I am a former student of Dutch Lane School (Class of 1960), the Hicksville Junior High School (1963) and a 1966 graduate from Hicksville High School. After graduating from Fredonia State University College in 1970, I was hired by my beloved Hicksille School district to teach choral music at Hicksville High School, where I taught from 1970 to 1975. After teaching for 33 years (28 years at North Shore High School in Glen Head), I retired in 2003.
In 2004, I returned to Hicksville High School, where I did a long-term sub for Dan Kristoff of beloved memory.
During the year that I returned to Hicksville High School, I had the opportunity to visit my alma mater – Dutch Lane School, and had expected to see wall hangings in the front lobby which my mother, Bunnie Alexander, had hand printed in calligraphy. These wall hangings, beautifully framed, had listed the names of all the students who had graduated from Dutch Lane, starting (I believe) with my class of 1960. I know that she was asked to do the same for the subsequent graduating classes, for the next few years. To my great disappointment, the wall hangings were not displayed, and nobody in the front office knew anything about their whereabouts.
I have just received a phone call from Hicksville music teacher and fellow Dutch Lane graduate, Hilary Sperber, that the wall hangings have been found and remounted on the lobby walls. I am so thrilled that my mother’s work has been restored, as well as subsequent, framed graduating class lists that were also missing from the display, including Hilary’s own class! It was through Hilary’s great efforts that all these class remembrances have been restored, and I believe it should be publicly noted that through Hilary’s investigative work, that these important historical records, which were once haphazardly placed in a closet in a state of neglect and disrepair, are now restored and remounted.
May I also mention that Hilary assumed the financial responsibility for the repair of at least one of the wall hangings – a cost which came to over $200!
Hilary Sperber has done the Hicksville School district a wonderful service. I would hope that the Hicksville Schools will make Hilary’s accomplishment public and will subsequently congratulate her for her selflessness and great contribution to the students of the Hicksville School district. By the way, Hilary was one of my first students at Hicksville High School when I started in 1970. I am so proud of her.
Steve Goldstein
