Bethpage-Tribune_1970-04-16

              * ; • *
BT Rl
BETHPAOE 16
Island Trees
(tyeMttne
rary
Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees - Ploinedge - Sea ford
Vol. 4 No. 26
Thursday, April 16,1970
Old Bethpage
School Takeover Planned
Charges "Ad Hoc" Group
10c per copy
A flyer describing "a
politically ambitious group of
approximately 40 townspeople"
and charging harassment of
teachers, intimidation of the
school, board, suppression of
student thought, and an attempt
"to take over our schools" was
distributed by teachers and
students Tuesday on the school
grounds in Bethpage.
The leaflet, signed by the "Ad
H6c Committee To Save
Education in Bethpage", also
announced a meeting tonight,
April 16 in the high school
auditorium to. "help stop this
tyrannical attempt to take over
our schools. "J As of press-time the
use of the auditorium for such a
meeting had been denied by the
school Board.
According to most observers,
the nucleus of the group charged
consists of several couples who
have consistently attended board
meetings over the past few
months, The 'Ad Hoc' committee
also includes some residents who
have been "harassing" teachers
and administrators as part of this
'"group."
The members of the Ad Hoc
Committee— or, at least, those
who helped formulate and
organize distribution of the flyer-include
Jack Murphy, president
of the Bethpage Federation of
Teachers. By early morning
Thursday, despite a day and a
half of investigation by the.
TRIBUNE, no other members of
the Committee could be con­firmed.
Murphy maintained that the
union and the Committee are not
synonomous. He said the Com­mittee
is composed of students,
teachers and parents in Beth­page,
and he claimed support
from many people not "of­ficially"'
on the Committee.
Murphy explained that each of
. the tree "wings"- students,
teachers, and parents- was
organized separately. He stated
that he is the spokesman for
teachers working on the Com­mittee,
but he pointed out that the
other "wings" might not be
organized with an official
representative.
Had the meeting been held,
representatives of all three
branches would have appeared,
said the Jr. High School teacher.
Interpretations Vary
The Committee charges have
been variously interpreted. One
explicitly attacks the "group" for
suppressing a limited interracial
exchange program between
Bethpage and Wyandanch (see
TRIBUNE, April 2, 1970).
Another charge describes them
as "anti almost all educational
innovation", which is seen by
some as a reference to parents
By Tom Cullem
opposing the district's reading
syllabus (see i.t.a. article, this
page). Murphy denied that this
was the issue involved. •'•••••/'-j
While other charges un­doubtedly
refer to the recent
"Eagle's Cry" (high school
newspaper) controversy, others
cite a general "history of •
pressure politics" and a "com^
plete contempt for the
democratic process."
Murphy claimed that the
charges could be documented.
"They would have been made
clearer at the meeting", he
declared.
Murphy recognized that the
ItTrrrfTTl IIUHIHI I Hi i unln m J,] ...
but said he felt it necessary to
wake people up to =the- alleged "
"take-over" in Bethpage. He
contended that a "take-over"
was possible because the school
board is easily dominated by a
persistent minority. In at least
one instance, he asserted, the
minority had thwarted the wishes
of a clearly expressed majority.
Murphy added that the Com­mittee
will continue meetings
between parents, teachers, and
students.
Union Condemned
Despite Murphy's disclaimers,
one of the reputed leaders of the
"group" charged that the Beth­page
Federation of Teachers was
the "motivating factor" behind
the Ad Hoc Committee.
"A leaflet passed out by
teachers on school grounds bears
a connotation of authority",
argued Mrs. Joan Cable. "The
union has no right to use that
authority to become part of the
taxpayer scene."
Concerning "harassment",
which Murphy contends has
lowered teacher morale, Mrs.
Cable responded that the union
fears that "parents are pressing
too strongly for performance by
school personnel." As for the
"group's" alleged "contempt for
the democratic process", she
noted:
"The regular meetings of the
Bethpage School Board are open
to all taxpayers. Any taxpayer
may speak in a democratic
manner. All decisions are
democratically made by a duly-elected
Board of Education, not
by any group of parents."
"Everyone is always told: 'go
to the Board meeting, speak up!'
'But then those who do speak up
are condemned", she said. She
also denied there was any
organized "group5* at all- "At­tendance
at meetings varies with
the issues", she argued.
Murphy denied any "vested
interest" for the union in the
dispute. He stated that, as an
individual, his main concern was
with the ease of the Board's
domination by minorities.
