George Klein
 
He was promised a phone because of all the calls they had to make checking on kids since the State paid the district only for kids in attendance. The more kids in school the more State Aid the district received. This was at the same time the anticipated growth of the District was exploding. The numbers were increasing so fast the District was beginning to lose control of the process. The High School was in Bay Shore, 7th and 8th Grade was in Village School, and all the other classrooms were in storefronts and Fire Houses in town. The first Elementary School built and finished was South East Elementary. Jim Mitchell was the Principal. His school was set up and opened before the paint dried. He was all over town in 1955 and 1956 He was in the Presbyterian Church, the Fire House, Episcopal Church, and the Catholic Church Hall etc. Brentwood HS opened in 1957. Next was North East Elementary and Southwest Elementary. This was a frenetic boom time with lines of parents and students out the door to the street all day until 7 pm at night. George also was given the task of coordinating transportation for the district at the very beginning from Guy DiPietro. The district never operated its own bus service. It had a total of four major Contractors over the years and functioned seamlessly all during the energy crisis. Ed Franchi provided major assistance to George with all things transportation as also did Gae Grobluski. They kept all 160 busses running every school day with classes beginning at 7 am and going until to11pm.  
   It is at this point forty-seven minutes into the interview that George begins addressing acceptance of a career position with the District. Thus, in both the interest of time and inclusion what follows in no particular sequence is more cursory an outline of names and events than a life line of experiences included up to now
   His stated consistent purpose from the very beginning had been to have fun with his role and to do whatever he could to avoid becoming embroiled in local/district politics of which there was no shortage.
    Fred Weaver stories were plentiful as were accounts of the long suffering Beryl Knott and her husband Pat. His stories of Confraternity dismissals and Stan Yankowski walking students from the High School to St Anne’s are classic Golden Age reminiscences.
    On one particular Sunday morning Fred Weaver entered the Ross Building to finish some paper work left to complete.. When he arrived he found a dead brown bear seated behind the Principals desk in his chair. It was suspected a certain Industrial Arts Teacher whose initials were RP was somehow behind the plot. There was another occasion when his Ford coup was driven into the auto shop class at the high school for an oil change and all four wheels were welded to the axle from both sides making it impossible to remove a tire to fix a flat.
   Of course there were gangs in Brentwood well before the present threat presented itself. This was a veritable wild west with the syndicate Italian gangs The Monarchs, and Puerto Rican gangs The Enchanters, Spanish defenders of Brentwood’s honor, who brought guns to the street to threaten it’s rural quiet. You will hear how George with his truant officer background and teaching experience with State police connection made inroads into the organizations to broker peace between them, collected weapons and built community support for successful gang dances held in the Parish Hall at St Anne’s. Was he ever afraid to do what he did in Brentwood? Absolutely, recounting evening visits to Edgewood neighborhoods with or without backup running checks on truant youngsters for whose attendance he was responsible. Speaking of working at night, many of the staff members volunteered their time to supervise night programs at the new Southeast Elementary School for such programs as weight-lifting, basket ball, etc. Soon thereafter, the Board of Education authorized future payments to these volunteers for their services. Grants were then received to pay their services. Jack Finan was the night-school supervisor and grant-program supervisor. This all helped the Brentwood Board of Education to convince the Town of Islip to build` its first Recreation Center for serving at-risk kids very well, gaining the kids’ trust.
   When I asked about the making of the 1960’s movie The Challenge of Change at Brentwood High School that included a role for an aspiring young actor named Martin Sheen – he recalled the thick of the action as the District actively sought State and Federal Grants to enhance the new guidance program. Those were the days of the so called Fire House Five, Board of Education, following which one of its members, Ed Sonderling, was immortalized in the naming of the new High School.
