North Merrick School Board Highlights Historical Milestones

At the outset of the North Merrick School Board meeting, three out of the six invited elementary school students presented their interviews and interviewees for David Feller’s Superintendent’s Challenge Tuesday at Fayette School.

Feller's Superintendent's Challenge was:

Do you remember where you were during the Nov. 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy?

How about when the Japanese made their attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941?

Camp Avenue Elementary school student Emily Halleran’s grandfather, William Halleran, remembered the Pearl Harbor attack well.

William Halleran, 92, enlisted in the United States Navy in 1937 and witnessed the attack first hand when his ship—the USS Phoenix—docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as fifth-grader Emily Halleran said.

“In my grandpa’s own words, he said, ‘it all started on a quiet Sunday morning when I was hanging my skivvy out to dry,’” Emily Halleran read from her interview. “I remember hearing the loud explosion, then I looked out of the port-hole window and I saw a big red meatball on the side of the plane and I said, ‘this is the real thing, we’re at war.’”

William Halleran’s four years in the U.S. Navy were almost complete until the attack forced four more years of defending his country under his belt.

“Before Pearl Harbor, 90 percent of Americans were against the war, but after the attack, the American people were in favor of us defending our country against Japan and Germany,” Emily Halleran said on behalf of her grandfather. “When I went under the Golden Gate Bridge after the war was over, I realized what freedom meant to me: that I can sleep in a bed with a pillow and a blanket and I can pick out what I wanted to eat.”

Next up to present was Old Mill Road Elementary School student, Alexis Mascia, who interviewed her grandmother, Alberta Mak, on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Mak was in a lecture hall as a senior at Penn State University when she and her classmates sat in shock after hearing their president was shot, as sixth-grader Mascia said.

“When my grandmother was telling me this story, at the point of her story when Walter Cronkite announced that President Kennedy had died, she actually started to cry,” Mascia said. “This memory still affected her. When I looked at her like she was crazy, she explained to me that Kennedy was like a rock star to all the college kids … and she couldn’t imagine having Lyndon B. Johnson as her president.”

Mak was even more shocked when the man who supposedly shot Kennedy — Lee Harvey Oswald — was arrested and later shot by Jack Ruby before his court trial.

“[My grandmother] became obsessed with politics and she wanted to find out who really killed Kennedy … like my grandma, I too wanted to find out more about the assassination,” Mascia said. “Right after she told me this, I looked up one of his speeches and wanted to know what he was like. This interview became so interesting and not only did I learn about Kennedy, but I also learned about my grandma.”

The last to present was Samantha Hernandez, a sixth-grade student at Fayette Elementary School who interviewed none other than superintendent Feller himself on, “the tragic end of a president and how a little boy remembered it.”

Feller was in his sixth-grade social studies class when, at 1:32 p.m., his school principal rushed into the classroom to pull his teacher, Mrs. Perry aside and she started crying, as Hernandez said.

“The next few days, my family and I watched the news unfold,” Hernandez read from her interview. “We would never know the real reason behind the assassination. Was it a conspiracy? Or rather a crazed person who shot the president?”

Hernandez continued, “Lyndon Johnson, our new president, was sworn in on an airplane on the way back to the Capitol right after Kennedy was shot. Though Johnson had experience in government, we didn’t have the same hope that we had with Kennedy.”

Feller commented that the presentations, “certainly makes history come to life” and thanked the students and their families for coming.

Before moving on to other news, deputy superintendent, Beth Friedman, wanted to note that, “The superintendent actually commented on every essay and then presented each child that submitted an essay a certificate of appreciation.”

A Camp Avenue mother was very thankful for this and told the board Feller’s personal, specific comments made her daughter very happy and excited.

Superintendent’s Report

• Feller is looking forward to the reflections rewards assembly program. He attended one at Old Mill Road Elementary School whose theme was “Together We Can” and witnessed many talented students.
• May 4 will be the “Keep American Beautiful” program, which will deal with the climate in the country. It is called “A Reason to Smile” and will take place at Lakeside School in Merrick.
• Both Feller and Friedman will be taking “smart walks” to see how the Smart-Boards are being used in each classroom. “They are just 10-15 minute pop-in visits and we’ve been very impressed with how excited the students are in having these devices,” Feller said.
• All Merrick schools recently implemented a delayed opening system in lieu of a full snow day option. “I was pleased that we were able to successfully have a first delayed opening,” Feller said. No school day was lost and he hopes there will not have to be any more delays.
• The “Mitten Tree” student council project at Fayette School is still ongoing, where new mittens were donated to families in need. Also, each of the school’s “Soup-er Bowl” programs donated food to Island Harvest.
•  There will be a Moon Ball Madness event on March 4 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Brookside, which will be, “a fun evening with all sorts of athletic events,” as well as a SEPTA Fashion Show on March 9.
• Lastly, Feller said there will be a legislative, informational meeting on Feb. 11, 9 p.m. at the Salisbury School to get the latest news from Albany and if it will affect Merrick Schools.

 The next board meeting will be on March 8 at 8 p.m.