By:Cindy J. Roth
The Little Village School for children and infants with developmental disabilities held its Moving On graduation ceremony June 19 for the class of 2001. The 30th annual ceremony was special this year because not only are the graduates moving on, so is the school.
Little Village, The Jack Joel Center for Special Children on South St. Marks Avenue, has leased space at the Bellmore School District's Charles Reinhard Ancillary Center for seven years. Little Village officials received word two and a half years ago that their lease would expire in August 2001. Ever since, they have raced to find a new space for the school, which serves children from throughout Nassau County.
Little Village officials announced at the graduation ceremony that Massapequa General Hospital on Hicksville Road would become the school's new home. The move to the one-story facility is expected by July 2002. This next year will be spent doing renovations there.
Little Village Executive Director Barbara Feingold said the move would be the school's sixth in 32 years. This time, however, Little Village is buying the property, rather than leasing, so at long last, the school has found a more-permanent location.
Although Little Village's lease expires this August, the school will lose only about a third of its space this year to the Bellmore School District, which is creating a kindergarten center at Reinhard.
Little Village had tried unsuccessfully to get permits for a new school, which it had proposed in Old Westbury, and wound up in arbitration for nine months until April 2000. Contracts to purchase Massapequa Hospital started last summer and were finalized May 1 this year, making for a complete move next fall impossible, according to Feingold.
Next fall, Little Village's early-intervention program, Committee on Pre-School Education services and some administrative offices will move into the Bellmore-Merrick Central District's Brookside School in North Merrick. Little Village will lease six rooms from the Meadowbrook Road building.
To pay for its new Massapequa home, Little Village started an $11-million fund-raising campaign two years ago. With help of local benefactors, including Amy and Horace Hagedorn, who donated $1 million and whom the new school will be named after, Little Village has raised $3 million. Little Village will bond the building for the difference between the final fundraised money amount and their $11 million goal.
"[We are] all gardeners, so a primary rule is you can't keep taking all the good things out of the Earth; you have to give some stuff back," said Hagedorn, 86, whose donation to Little Village has been the largest to date.
The Hagedorns were some of many who were asked to speak at the ceremony, including several parents of graduating students. Parent James Carman of Dix Hills spoke about the quality of staff at the school and how much his son has grown during his time at Little Village. Carman's son Tim can now dress himself, both buttons and snaps. He also skips, jumps and kicks a ball.
"These are little things, but big things," Carman said. "They mean a lot."
Parent Debbi Venditto of West Hempstead was brought to tears when she spoke about her daughter Jessica's two years at Little Village, the friends she made and the fabulous program. Jessica will attend regular kindergarten in the fall.
Feingold said Little Village's goal is to get its students to a point where they can succeed in school, whether it is in a special program, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services or regular kindergarten classes.
Some of Little Village's students go on to college, like David Dunphy, 21, an alumnus who at the ceremony sang "You'll be in my Heart." His performance received a thunderous applause, which rang throughout the almost-full auditorium. Dunphy, blind and a junior at Marist College upstate, is majoring in communications and wants to pursue a career in radio broadcasting. He boasts a 3.8 grade point average, and said it is nice to return to Little Village and give hope to parents that their children have a bright future. This is the second year Dunphy sang at the Little Village graduation and admits he was a terrible child when he attended the school.
"I was the kid who threw crying fits on the floor," Dunphy said. "I was never agreeable as a kid."
Dunphy was not the only person to sing at the ceremony. Music was a major theme. Students sang "The World is a Rainbow" and "You've Got a Friend in Me." After each student was called to the front of the stage and received a diploma from the school's executive directors, they were prompted to say thank you, as the audience cheered their efforts. The ceremony's high point was the recession of graduates to the song "Go the Distance."
Little Village Executive Director Caryl Bank described the ceremony as bitter sweet. She said it is sad to see the students go, but wishes them the best of luck in their next adventures.
Sidebar:
Little Village can use your help
Send donations to:
The Little Village School Building Fund
2750 So. St. Marks Ave.
Bellmore, NY 11710
For more information call 781-4333
or e-mail carylbank@aol.com