    He remembered saving the day on the occasion of a big game when half the basketball team was stuck on Southern State Parkway when their car broke down preventing them from reaching the gym and risking forfeiture of their game. Their coach was jumping for joy when George came speeding onto the grounds of the high school with the rescued team members just in the nick of time
    When Brown vs Board of Education (1954) called attention to the inequities in public education with respect to racial parity, Brentwood was cited for its system of neighborhood schools that resulted in patterns of violations that were deemed unacceptable. South Elementary was located in a predominantly industrial area that was home to many residents of African-American and Hispanic Heritage. When the neighborhood school was ordered closed by the Board its’ students were moved to other schools in the district.
   Conrad Follansbee was the Principal of the High School Annex on Paradise Lane. As the person responsible for keeping records of attendance for all the schools in the district, George knew what Conrad was expected to accomplish. “He was a Saint” is what he said, given the difficulty of his assignment. The South Elementary housed the Alternative School, Special Education Classes, BOCES Classes from the High School, Head Start and some Administrative Offices. To do his job well Mr. Follansbee had to wear many hats. He had to be different people for different clients. As the first home of The Maslow-Toffler School when it was established, George wrote several letters to Conrad complimenting him on the exceptional attendance record achieved by M-T. The better the attendance overall, the more State Aide collected by the District for Brentwood’s taxpayers and ultimately its students. M-T students set an example for the district. The State scheduled several audits of our business practices for successive years. They couldn’t believe the return Brentwood was receiving from the State of New York. They thought we must be doing something illegal. On the contrary, there was nothing wrong. There were simply so many new students being registered for so many years and consistently demonstrating excellent attendance.
   The district was always strict on its residency requirement and the staff worked overtime to make sure they were keeping up with a growing population. In other words, before there was a BTA or BPSO, or before the union or NYSUT was established in Brentwood George and his staff worked seven days a week.
   They were marking their cards, even though they weren’t supposed to. They were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. Joe Rotollo and his work with data processing sheets was essential to the work George was doing with the census and attendance. Ruth Schulman was a part time Secretary. John Galaris and Evelyn Vannoy were indispensable. The roles filled by Nikkei Ninn with ESL and the Bi-Lingual Program where 54 languages were spoken in the district at that time were vital. Frank Spenser was brought in followed by Moe Green when they worked on the Index. Fred Hose was there.
   When radios were acquired to facilitate the work of the district in 1961 Ed Franchi joined George in Transportation. That was when they were located in the sand pit if anyone remembers. Soon other districts followed George’s example and radios became indispensable.
   Dr Naninni was approached by Everett Reese with a proposal for starting a radio station for students. He rejected the idea. It wasn’t until Guy DiPietro became the first Superintendent of the District that he saw value in petitioning the FCC. Everett and George worked together to make WXBA a reality for many of Brentwood’s students who blazed successful career paths in that direction. It was 88.1 on the dial at 17 ½ watts. It’s now 100 - 180 watts and covers all of Brentwood
   There came a time when our nine person Board was split along philosophical lines and five /four votes on most issues before them was commonplace. George watched as Guy DiPietro who had been a gift to Brentwood from the point at which he arrived was put under increasing stress by his opponents on the Board.
   During those decades political economy and expanding job descriptions became the order of the day. The Board insisted on reducing the number of administrative positions by firings at the top. Gerry Smith, Art Breiger, Dick Avis and others were summarily let go. Following a sharing of their responsibilities fifteen new directors all reported in person to Guy on Thursday of each week. It was as if the Board of Education was trying to kill him.
  During his tenure George watched Sabbaticals disappear though he never asked for or received one. All the while he continued to advance his course work. He received his Guidance Counselor Certification, Supervisor Certificate, his Principals Certification, became an Attendance Teacher, received District Administrators Certification all while attending night courses at various local colleges and universities..The pressure of many of his responsibilities began finally getting to him and he increasingly suffered from migraines. One of the most profound discoveries he made in his time was his ability to build and effectively coordinate teamwork between and among colleagues and employees and the community. He voices opinions on many different subjects and near the end of his career continued unsuccessfully to try building Radio Stations elsewhere. One unfinished dream of his for Brentwood was the creation of an Educational Television Station.. He was and remains a visionary and a champion of futuristic models and methods of progressive public education.

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