The Wheatley
School Alumni Association Newsletter # 278
Linda Beattie 1960 Matt Smith 1980 Alan
Littman 1981 Barbara Burri 1971 Renee Gershen 1960 Howard Grindlinger 1962
Barry Gordon 1965 Shirley Vogl 1967 Richard Lowell 1974 Leslie Wolowitz 1968
Dear Wheatley
Wildcats and Other Interested Persons, Welcome to the Wheatley
School Alumni Association Newsletter # 278,
North Side Safety and Larger Issues
1980 - Matt Smith - Dear Wheatley School Alumni Association, I was disappointed by the
recent commentary regarding the North Side School safety issue. Closing off
the school grounds does not seem appropriate for a community that has
historically been one of the safest in the country. Having lived and worked
in this area for my entire life, including serving as President of the
Wheatley Hills Golf Club, I believe the discussion should reflect a better
understanding of the community and its residents. As a longtime local real
estate professional and a member of the Wheatley Class of 1980, I also feel
that some of the newsletter’s commentary over the years has come across as
unnecessarily biased, divisive, and, at times, offensive. That does not
reflect the Wheatley Community I remember. I attended school
alongside Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim classmates, and that
diversity was an important and positive part of my experience. The Newsletter
should encourage that same sense of respect and connection rather than
contribute to the division that already exists in the world. Perhaps it is time to
consider bringing in additional editorial perspectives or new leadership.
Alumni such as Scott Barshay of Paul Weiss, Class of 1984, may be able to
help guide the newsletter in a more inclusive and constructive direction. These are simply my
thoughts, offered in the hope that future discussions will be more balanced
and respectful. All the best, Matt Smith, Class of 1980 1981 - Alan Littman - “Wheatley Community, My name is Alan Littman.
I’m a graduate of the Class of 1981 and a former East Williston school board
member. During my time on the board, we proposed building a fence around
North Side. I remember those meetings clearly, and I remember that the
opposition was rarely about student safety — it was almost always about how
the fence would look. I’m seeing the same
arguments resurface today, and after the most recent incident — a driver
experiencing a medical emergency crashing a car into the school — I think
it’s worth revisiting them honestly. “Nothing has happened before.” That isn’t a safety plan,
it’s a bet on luck. No investor holds a stock because ‘it hasn’t gone down
yet.’ Past absence of a tragedy is not evidence that one won’t occur — it’s
simply the record so far. Nassau County police have recommended a fence. When
the professionals whose job it is to assess these risks give a
recommendation, dismissing it because we’ve been fortunate until now is not a
serious counterargument. “It will look institutional, or
like a prison.” Almost everyone raising
this concern has a fence around their own home. I do too, and I’d gladly
trade it for the more thoughtfully designed fence we proposed for Northside
years ago. Aesthetics are a legitimate design consideration — they’re a
reason to push for good design, not a reason to reject a fence outright. “A fence won’t stop a determined
attacker.” True, and no single
measure will stop every possible threat. That’s not an argument against
layered security, it’s the reason for it. If you search for “why fences don’t
work” or “why armed guards don’t work,” you’ll find articles supporting
whatever conclusion you already hold. The professionals recommending these
measures aren’t claiming any one of them is a silver bullet — they’re
describing a layered approach where each piece reduces risk. On security staffing: I support having armed,
trained personnel — off-duty or retired police — at our schools. Nassau
County law doesn’t currently permit civilians to carry on school grounds, but
retired and off-duty officers are a real option worth pursuing. An unarmed
guard, in a worst-case scenario, is often just the first person put at risk. A question worth asking: Has any community that
suffered a school shooting ever said, beforehand, “this could happen to us”?