"I oppose threatening the
Board with 'I'll get a thousand
people., down here' unless the
Board capitulates," Murphy
said. He claimed that the
"group" has consistently made
this threat.
Union Seeks Auditorium
According to Edward Lavin,
district business manager-, the
B.F.T. had requested use of the
high school auditorium tonight
(April 19). Lavin's office must
clear all requests for use of the
building.
Lavin explfljflsfl that the
fflstrrct policy is to.
the auditorium b;
groups, civic organizations, and,
sometimes, the union. Religious
observances are forbidden, and
"political" meetings must be
sponsored by a local, non-»
partisan group.
, "The problem is that there was
nothing on the flyer to indicate
who was sponsoring it", declared
Lavin, although "Both meetings
(the Committee's and the
union's) were scheduled for the
same room, at the same time."
he noted.
_ Murphy stated that the union
had made the request for use of
the auditorium "to facilitate the
(Committee) meeting", and not
because the union necessarily
agreed with the Committee's
charges.
Although the Federation's
original request for an open
meeting might have been granted
explained Lavin, the School
Board denied it when it became
apparent that the meeting would
be too controversial to allow for
de facte union sponsorship in
school facilities.
Lavin added that the Board
might reverse its position if a
local organization other than the
union sponsored the meeting.
As for the distribution, of the
Committee flyer, Lavin reported
that most of the handing out was
done outside the building, though
on school grounds.
"We frown upon something like
this" he said, but added that the
distribution was completed
before it could be stopped.
Finally, the school Board voted
last night to distribute its own
memo through the schools,
notifying parents that the
meeting had been cancelled and
that the Board had not sanctioned
the Committee flyer.
Photo Jack' Pokress
BLAZE GUTS OFFICE BUILDING: Levittown
Firemen direct a futile torrent of water against a fire
Sunday that gutted the "3000" Office Building on
Hempstead Tpke. in Levittown.
Parent Group Objects
To Reading Program
Have An Opinion?
Write a Letter To The
Editor - 549 Stewart
Ave., Bettoaqe, N.Y.,
11714. ^
The evening of April 7,
representatives of the "Con­cerned
Citizens' Committee" met
in executive session to protest the
compulsory use of an ex­perimental
reading program.
According to a statement this
week to the TRIBUNE, the C.C.C.
objects to both the expense and
compulsion involved in the i.t.a.
(initial teaching alphabet)
system.
School sources report that
i.t.a., which includes an ex­panded,
alphabet different from
the traditional one, is now com­pulsory
in all beginning reading
classes (grade 1 and part of 2).
They explain that a transition
from i.t.a. to to. (traditional
orthography-the standard
alphabet) is made in the second
grade.
Although administrators and
staff conferred later the same
night with the Board, Dr. Roper
Larsen, Supt. of Schools, did not
choose to comment to the
TRIBUNE on the C.C.C. charges.
Dr. Larsen explained that the
Board was still mulling the fate of
i.t.a., and that he did not think it
appropriate for him or his staff to
make a statement until the Board
reached its decision.
Speaking for the C.C.C. were
Mrs. Laurie Cizek, Mrs. E.
Cackowski, and Mrs. Rosalie
Joanna. They questioned the
effectiveness of i.t.a. and listed
some reputed "bad effects."
The major complaint appears
to be the complusory nature of
the program. Mrs. Gackowski
contended that many parents did
not realize until November of this
year that their children were
learning i.t.a. The program was
made compulsory as of Sep­tember,
1969.
She also claimed that there was
no mention in the Board; minutes
from September to November of
the switchover to complete i.t.a
classes. She noted, however, that
the Board need not record such a
change in the minutes, since it
was an administrative move that
did not alter basic school policy.
To support their contention that
i.t.a. is ineffective, possibly
detrimental, and sufficiently
questionable to allow parental
choice, the C.C.C. represen­tatives
submitted the following:
• The two authors of the
standard i.t.a. text disagree
over the systems' worth.
One, after a four-year ex­periment
at Hofstra
University, concluded that
"i.t.a. proved to be a superior
medium of instruction." The
other writer, after three
years of testing, maintained
that there was no significant
difference in reading com­prehension
between those
who learned by i.t.a. and
those who learned by t. o.
• The Hofstra experiments
were conducted in con­junction
with ten Long Island
schools. Of these, four have
completely dropped i.t.a.,
and all the others have as
many, if not more, t.o. than
i.t.a. classes.
•Two other Long Island
(Continued on ''rtgtf 2)