In late February members of the committee visited The Wheatley School. We met with Dr. Sean Feeney, the current principal. Dr. Feeney is a young, competitive, intelligent administrator who competently fills the shoes of so many fine predecessors. He has a PhD from Columbia, spent four years in the Peace Corps serving in the Central Africa Republic, has three young children, and coaches soccer in the spring.
We discussed many things in his office about Wheatley and also our forthcoming 50th class reunion. It was very interesting to hear that the Wheatley spirit remains very much alive. Dr. Feeney was asked if he thought that Wheatley was different. He responded quite enthusiastically that almost all constituencies-students, faculty, staff and administrators and parents all believed that it was different than other schools. Because of that everyone tries a bit harder and that the high standards created over 50 years ago remain to this day. It was nice for us to hear.
Dr. Feeney mentioned that he was a high school principal in the Locust Valley school district. An interim middle school principal who became a good friend of his was none other than Matt Sanzone. Later on during a tour of the school he mentioned that Matt’s name was just taken down from a bulletin board near the gym. His school record shot put distance had just been broken last spring. The record then lasted for 50 years!
Speaking of sports we also found that the Wheatley School now has combined with Carle Place high school to field a football team. That is the result of small schools not having enough students to field full teams. The helmets have “CPW” on the side of them. This past year Wheatley student-athletes assumed most of the skilled positions.
The Wheatley Wildcat newspaper is published once a month. The
school also has Wheatley School Television (WSTV) which has a morning news program
produced by the students. In addition Wheatley continues a program called
School within a School (SWS). It was created in 1971. Essentially it is a
progressive and rigorous program where students and teachers decide on the
syllabi and students often get to teach some of the courses.
Dr. Feeney then took committee members on a tour of the school. Some
pictures from that tour follow:
Our first stop was the auditorium where the orchestra was rehearsing for a concert that was to played the next evening with both the Wheatley orchestra in conjunction with the Long Island Philharmonic! To hear them practice click below:
Wherever you went in the school building you saw art on display created by Wheatley students. This is an actual gallery that has various exhibits throughout the year.
50 years later. Sorry picture fuzzy-cameraman's hand was shaking!
What use to be called-"The Senior Lounge" and still has similar function.
Hallway-again note artwork above in class rivalry as well as on walls in the hallway.
Social concern remains prevalent.
Cafeteria
At the end of the cafeteria there was this Junior and Senior Lounge. It had a foosball board in it and again had art work displayed.
Shop was very busy.