Nearly all of them believed it couldn’t — until it did. I understand that some of
the people most invested in how the campus looks attended these schools
decades ago, when the safety landscape was very different. I’d ask that we
weigh their aesthetic preferences against the safety guidance of the
professionals we’ve asked to advise us today. I’d like us to focus on
our children and follow the recommendations of the security professionals,
even where that means the campus looks different than it used to. I support
this fully — including personally contributing toward getting it built. Alan Littman Class of ’81, former East
Williston Board of Education member” Art Engoron (1967) Responds - Alan’s repeated
obeisance to security professionals reminds me of that aphorism, “To a
hammer, all the world is a nail.” Not surprisingly, if you ask a security
professional what should be done in a situation, the response will be,
“provide security.” That’s what security professionals do. That’s their
institutional bias. Alan Littman (1981) Replies - “Art, ‘obeisance’ is an odd word to use for taking
professional guidance seriously. When your doctor recommends a treatment, do
you follow it because you’re a blind subject bowing to authority, or because
you value expertise you don’t have? I’d guess the latter. I extend the same
courtesy to the Nassau County police when they assess a physical security
risk at a school — that’s not obeisance, it’s respect for people who do this
for a living and have seen what happens when communities don’t. Your hammer-and-nail line
is clever, but it proves too much. By that logic, we should discount any
professional’s recommendation in their own field, since of course a security
expert recommends security, a doctor recommends treatment, an engineer
recommends structural fixes. If ‘the recommendation matches their job is
disqualifying, no professional advice survives — including whichever experts
you’d cite to make a case against a fence. That’s not
skepticism, it’s a way to dismiss any conclusion you didn’t want to hear. I’m not asking anyone to
defer to security professionals on aesthetics, or on how to run the school,
or on anything outside their expertise. I’m asking that on the narrow
question of physical risk to students, we weigh the judgment of the people
trained to assess it. That’s the same standard I’d apply if my oncologist
told me something I didn’t want to hear. Alan Art Rejoins - I stand by what I wrote - ‘Obeisance’
is an uncommon word, but it is appropriate here……this, from
Google’s A.I.: “blindly following a……powerful influence.” Alan is not blind,
but he’s asking us to suspend, or at least downplay, our personal,
independent judgments. Alan’s doctor analogy is
based on a false premise, to wit, that I follow doctors’ recommendations.
Often, I don’t (and I am perfectly healthy at 77). BTW, my wonderful doctor
knows that often I don’t follow her advice; she is philosophical and
good-natured about it. Nassau County police
recommendations have a certain facial appeal; but a fence might attract the
notice and stoke the imagination of evil-doers and could trap people on the
inside; and those recommendations probably do not take aesthetics into
account (with which the police are not being tasked). I don’t suggest
“discounting” expert opinion; I suggest assessing it independently, including
considering its source. I don’t think that we should go to war every time a
general recommends it. The school district
should not ignore security professionals’ advice, but neither should it
follow it blindly. I oppose guns in general,
and I adamantly oppose guns in schools……which, it is well-documented,
occasionally results in tragedy. Finally, I own and live
in a private house in the New York City suburbs, and despite Alan’s
generalization, I do not have a fence around it (and anyway, there’s nothing
worth stealing). The
Great STEM Debate
Barbara Burri (1971) Writes - “I disagree with Dr. Howard Grindlinger (1962) about
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). I was certainly a
benefactor of a strong STEM education at Wheatley, going on to engineering
school, an MBA, then working in high tech as a systems engineer and IT
director before going back to school in the veterinary medicine field. And
yes, there has been a time where the STEM subjects were not promoted, but at
least here in New England, that time is over. There is a lot of activity
promoting STEM in the schools around here, and interestingly enough, while he
alludes to ‘charter schools’, one of my former Girl Scouts is now the
principal of a charter school whose focus is Arts and STEM, and the
activities those children do are intensive, educational, and often astound
the adults who get the privilege of seeing the resulting activities. STEM is
not dead, and it is very much encouraged in the schools in my area.” Local
Museum Report
Renee Gershen Nadel (1960) Writes - “Hi Art, I recently learned of a museum that may be
of interest to folks still living in the ‘old neighborhood.’ The Museum
of Disability History, the only museum of its kind, is
located at the Viscardi Center in Albertson. The
address is 201 I.U. Willets Road. There are over 125 artifacts highlighting
