Huntington School Briefs
A retirement party for Huntington High School faculty and staff members Jane Caruso, Connie DeGrassi, Joan Lehnert, Tom Masone and Angelo Noce (who is unable to attend) is planned for Tuesday, June 12 from 6-10 p.m. at the Fox Hollow Inn in Woodbury. Tickets are on sale for $70, which includes a contribution for gifts that will be presented to the five retirees.
The evening will include a full cocktail hour with hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, dinner choices consisting of chateaubriand steak, chicken princess or salmon classic, a selection of unlimited refreshments during the full length of the event, dessert, tea and coffee.
To reserve a seat, send a check in the appropriate amount payable to HHS Gift Fund by May 24 to Martha Ironman or Pat Dillon at Huntington High School (Oakwood & McKay Roads, Huntington, NY 11743).
The Marathon Woman
Washington Primary School teacher Wendy Bonilla is busy these days in and out of the classroom. The third grade dual language program teacher is training for the Long Island Marathon on Sunday, May 6. She will compete in the half-marathon division, which covers 13.1 miles.
The Washington teacher is following a strict training regimen, including short and long runs. Ms. Bonilla trains with a friend and is excited about the upcoming race. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in January 2001 at Boston University. She obtained a master's in bilingual early childhood education at Bank Street College of Education in May 2007.
Prior to coming to Huntington in 2009, Ms. Bonilla worked in Columbia University's Head Start program as a pre-K teacher (2002 to 2005) and in Brooklyn at PS 65, the Little Red School House as a dual language teacher for grades 1-3 (2005 to 2009). She received tenure on September 1, 2011.
The race will kick-off at 8 a.m. on Charles Lindbergh Blvd. in Uniondale near the Nassau Coliseum and pass through the Nassau Hub area and then past RXR's Omni Building and along Museum Row and go by the Mitchel Athletic Complex before heading off to Post Road and the Village of Westbury, Jericho Turnpike, Brush Hollow Road and eventually the Wantagh Parkway. The race will finish in Eisenhower Park.
BOE Budget Hearing
The Huntington School Board will conduct at budget hearing on the 2012/13 budget on Monday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jack Abrams School auditorium. The public is invited to attend.
District residents will vote on the budget, a separate capital reserve fund proposition and elect three trustees on Tuesday, May 15 from 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. in the Huntington High School lobby.
HVLAX Fun Day
The Huntington Village Lacrosse Club will hold its second annual Family Fun Day on Sunday, May 6 at Huntington High School from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The day is in memory of former Blue Devil athletic star Courtney O'Bryan and local parent and coach Michael Luckow, two people beloved by the community who passed away much too soon. The day is about "celebrating, remembering and having fun," according to organizers.
The day will feature 26 boys' and girls' lacrosse games, food, music, giveaways, contests, raffles and lots of fun. Contact Bob Keys (516-901-3964) or Rob Sullivan (516-909-5360) for more information or to get involved in the event by making a donation of goods.
It Almost Happened
Today it's home to more than 650 fifth and sixth graders, but more than 50 years ago, the current Woodhull elementary school site was eyed as a possible location for a junior high school that a Huntington School District citizens committee knew would have to be built before long.
The Huntington School Board approved the report of the Junior High School Citizens Committee at its February 10, 1959 meeting. The main recommendation of the committee was that "The voters of the district be requested to authorize a bond issue not to exceed $1.3 million to provide for the immediate complete renovation of Simpson High School for 750 students."
Simpson, as Huntington High School was then known, was named after Robert L. Simpson, who served as principal of the high school from 1930 to 1950. It was located on Main Street in Huntington in what is now town hall. After the building was vacated on November 26, 1958 when the current Huntington High School opened, district officials readied a plan to convert it into a modern junior high school.
The committee report, which was published in a March 1959 school newsletter mailed to district residents, included a section on the land that would later become the grounds of Woodhull Elementary School. The committee was established by the Huntington School Board in September 1958 to survey future junior high school requirements and to determine if Simpson High School "should be renovated in accordance with the Board's 1953 recommendation or otherwise disposed of."
According to the report: "Current enrollment in kindergarten and primary grades (children in being) coupled with the delay in approval and construction of the new high school have compressed the Junior High School construction program into a short period of time. Based upon available data, there will be a definite need for occupancy in 1963 or 1964 of a third Junior High School in our District, with a capacity of 750 to 1000 students if we are to prevent overcrowding such as we now have in Toaz Junior High School."
The committee recommended looking at the Woodhull site as a possible solution. "The School District owns approximately 23 acres of undeveloped property south of the Village Green School. This land (hereinafter referred to as the Woodhull site) was acquired in 1949 for about $700 per acre and is now tax exempt. With the addition of six acres to the south it would be a satisfactory site for the construction of a third Junior High School, or alternatively for an additional elementary school which will be required in the near future."
The report also noted that even in 1959, undeveloped land was quickly disappearing in Huntington. "In 1955 a former Citizens Committee considered ten available sites for a Senior High School (excluding Woodhull). At the present time only three of these remain available in the district with sufficient acreage."
The committee recommended "That no other use or disposal be made of the Woodhull site pending further study inasmuch as it appears to be a favorable site for location of the required third Junior High School or for another elementary school."
What happened next belongs to history. Simpson was converted into a junior high school following voter approval of a bond to renovate and update the facility. It reopened in 1961 as R.L. Simpson Junior High School and continued to operate through June 1976. It was then closed and eventually sold to the Town of Huntington for use as its new town hall.
Instead of building a third junior high school on the grounds of the Woodhull property, the district purchased a plot of land south of Rte. 25A on Greenlawn Road and erected a new school, naming it after longtime administrator and later superintendent J. Taylor Finley. It opened in 1965 and for many years also featured a sixth grade wing.
Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary School opened in late January 1967 and initially housed kindergarten through sixth grades. It absorbed the entire student population from the old Roosevelt Elementary School, which was demolished during the 1960's urban renewal craze to make way for Huntington Elementary School, which was built with a capacity of 1,000 students.