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PHOENIX, Page Nine111! Hill1 fKnow the Joy of Endurance9BY CARROLLSUGGTo go to my school and enjoy SS it is to know the joy of en- = durance. We must fight our = way to the exits or sink in the === stream to the end of the hall. EE We must be sure of ourselves =5E in a tight squeeze, quick and = courageous. Sometimes we EE must wait or be crushed. We SEE must never forget ourselves == and we are all easily fearful. = This ready fear and constant EE conflict (almost) with the EE multitudes around us whom = we know little or nothing about EE make us more conscious of ourEE complex ireelevancy andSEE worth to society, leadingSS sometimes to desperateEE assertion of individuality or toEE closed hearts often to pain andEE ugliness.There are responses to the EE overcrowded situation at theSS High School throughout theEE whole student body, responsesEE which are seldom comSE municated in words,EE responses that may very wellEE lead to the wrong dec;sions= and attitudes towardEE education in general if the=5 conditions do not undergoSS some real change. The sigh ISS let slide when I escape theEE intensity created by so many== beings and step out into theES also overcrowded, but=E cpemingly less intense worldis one of relief, momentary as it is I have cherished it. I suspect some less secure are increasingly reluctant to encounter the faces and the battling, the culture boundaries, etc., resolving not to participate for safety%u2019s sake in varying degrees%u2014some not even attending. Others respond positively to the potential for movement and activity in that dense mass (becoming popular, etc.). Others find the condition a mild distraction.In the large classroom the instruction becomes absurdly impersonal. In others the teacher relates as usual to certain designated speakers of the class. Individual attention in most instances is increasingly rare, hence the responsibility of the individual student is increasingly pressured. The majority, I feel, refuse to deal responsibly with the reality that they must educate themselves. They either see no necessity or do see but tend to be lazy, like myself. Ah, but then there are the studious, God bless %u2019em. If I am not egged on (even then I am rebellious) by the teacher or by the competitive spirit inherent in academia then I wander. The good teacher is losing control of his class; they are too numerous and sc full.____________________I v i y y y y i i i uThe student confronts the teacher with little restraint on arrogance consequently revealing happily his heightened awareness of the large awkward mass. But this is beside the point. The majority seem to not to be interested in the power of knowledge and the excitement of learning, but in the power of personality and the excitement of social roles. This is all too evident. The stranger need only walk through the overcrowded halls and feel the incredible activity, the electric business, even jolting vibrations. He need only sit down in a classroom and observe the change.Those that pass through the clouds of light smoke pouring into the hall are coughing not because they have pneumonia but because the johns are full to the brim with busy smokers and the one window in each is half-way boarded over.I loved John Jay for all this, more.In John Jay the student body has become a bully, an overgrown pest; a gangling monster, clumsy but impulsive. The normal conflicts between the educational system and the young students are heightened andexaggerated until it becomes for the intellect more stimulating to be socially active than academically. The contrast between the teacherstudent relationship and the student to student relationship is fantastic.This story is the view of one John Jay High School senior to the overcrowding at his school and what it means to the student who must go through the learning process in inadequate and over-aged facilities. Carroll Sugg lives with his family on Prospect Park West in the Slope.Needs OverwhelmingContinued from Page 8carried a motion to disapprove one of the centrally submitted sites and replace this with the Gowanus proposal. The vote was 6 to 0. A letter was then sent to Blumenfeld informing him of the decisions. The n%Kt Capital Budget for advance planning money, issued in June 1969, included a High School for South Brooklyn on line 54.Despite the earlier local school board vote, however, the gas works site was taken up by the body again on June 10, 1969. This time there were more votes against, but the site still won.During this time of consideration and reconsideration, the Brooklyn Union Gas Co. wound up selling the site to Peter Galasso. Part of the property has since been developed for the use of the Antarenni Iron Works. However, the one story structure used by Antarenni andlocated on the southern portion of the spot, leaves about 7 acres; still sufficient for a high school according to present Board of Ed. guidelines for mini-school (2000 students) capacity.A subsequent public meeting of the Local School Board on Sept. 24, 1969 now questioned the availability of the Gowanus site, and ended with Board Chairman Doris Cohen asking the community to begin a search for another location. The year ended with the City Planning Commission looking for an alternate place after earlier indications by Blumenfeld that the gas works was %u201cnot approved.%u201dThough the search began, Michener reports, the new suggestions which were eventually brought up at later meetings, did not meet with any enthusiasm. One site recommended was a blockwith two churches. The second proposal was the Bay St. site %u2014 an area in Red Hook beyond the Gowanus Expressway. In April 1970, funds were allocated for acquisition of a site for a South Brooklyn High School on Budget Line 72 J; overriding a mayoral veto. (Bd. of Ed officials say that the location has not been stipulated, though the current inclusion reads %u201cGowanus H.S.