the fight for equal opportunity for people with disabilities. I have not been
there, but it sounds interesting and certainly unique. Thanks, Renee Graduates
1962 - Howard Grindlinger, MD - “Hyman Rickover was too abrasive and perfectionistic a
soul to manage any administrative position. He remained a full Navy Admiral
but never became Secretary of the Navy. However, both in
Education reform and in the Naval Submarine Fleet, he was felt to be too
valuable to allow to retire. He remained in the Navy as a Uniformed Admiral
(at the end of his career) for over 60 years! 1965 - Barry Gordon - “I worked for Admiral Rickover for six years when I was
with Westinghouse Bettis right out of Carnegie Mellon. However, I only had a
chance to see him when he visited our laboratory. He loved our scanning
electron microscope! He was an outstanding engineer, but was not much of a
materials corrosion person. In fact, I would not have such a great career
rusting and busting materials if it wasn’t for his selection of poor
corrosion resistant alloys in the nuclear industry. I teach Rickover’s
‘Technical Program Principals,’ ‘Organizational Program Principals,’ and
‘Submarine Engineering Objectives’ in my nuclear corrosion classes.” 1967 - Shirley Vogl Quarantello -
Bomb Scares During My Wheatley Years Shirley Writes - “The few bomb scares that were called in (probably by
my classmates) were nothing more than a chance to go outside on the school
grounds for a short time while the lockers were checked. None of us were
afraid that they would find a bomb. It was a lark, and we all knew it. I miss
the world as we knew it. I also look back on my years at North Side fondly in
those times of innocence. I am so sad for those growing up in this world
today.” 1967 + 1968 - Shep Messing (1967)
and Leslie Wolowitz (1968) Leslie Writes - “I just finished a New York Post crossword puzzle from
Aug 4 in which a clue was ‘soccer commentator Messing’ and
the answer was ‘Shep.’” 1967 - Art Engoron - Around Town
L-R - Art, MBDE, Scott
Art and MBDE under water 1974 - Richard Lowell - “Art: In your most recent Newsletter, one of your alum
submissions (from Howard Grindlinger, MD, (1962))
advises that Admiral Hyman Rickover was a Secretary of the Navy. As a graduate of the
Naval Academy and an officer in the Navy submarine fleet back in the late
70’s and early 80’s — and more importantly, having been personally
interviewed by Adm. Rickover — I can say that he was never Secretary of the
Navy. He was – for quite some time - Director of Naval Reactors - and
generally considered the Father of the U.S. Nuclear Navy. He was, also, a
cantankerous, quirky, and amazing historic individual. I mention this only
because Dr. Grindlinger noted that he had co-authored an
academic paper addressing Adm. Rickover that had passed a first review and
was expected, ultimately, to be published. I would ask you to reach back to
your Wheatley alum contributor and recommend he look into this issue before
final publication. I would have graduated
from Wheatley in 1974, but after an upbringing in Roslyn Heights, I ended up
moving to Pennsylvania in the middle of 9th grade. I
still maintain friendships with many Wheatley ‘74s with whom I’ve been
friends since elementary school. Rick” Fan Mail
Faculty (Stephen Ehre) - ❤️ 1964 (Richard Ilsley) - ❤️ 1964 (Davida Tunis Philips) - ❤️ 1965 (Barry Gordon) - “Thank you for the latest Wheatley School Association
Newsletter, # 277, especially because it included Howard
Grindlinger's (1962) article on Admiral (and fellow landsman
[I am also a Polish Jew]) Rickover. Thank you again for all your hard work
for us Wildcats!” 1967 (Barbara Smith Stanisic) - “Thanks again, Art, for another great issue.” ❤️ 1968 (Patti Garin Abelson) - ❤️ 1974 (Richard Lowell) - “Thanks, as always, for all you do on behalf of
Wheatley.” Non-Wheatley (MBDE) - ❤️ The Usual Words of Wisdom
All underlined text is a
link-to-a-link or a link-to-an-email-address. Clicking anywhere on underlined
text, and then clicking on the text that pops up will get you to your on-line
destination or will address an email. Thanks to our fabulous
Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale
yourself with the first 275 or so Wheatley School Alumni Association
Newsletters (and much other Wheatley data and arcana) at our website: The Wheatley School Alumni Association Website Also thanks to Keith is
our search engine, prominently displayed on our home page: type in a word or
phrase and, wow!, you’ll find every place it exists in all previous
Newsletters and other on-site material. I edit all submissions,
even material in quotes, for clarity and concision, without any indication
thereof. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of what people tell me, as TWSAA
does not have a New Yorker style Fact-Checking Department. We welcome any and all
text and photos relevant to The Wheatley School, 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury,
NY 11568, and the people who administered, taught, worked,
performed, and/or studied there. Art Engoron, Class of 1967 Closing
That’s it for The
Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 278. Please send me your
autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary. Art |
