Brentwood High School (Brentwood, New York)

Brentwood High School is a secondary school in Brentwood, New York. It is one of the largest high schools in New York State, on the southern shore of Suffolk County, Long Island. Richard Loeschner is the current principal.

History

1951-1980

The first class to graduate from Brentwood High School was the class of 1957. Prior to this, public school students in the district attended Bay Shore High School. Brentwood High School began with only the Ross Building, with its glorious tennis courts and state of the art swimming pool. It was named for William H. Ross, M.D., psychiatrist, founder in 1898 of the Ross Health Resort (now Ross Healthcare, yet still located on Suffolk Avenue). The Sonderling Building was not built until 1965. By then there were the four Junior High Schools; the original South, then North, West and East (completed in 1966). Their students went into both high school buildings.

For over ten years in sports, Brentwood High School always ranked as League I Champions in all sports, with banners for basketball, wrestling, baseball and football adorning both gymnasiums.

In the autumn of 1968, more than half the female students staged a Dress Code protest. They wore pants. So many were sent to the office, (run by the enduring principal, Stanley P. Yankowski), by their classroom teachers, that the Dress Code was changed.

From 1967 through 1971, all 3,500 students had only 4 minute locker breaks within which to traverse both buildings. During the 1960s there were Hall Patrol Monitors stationed in the centers of all the corridors, and students were expected to walk on the right side of the hallway, to keep traffic flowing. This was abolished in September 1969 because the population was put on "split session" with the sophomores all in attendance in the afternoon session. Half of the 11th grade students with similar courseloads were also in the afternoon session, while the brighter, more advanced juniors were in the morning session with the seniors.

In 1969, the female students were still not permitted to be pregnant and "showing" and attend school. Parents were notified to sign the student out of school and be home schooled or take an equivalency test by attending night school. (Abortions had not yet been legalized.)

Temporary portable classrooms were placed between the Ross and Sonderling Buildings housing the language and health classes. The Guy di Pietro Building was later constructed in between the two main buildings in honor of the late great Social Studies Department Chairman.

The class of 1971 was the last graduating class (1,400) to use the (now demolished) Long Island Arena in Commack for their graduation cap & gown ceremonies. In 1972 the football field behind the Ross Building was used; afterwards the two buildings had separate ceremonies.

From 1974 to 1989, the student body was large enough that the two primary buildings, Ross and Sonderling, were treated as two distinct high schools. Students from North Junior High School and West Junior High School fed into Sonderling, while students from East Junior High School and South Junior High School fed into Ross. The graduating classes for the years 1980 through 1984 were around 700 each for Ross and Sonderling. By 1987, it had dropped to 450 each.

Brentwood High School was the site of the Maslow-Toffler School of Futuristic Education, an alternative high school, from 1974 to 1983.

In 1975, WXBA-FM, the high school radio station was founded at Brentwood High School. WXBA's first general manager was experienced Long Island radio personality Bob Ottone, now the public address announcer for the Long Island Ducks. The initial output of WXBA was ten watts (which means that the signal barely made it to the Brentwood/Central Islip border three miles east of the school under some conditions), then was upgraded in the summer of 1981 to 180 watts. Students would undergo a training program, usually during the summer between ninth and tenth grade, as DJ's, news readers, and engineers.

Brentwood High School established an Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AFJROTC) in 1977. As of the fall of 2006, it was one of only two Long Island high schools to offer the program.

The Green Machine marching band came into creation during the mid-1970s.

The Associated Press reported in 1980 that, a week after the principal, Stanley P. Yankowski, instructed homeroom teachers to take down the names of students who do not stand for the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, the practice was stopped after a teacher complained to the New York Civil Liberties Union

1981-1990

WXBA moved to expanded facilities in the newly-built G. Guy DiPietro Learning Center during the 1988-89 school year.

The Brentwood Science Olympiad team competed in the New York State Science Olympiad tournament held at West Point on April 16, 1988. According to Newsday, "[t]he team finished second in Suffolk County, third on Long Island and 13th out of 147 schools in the State of New York."

In 1988, Brentwood's AFJROTC unit was named honor unit by the U.S. Air Force. "Only the top 20 percent of all units in the nation are considered for recognition as honor unit. In addition, Lt. Col. Arthur Bennett and Master Sgt. James Waide have been named outstanding instructors," according to a Newsday report.

Newsday, the mainstay Long Island newspaper, awarded Brentwood High School the High School of the Year Award in 1989.

