Cross St. needs 2 sides to find common ground

The Island Now

The debate over the Mineola School Board plan to lease the Cross Street School located in Williston Park to the Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove can and should be resolved by understanding and building common ground between the parties involved in this situation.

I can understand some of the negative views of Williston Park residents because the Herricks School District, which includes most of Williston Park, is facing financial problems due to cuts in state aid and is not going to benefit from the financial arrangement between the Solomon Schechter Day School and the Mineola School District.

The main problem appears to be the rise of the ball field of the school. With a modification of the lease, the field could be used on Jewish holidays, Friday afternoons and on Saturdays, and possibly Sundays by CYO teams and local little league teams. An arrangement for the use of the ball field during the summer vacation period could also be worked out.

There appears to be an undercurrent of anti-Semitism, which is unhealthy and goes counter to the teachings of Pope John Paul XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and the current, Pope Benedict XVI, concerning the positive view of the Jewish people. Perhaps the clergy at St. Aidan’s Church can more fully emphasize at mass and services, as well as in an adult education course, the current positive view of the historic Jewish people held by the church.

As a former adjunct professor of social sciences at a community college in the state of New Jersey who has taught church history as part of western civilization, and other courses in history, we must emphasize what unites us as Americans instead of what divides us. A weak America is a divided America. A strong America is united America.

Jordan Goldstein

Former Herricks School

Board member, New Hyde Park

 

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