan had a few closing remarks.
The class of 1973, as its last unified ac­tion,
flung their caps into the air to
signify the end of this time in their lives.
The ceremony was all that a ceremony
can be in this generation of un­ceremonious
young people. It, in itself,
was not terribly meaningful as it is
impossible to sum up three years in one
afternoon. But what it represented, three
years of education, friendships, athletics
and growing, was very significant.
Deborah Grell, president of the class of
1973, read a poem written by one of the
seniors. This was the most relevant of the
addresses because it was about the three
years in every aspect, most important of
all, the personal one.
INVOCATION: The Rev. Larry Sims is shown above during his address to the crowd
assembled for Farmingdale's graduation exercises last Sunday
( jRADUATES: Dressed in their disposable graduation robes, graduating Far­mingdale
girls get ready for the ceremonies and their entrance into the life of an adult.