It is necessary for the PPATS Group [People for the Preservation of the Alva T. Stanforth School (ATS)] to clarify its educational use proposals for revitalizing ATS which it provided to the Sewanhaka Central High School District Board of Education. First. the notion must be dismissed that the PPATS. Group has actively advocated reopening ATS as a junior high school. That idea, although one which has, for a long time, held attraction to some members of the Sewanhaka community, has never been one which we as a group believed could rally the widest base of support throughout the district. As a Sewanhaka district-wide group, we have been solely interested in an educational use plan for ATS, which many, if not most, of the Sewanhaka community could feel it had a stake in and would support. Although reopening ATS as a junior high school was one of the ideas voiced at some of the many PPATS work sessions we have had over the past two years, it was not one that we were willing to make part of any district-wide plan we proposed. Therefore, it is not one which we have ever proposed to the Sewanhaka Central High School administration or the board of education.

The dialogue that has emerged between the PPATS group and the Sewanhaka administration and board of education, centers solely on whether dismantling ATS to develop a sports complex is the best choice the school district can make at this time. The PPATS group has also never advocated that an athletic design should not be part of the planned redevelopment. But under the circumstances of growing educational need in our entire school district community, the board's redesign should not be limited to athletics, but should also include utilizing ATS, the last educational asset we own, to better deliver education to our students and residents.

In a number of recent open letters to the local papers, the PPATS group revealed its proposals for utilizing ATS for educational purposes including for academic remediation, tutorial services [which could include a resource center to uniformly train teachers to teach students test-taking skills for passing the mandatory Regents exams], computer literacy training, English as a second language, and other forms of alternative educational programming for students at risk. We believe that under the present circumstances wherein the New York State Department of Education has raised academic standards to levels not before seen, it is only right, just, and wise to devise ways to utilize every educational asset we have, including ATS, to better educate ourselves.

In addition, at the last special hearing on ATS on Oct. 26, the board of education released figures setting forth enrollment projections and space needs throughout the district over the next five years. In it, only Elmont Memorial High School is projected to exceed its spacing capacity in the near future. According to the report, the other four high schools may more or less approach capacity, but will not reach it during the same period. The PPATS group is circumspect about this report, however, because, by all appearances, the population of the overall Sewanhaka community continues to grow. To illustrate this more particularly, many people who frequent the Sewanhaka High School daily are of the view that the school is currently overcrowded, despite contrary indications in the board's report. Moving select educational programs from Sewanhaka High School into ATS would surely alleviate the current close-to-capacity situation that is felt to exist there each day.

In short, it behooves us all to seriously consider what we will give up if we simply replace the last remaining educational space in the district with a sports complex. This is especially so when a combination of athletic and educational programming could be a planned compromise. As we enter into the last scheduled hearing on what to do with the Alva T. Stanforth School, [scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. at the H. Frank Carey High School auditorium, 230 Poppy Avenue, Franklin Square (for directions, dial 539-9400)], we should all seriously consider why a compromise plan cannot work at ATS which combines both district-wide athletics and educational programming together for the betterment of the entire school district.

The time to safeguard the future educational interests of the Sewanhaka School District is now, and any plan to revitalize the Alva T. Stanforth School should ensure that those future interests are ensured. Come to the Nov. 23 hearing and support athletic and educational use for the Alva T. Stanforth School.

Richard A. Mastrocola - Facilitator

The PPATS Group

(People for the Preservation of the Alva T. Stanforth School)