Bethpage-Tribune_1973-06-07

              BETHPAGE
BMflEPlKLIB
• 1 *.tkGt .*.»•'.
also serving ISLAND TREES
OLD BETHPASE PLAINVIEW PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
VOL. 7 NO. 29 Thursday, June 7 , 1 9 73 10 cents per copy
Bethpage School
Board Report
By Mary McCutcheon and Lorraine Carley
Bethpage, Island Trees, Plainedge -
Elections June 13
Trustees and Budgets Await Voters' Action
The regular monthly meeting
of the Bethpage Board of
Education was held on Tuesday
May 29, 1973, with all Board
members present except for Mr
Iannello.
STUDENTS REQUEST OPEN
CAMPUS
A Students Sub-Committee of
the Principal's Cabinet of the
Bethpage High School appeared
before the Board of Education
regarding Open Campus for all
high school students. Prior to
their appearance, they had
submitted a full report to the
Board. John Murphy, spokesman
for the students presented some
amendments to the report. The
students are requesting open
campus for all lunch and study
periods. Their proposal would
have the Board of Education
working in conjunction, with, the
Town of Oyster Bay, to set up a
recreational program and lunch
concession stand at the Bethpage
Community Park. During study
and lunch periods students would
participate in activities such as
paddle ball, swimming, ice
skating, etc. The Students noted
that they were aware of the
hazards of crossing Stewart
Avenue to Community Park,
therefore, suggested an enclosed
overpass be built over Stewart
Avenue, financed from the
miscellaneous fund of the Town
of Oyster Bay. The Student
Spokesman stated...he had
spoken to Councilmen Mosca and
Yevoli concerning the students
proposals and were informed that
the Town would not consider
them unless they were approved
by the Board of Education....At
this point Mr. Slavin asked what
would happen if the Board of
Education approved the
proposals and the Town of Oyster
Bay did not? John Murphy
replied that Councilman Mosoa
informed him...none of the
proposals created a major fif-ficulty....
Hm
The students proceeded to
• quote a survey from the May
issue of the Eagles Cry noting
that from 125 comments, 15%
related to Open Campus. In­cluded
in the Eagle's Cry article,
students .expressed a general dis­satisfaction
of the school
cafeteria. Some of the comments
mentioned were, yogart prices
too high.-..school lunch
stinks,...lower prices...fire
everyone...let us go where we
want...Mrs. Regan brought at­tention
to the fact that also in the
article, the students were at­tacking
other students for
throwing garbage and leaving a
mess within the cafeterias. Mr.
Miklas, referring to open cam­pus,
said:..many school districts
instituted an open campus over
three years ago and have since
closed it because of the com­munity
reaction and
businessmen in particular,
complained because the students
created havoc....The students
replied that ..if elementary
students could go home for lunch
why couldn't high school
students?
In regard to study halls, John
Murphy stated...there were
problems, the students don't
go...they cut it completely and
sign out with phony passes. He
continued...study hall serve
nothing for the students
K...students leave the
building...there is no way too
cover all exits... I can walk out in
front of administrators, teachers
and monitors....It was noted that
the average senior has ap­proximately
2 to 4 study and
lunch- period per day.
Mr..' Slavin asked why the
students had retained a lawyer
and John Murphy indicated that
the lawyer acted as an advisor to
iron out legal problems before the
students came before the Board
of Education.
The students suggested
variations of the open campus
program such as a trial period;
lunch and-or study only; junior
class lunch; senior and junior
class lunch; change homeroom to
after 1st period....Mr. Slavin
thanked the students for their
presentation and advised them
that the Board would take their
proposals into consideration and
discussion and requested the
students to obtain and submit to
the Board a list of all districts
where open campus is currently
operating.
REGULAR AGENDA
The minutes of the meeting of
April 24 were approved with the
following correction: (regarding
the Bethpage Congress of
Teachers grievance in class
load), minutes corrected to read
100 students per maximum per
English teacher. The minutes of
May 10 a~nd May 17 were also
approved.
Under Board Communications
a letter was received from the
Operations Unit requesting a
meeting with the Board to discuss
the elimination of the school
monitors in the junior and senior
high schools and to, discuss
demands under Taylor Law for
their Unit.
A letter was received from the*1
Bethpage Education League,
applauding the proposal for the
daytime Adult Education
program in the Bloomingdale
School. They urged prompt ac­tion
on the proposal and offered
services to work with-the Ad­visory
Committee. Mr. Slavin
indicated he would inform Mrs.
Ramis that the subject was still
under discussion.
Under the Superintendent's
Report, the following action took
place: Resignations were ac-
(Continued on Page 61
Districts will be voting on
Wednesday, June 13. They are:
BETHPAGE-12 Noon-10 PM in
Bethpage High School
auditorium.
Voters will vote on the
proposed $12,035,847 school
budget, which means an
estimated tax rate of $12,665 per
$100 Assessed Valuation, an in­crease
of 41Vfe cents over the 1972-
73 rate.
Elections will also be held for
two 3-year School Board terms.
The incumbent Kestutis K.
Miklas is running against Harold
Resnik. Opposing Anthony J.
Lofaso in his bid for reelection is
Mrs. Elizabeth Marinuzzi
Gackowsky.
Voting on the proposed $261,469
l«7a--/4 library bw«Hs«»t «W«1 «l»o
take place. $255,419 of this budget
will be raised by tax levy,
meaning a rate of 45Vfe cents per
$100 Assessed Valuation, an in­crease
of less than 3 cents.
