Thank goodness Brown isn’t like Egdorf

Shortly before Irene forced her way through Oceanside, many residents received an automated message from Oceanside Schools Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown. By wishing for everyone’s safety and informing us that scheduled activities were cancelled, Dr. Brown’s actions were in sharp contrast to one of his predecessors, MacDonald Egdorf.

Following the retirement of the universally respected Dr. Walter S. Boardman, Egdorf was hired as Oceanside’s School Superintendent in the summer of 1959. Needless to say, being Boardman’s successor was no easy task. And while there were grumblings surrounding Egdorf’s management style and personality from the start, it was his handling of Hurricane Donna that proved to be the catalyst for his ultimate downfall.

On Monday morning, Sept. 12, 1960, Hurricane Donna approached Long Island. There were no mandatory evacuations. Despite the fact that Donna had been terrorizing the country’s east coast as well as the Caribbean for the previous two weeks, the Oceanside schools were open. As students attended class, the seven school principals waited to receive instructions on how to respond to the impending situation from the superintendent. Egdorf, however, could not be located. As Donna came closer, a controversial decision was made to send the students home from school.

The following School Board meeting contained a large number of irate parents. The Board and Administration were harshly criticized for sending students home during critical hours of the hurricane, unnecessarily endangering their health and safety. Many of the principals came under fire. To make matters worse, it was rumored that Egdorf was not even physically present in the school district on this day! The Board ordered an immediate investigation. School Board Trustee Andrew Southard angrily declared, “There is something wrong when the man we are paying $24,000 a year is out working on his boat instead of being on hand to direct things during a crisis of this sort!” ($24,000 is the equivalent of approximately $180,000 in 2011)

Despite the Board’s prompt adoption of an emergency dismissal policy, Egdorf’s relationship with the School Board never recovered. Finally, at a special meeting on March 6, 1961, the Board passed a motion “that the services of MacDonald F. Egdorf as Superintendent of Schools be terminated as of this date.” The motion passed 4-1, with Board President Thomas Morgan, Albert David Jordan, William Hauser and Southard in favor and opposed only by John Vandermosten. After unanimously appointing Fordyce Stone as the Acting Superintendent, Egdorf was informed of the Board’s decision by Counsel David Shane.

Publicly, the Board’s reasons for Egdorf’s dismissal were quite secretive. Its only statement was that Egdorf’s services were dismissed due to “basic differences.” Despite the public’s demand for a more comprehensive explanation, the Board remained extremely secretive over its decision. Morgan would only add that Egdorf’s honesty and integrity were not involved in its decision. A publicity circus ensued as more than 700 angry residents showed up at the following month’s Board meeting upset at the summary firing. People continually asked, “why?” and, “what’s the secret?” Egdorf and his attorney also attended the meeting and to serve court papers to appeal the Board’s decision. Egdorf claimed that he was in “complete surprise” by the Board’s action. It was widely believed there other factors with the Board’s decision than just Egdorf’s mishandling of Hurricane Donna. It would not be until the end of 1961 that the public learned of the reasons behind Egdorf’s dismissal — but that will be saved for a future column.

The Board’s secretive handling of this situation also had a direct effect on the School Board election in 1961. Jordon suddenly found himself challenged by Arthur Iger and Raymond Glier in his re-election bid. Both candidates were highly critical of the Board’s secretive nature, with Iger explicitly deploring its withholding of such vital information.

In 2011, Oceanside is fortunate to have a superintendent who proactively tries to assist in the community’s well-being. While automated phone calls did not exist in 1960, we can only speculate on whether Egdorf’s legacy in the Oceanside School District would have been different had he proactively prepared for Hurricane Donna.

Seth J. Blau is Vice President of the Oceanside Education Foundation (OEF), a non-profit organization with goal of helping students of the Oceanside School District obtain a sense of local history by discovering, preserving and displaying the history of our community. Anyone who wishes to share stories, memories and experiences involving life in Oceanside is welcome to contact OEF at 145 Merle Avenue, Oceanside, NY or oef@schoolhousegreen.org.