1975-02-13

              MISS tma mmiumon pp
THE L. T. HISTORICAL MCIMT
PIKRRPO'IT* CLINTON STS. X2- 49
^ H 2, ;:. Y. C0MP
^ 4 Pra* Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920 A RK
An Official Newspaper for the Village of Farmingdale
VOL. 56 N O . ^ / if Z?:^:*:^! ™ Thursdoy, Februory 13, 1975 ^ 3 S ^ E * i & ^ Price J5* - $ 5 p. r j bland- Wide Publication, be.
CSEA Defeats
Teacher Union
In Election
The Farmingdale Federation of Teachers lost their
bid to take over representation of School District 22' s
clerical, operational and maintenance employees from
the Civil Service Employees Association in a secret
ballot election last Wednesday at Howitt Junior High
School. CSEA defeated the teachers' union by an 86- 58
vote.
Healey Bill
Tries Again
MOTHER OF HEAD START: Mrs. Alma Robinson [ right], affectionately called the " Mother of
Farmingdale Head Start," receives a plaque honoring her for ten years service to the program. Mrs.
Robinson, a family service health aide, served under four different program directors before her
retirement Jan. 1. The award and a silver tea service were presented to her Saturday night by Lorraine
Stewart during a surprise testimonial dinner at the Blue Dolphin. [ Post photo by Bob Starrett]
Hardscrabble Guidelines
Set By Library Committee
The Farmingdale Public
Library and the Hardscrabble
Fair Committee announced
guidelines for the Second Annual
Hardscrabble Country Fair, to be
held on May 24, from 10 a. m. to 9
p. m. on the Farmingdale Village
Green, throughout the Main
Street area and in the parking lot
behind Bohack's.
The purpose is to promote
community spirit and revive
some pleasurable experiences of
the past; to get together and
enjoy the companionship of
neighbors, arouse interest and
pride in the community, and
enjoy a day of fun on Memorial
Day Weekend. This will be a
great opportunity for all
organizations in District # 22 to
work together on a common
project and make themselves
known to the community.
The Committee will hold three
general meetings; March 18,
April 30, and May 6, at 7: 30 pm at
the South Farmingdale Library.
A warm invitation is extended to
groups to send a representative
to the meetings and to take part
in the Fair.
Guidelines for the various
types of booths are:
1. Booths and activities are
open to School District # 22
organizations only.
2. Individuals may participate
provided they follow the
guidelines for their entry.
3. Booths will be set up and
dismantled by the organizations
or individuals in charge.
4. Cleaning up is the respon­sibility
of the person in charge of
booth area.
5. The Committee will clean up
the general area only.
6. An entry blank accompanied
by the required fee is necessary
before space is allocated.
7. Deadline for entries will be
Wednesday, April 30, 1975.
[ Continued on page 12]
Computer Evaluates
Local Math Students
Seven hundred and fifty
students in Grades 3- 6 are in the
process of " linking forces" with a
Stoney Brook computer to
develop, design and reevaluate
the mathematics curriculum in
Farmingdale.
The computer will be used to
spell out for the student and
teacher the goals they are
striving for and the progress they
are making toward achieving
them. This will be accomplished
by objective based trend testing
provided continuously by the
computer. They will monitor
every objective of the course at
frequent intervals throughout the
year.
The computer will tell which
skills were known before in*
struction and which still must be
learned; which objectives were
achieved after instruction and
which must be studied some
more. It will provide the
classroom teacher with a wealth
[ Continued on page 12]
Legislation restoring revenue
losses to the Farmingdale School
District has been reintroduced by
Assemblyman Philip B. Healey
( R- C- Massapequa).
Assemblyman Healey said that
the measure would enable
Farmingdale to recover tax
property revenue which was lost,
through the State's condemnation
of property for use by Republic
Airport in 1969.
" For the past several years I
have introduced this legislation
so that the taxpayer burden of
Farmingdale homeowners could
be eased," said Healey. " Real
property taxes to Farmingdale
have had to bear the cost of
covering the revenue loss of
almost a quarter of a million
dollars and the strain has con­tinually
increased. I have pushed
this legislation and the bill has
passed both houses of the
Legislature several times.
" It is vitally important that we
continue to receive compensation
from the State or the much
needed revenue which the village
has lost so that that burden of
cost will not fall on the
homeowner," continued Healey.
The assemblyman said that he
has consulted with school of­ficials
for additional approaches
to solve this matter and
welcomes their recom­mendations.
" In view of
Governor Carey's proposal to
give our local school districts less
State aid, passage of this
legislation is extremely critical. I
will continue to push for more
legislation in the area of this
much needed reform," Healey
concluded.
The measure is sponsored in
the Senate by Senator Owen H.
Johnson ( R- West Babylon).
The FFT claimed they were
better able to represent the
clerical, operational and
maintenance employees in
Farmingdale, claiming CSEA
could only provide " left overs."
In a letter to CSEA members,
the FFT stated " In Farmingdale,
the teachers'contract is always
settled before the school board
even looks at CSEA proposals.
Then when the board gets good
and ready, you get what's left
over."
The teachers' union claimed
that the FFT, negotiation for both
classroom and non- teaching
employees would not allow " one
group to get the left overs and the
other group to get the goodies.''
The FFT also said they have the
power and influence through
their affiliation with the N. Y.
State United Teachers and AFL-CIO
to benefit its members in the
state legislature.
CSEA countered by saying that
teachers may know how to
negotiate for " tenure and class
size, but know nothing about such
non- instructional problems as
reclassification, working out of
title, summer hours or pay dif­ferentials."
Teachers, according to CSEA,
operate under the State
Education Law, while non-instructional
employees are
controlled by State and County
Civil Service Commissions.
' Teachers would not know how to
even start to resolve your unique
problems and grievances,"
CSEA told its members.
Dues may have been one of the
major considerations in the vote.
Since most of the clerical,
operational and maintenance
employees in the district earn
less than $ 10,192 per year, the
starting salary for teachers as of
February 1, the dues for FFT
membership would have been 180
per year as opposed to $ 45 per
year for CSEA representation.
Those making over the $ 10,192
per year figure would pay dues to
the FFT in the amount of $ 160 per
year.