%u201d ).During the ensuing months, with the controversy over decentralization, the Gowanus proposal lay dormant. However, with the election of the new Community School Board, the site question was reintroduced. Before the Community Board hearings on the subject, however, Community Planning Board 6 voted for the Bay St. site. The vote, on Feb. 2, 1971, was taken without a prior publichearing, and therefore without allowing Gowanus advocates to present their position.The Community School Board hearings came during March and April of 1971. The first of the two forums, on March 10, at P.S. 58 is remembered for the intensity of feeling shown by both sides. Though the pro-Gowanus group was predominant, and speakers from the %u201canti%u201d side were not available to continue an attempt at alternating yea and nay speeches, the hoots and shouts from the minority against the Gas Works, suggested a potential conflagration. Those against the site seemed to come from the area bordering the Gas Works. Suggesting that the place would do better with an industrial build-up with jobs available for community people, the pro-Bay St. group also revealed concern about the influx of %u201cstrangers%u201d into their community. Those favoring the Gowanus location came from the various neighborhoods in South Brooklyn, and armed with statistics plus reports from John| HEARING | sarah Hale Will Provide:$ Because of pressure from %u2022$%u00a7: Committee for the Gowanus $ Some Immediate Relief in Fall% High School, the question of & a District 15 upper school $| will be discussed at the Feb. %u00a3%u00bb 20 meeting of the Board of ijij * Education at 110 Livingston $ lSt I5 The meeti ng, on T ues. at 8 %p.m. at the Board's down-^6 stairs hearing room will he :*| the first occasion for th e |airing of the South Brooklyn !g high school question at a *& public forum of the central %u25a0$ g: board. Speakers are e x -|5 pected to be called a c -|:%u00a7 cording to their place on the6 list, which is determined by*Beginning next fall, Sarah J. Hale, the girls%u2019 vocational high school at 345 Dean Street will become a coed %u201ccomprehensive%u201d school providing both academic and vocational studies. %u201cThis is a forward looking step,%u201d remarked Mr. Wolinez, Assistant Principal and organizer of the new SarahU o l o n ln nThe transition intends to accommodate approximately 700 ninth and tenth year students from the surrounding junior high schools including those who would%u2019ve attended John Jay High School, said Assistant Superintendent of High Schools John Brennen, but exactly how many students it will%u2014 i : t ~ .. ~c -----------i i c u e v c u u i u i %u00ab / a j u i t o u u t u u u u ,The number of schools affected4 U a 4 U a IlllV i t i l l IV/ UI UIUMdepends on the final zoning plans that are expected from the Central Zoning Board in early spring. Students will be drawn from Eastern District High School also.The building at 500 Pacific Street and site of a successful alternative high school will become an extension of Sarah J. Hale. %u201cMr. oiciuicn uaa jjumubcu Iiiiai we willbe relocThe building at 500 Pacific Street and site of a successful alternative -high school will become an extension of Sarah J. Hale. %u201cMr. Brennen has promised that we will be relocated somewhere,%u201d said Morty Taubin, General Assistant of the school, %u201canu I am optimistic that a lease will be signed in timefor us to move and continue in September.%u201d The Brooklyn Friend%u2019s School Building is one possibility. %u201cAt this time it is only a possibility,%u201d stressed Mr. Brennen. But before a lease is signed for any building, it must go through a series of thorough inspections to meet health, safety and fire standards. Ho uiher possibilities were mentioned.Students already at Sarah Hale will be able to complete their vocational track. They appear hardly concerned about the addition of several hundred students. One female commented %u201cIt%u2019ll be easier doing classwork with some guys around.%u201dD ebbie PincusJay students, the overwhelming need for immediate building of a school was made apparent.The second meeting, at Junior High School 142, on April 21, 1971, limited speakers to eight on each side. While less racuous than the first assembly, the house was still packed with naysayers, who shouted down many of the proGowanus speakers. Reports of later Community School Board executive meetings advise that there was %u201csurprisingly%u201d little discussion of the hotly contested subject. However, the Gas Works site was soon voted down by a substantial majority of the local board. One of the reasons advanced by one of the members, a claim that the Gowanus site was %u201ctoo noisy,%u201d was rendered spurious by audio engineer Jonathan Gibbs who was hired by the Ad Hoc Canal Committee. In his studies of ambient noise levels on one day%u2014at the Gas Works, Bay St. site, and at John Jay,%u2014Gibbs determined that the Gowanus location was least noisy by three separate criteria. The engineer concluded that all three sites are suitable for a school as far as noise levels are concerned. It is also reported that the site was denied because board members wished to avoid- a community confrontation.Though the Board of Education has finally agreed to make some changes, particularly the conversion of girls%u2019 vocational High School, Sarah J. Hale, to a comprehensive set up, and the utilization of 500 Pacific St. as an annex, the subsequent openings for no more than 1000 John Jay students, will be insufficient. The planned construction of the North Kings High School at 39th St. in theQ iin o o t P o irlr-W in /1 c n i< T o r f o n narea, will not solve the problem either, Ad Hoc Committee membeis say.Though the Community School Board ruling seemed to squelch the Gas Works effort, the problem of John Jay overcrowding has not been removed. 167 per cent over capacity, the Park Slope High School runs on double session. 5700Continued on Page 14