Incumbent Leon Carlen will
seek reelection to his 3-year
Library Board term unopposed.
PLAINEDGE-12 Noon-10 PM in
five elementary schools ac­cording
to District divisions.
Elections will be conducted for
three 3-year trustee seats on the
Board of Education. Incumbent
Terri Bahnken is being opposed
by Bob Galante. Mr. Gagliardo is
seeking reelection against Frank
Corrado. Opposing Mr. Walsh in
his-bid for reelection is Russ
Weber.
Three propositions will also be
voted on: •
a tax rate of $15.58 per $100
Assessed Valuation. This is a
$1.20 increase over the current
$14 35 rate
PROPOSITION II-$350,000
Renovation Bond Issue
PROPOSITION III-$316,495
Library budget, which means a
tax rate of 70 cents per $100
Assessed Valuation, an increase
of 4 cents.
ISLAND TREES-2-9 PM in island
Trees High School.
The proposed school budget of
$9,727,835, which entails an ap­proximate
tax rate of $14.05 per
$100 assessed Valuation, will be
presented for approval by
District voters.
Two 3-year School Board terms
will also be filled at this voting.
Incumbent M»ian £™E». ^ J S i " .
Opposing Robert Evans in hia bid
for reelection is Richard
Melchers.
Roncallo Petal Research Bill
Scores Major Triumph
W a s h i n g t o n , D.C.,
Congressman Angelo D. RON­CALLO
(R-NY) scored a major
victory today in a fight on the
House Floor which pitted the
M a s s a p e q u a Freshman
Republican against the
Democratic leadership of the
House Interstae and Foreign
Commerce Committee. Ron-callo's
amendment to the Bio-
Medical Research bill prohibited
live fetus research on a living
fetus which is "outside the womb
of its mother and is alive with a
beating heart."
In a strongly worded statement
to his House colleagues, Roncallo
said that if live fetus research is
allowed to proceed we must fear
for what the next logical steps
$ Plainedge $
would be... "vivisection of our
terminally ill or the han­dicapped."
He stressed that Congress must
take back the reins in making
policy and not allow Executive
agencies such as NIH to make
policy. "Today we would let the
National Institutes of Health
decide if funds are to be spent on
live fetus research-it Is our
responsibility to legislate and
their duty -to execute our
policies."
Roncallo underlined that his
bill was not an anti-abortion bill
but that his amendment simply
ruled out research on a live fetus.
He asked that his colleagues not
confuse the issue with the
separate and distinct abortion
measures now pending before the
House. "This measure has to do
with fetus research. We are not
concerned with how the fetus
arrived on the operating
table...we are concerned that it is
a human life and is entitled to the
same dignity as any other human
life."
After his remarks Roncallo
received several expressions - of
support from both sides of the
aisles. His amendment passed
354-9 and the bill passed im­mediately
afterward 361-5. His
amendment was the first
Freshman-sponsored amend­ment
to pass the House this year.
See Page 4 COMMENT
-.- ~- ™_:—Ar.a tov rato rounding effects of inflation and
By Richard Wood
The --. Plainedge Board of
Education laid its $13,460,567
school budget before the public
Thursday evening May 31, 1973.
The 1973-74 budget, calling for
an estimated tax rate of $15.58
per $100 of assessed valuation,
met with little opposition and
criticism as most aspects had
been discussed with the public on
prior occasions.
At the board's May 10th budget
adoption meeting, the board had
projected a„tax rate of $15.27 -
$15.87, stating that the figures
were dependent on the outcome
of a $246,000 additional state aid
bill.
However,' the state aid bill
placed before Governor
Rockefeller , by Albany
lawmakers allows only 2.5% in
additional aid versus an an­ticipated
rate of 5.5% , thereby
eliminating any chance for a
$15.27 Plainedge tax rate
Reduced state aid, coupled
with inflation and generally
decreasing assistance from the
state, were the principal reasons
for the $1.20 increase in the
community's tax rate.
As a contrast, last year the
district's outlay for each child
was $1,988. For the 1973-74 year,
the cost will rise to $2,171.
Because of decreasing State Aid,
the community is now forced to
contribute $1,006 of the new total
compared to $907-for the 1972-73
year.
Decreasing assistance from the
state can be seen by the
following: In 1967-68 the state
contributed 57% of the total
Plainedge educational cost. By
.1970-71 it had dropped to 53% For
the 1973-74 Fiscal year it had
fallen off to 49%.
These figures translate into an
8% increase in the community's
tax role over the past seven
years, excluding the com-l
l l i i i i m i i i i >
pounding effects of inflation and
soaring costs.
By way of another comparison,
the district last year paid
$12,724,41)9;, tfr educate 6,400
children. During 1973-74 it will
pay $736,158 more to educate 200
fewer children.
59.3% df the 1973-74 Plainedge
budget dollar' will go towards
regular day school instruction,
16.2% to undistributed expenses
(insurance, pensions, social
security, etc), 9.4% to operation
and maintenance,-7.8% to debt
service, 4.1% to administration
and special programs, and 3.2%to
transportation.
Board of Education expenses
were up $5,000 from $40,570 to
$45,635 primarily because of
increased negotiation expenses."
Central Administration ex­penses
stayed fairly level, up
only $8,000 from $342,036 to
$350,391.
In the area of regular day
(Continued on Page 4)