1991-2000

In 1991, Katti Gray wrote in Newsday:

"A 4-by-8-foot wooden plaque, painted white and festooned with a painted yellow bow, hangs in a foyer of Brentwood High School. It lists the names of 313 who serve in Operation Desert Storm -- most of them men and women who grew up or live in the Brentwood and North Bay Shore areas.
The plaque carries the names of reservists and full-time soldiers, first-class privates and colonels, a West Point graduate or two, soldiers with a family history of military service and poor people for whom enlistment was the only way to earn a living."

In January 1993, John T. McQuiston reported in The New York Times that Matthew Hunter, a former student, had been shot and wounded during a basketball game between Brentwood and arch-rivals Sachem.

"Anthony Felicio, president of the Brentwood School Board, said he planned to take steps to assure that 'nothing like this would ever happen again.'
Mr. Felicio and other officials decided at a meeting [January 6] that they would require students to show their school identification cards before entering sporting events."

The incident is cited in Todd Stasser's book Give a Boy a Gun.

In 1999, 56 solar panels were installed on the Ross Building.

2001-present

In 2004, The New York Times reported that Brentwood would be one of four Long Island school districts (the others being Hempstead, Lawrence and Manhasset) that would be audited by the state comptroller in the wake of charges of theft made against school administration officials in Roslyn.

On Veterans' Day in 2005, Newsday covered the dedication of a memorial to 15 graduates of the high school who had died during the Vietnam War. From top to bottom, the names and graduation years are: Richard P. Lancaster, Jr. (1960); Jose Vazquez (1963); Edward LaBarr (1964); James Seidensticker (1965); Peter Colicchio (1966); Frank Sardina (1965); Nicholas Fritz (1965); Michael Cacciuttolo (1966); Gary Guasp (1964); Daniel Hommel (1965); Joseph Funk (1964); Lawrence Soltan (1966); David Scolnick (1966); John Rosa (1968); and Thomas Wynne (1967).

In October 2006, Brentwood High School's Green Machine won in the category of Large School III at the New York State Field Band Conference in Syracuse, New York. With a score of 83.75 they defeated their rivals Walt Whitman Wildcats, and the Sachem Flaming Arrows.^{[citation needed]}

October 28, 2007, the Green Machine defended its New York State Championship in Large School III at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. For 2 consecutive years the Brentwood Green Machine has won the NYSFBC Governors Cup. They won at the Carrier Dome with a score of 86.10.^{[citation needed]}

November 16, 2008, Brentwood High School Soccer won the NYSPHSAA Boys Soccer Championship - Class AA defeating Clarence 2-1.

June 12, 2009, Brentwood High School Softball won the NYSPHSAA Girls Softball State Championship - Class AA defeating Fairport which included Nicole Flint pitching a perfect game.

November 1, 2009, with a score of 89.95 Brentwood Green Machine Marching Band received 2nd place in the NYSFBC. Competing in the "Large School II" category. Defeating the Huntington Blue Devils, Horsehead's Blue Raider marching band, and many others.

December 5, 2009, the Green Machine Marching Band represented Brentwood in C.W Posts production of "BABES IN TOYLAND" at the Tilles Center in Brookville, NY. http://www.tillescenter.org/press/200910/pdf/babes.pdf

April 14, 2010, Brentwood High School Students Ijeamaka Anyene, William Genova, and Lauren Herrera were awarded the Bronze Medal at the International Sustainable Word Project Olympiad.

October 31, 2010, the Green Machine Marching Band won the NYSFBC Governors Cup in Large School II at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York with a score of 90.20.

General knowledge

School Information

Brentwood High School is among the nineteen elementary and secondary schools in the Brentwood Union Free School District in Suffolk, NY. Brentwood High School educates students from grades 10-12 (9th graders attend the Brentwood Freshman Center) and also has an adult continuing education programs. According to city-data.com, the school has a total of 3532 students attending: 1371 from 10th grade, 991 from 11th grade, 806 from 12th grade, and 275 from adult continuing education. The high school has two auditoriums, two gymnasiums, and six cafeterias. The school is divided into 3 centers, Ross center, Sonderling center, Dipietro learning center. Students that came from East or South middle schools go to the Ross center and students who came from West and North middle schools go to the Sonderling center. The Dipietro learning center holds art and music classes. It also has a weight room and a gym, as well as a lecture center, where students go to attend lecture.

General knowledge

School Information

Brentwood High School is among the nineteen elementary and secondary schools in the Brentwood Union Free School District in Suffolk, NY. Brentwood High School educates students from grades 10-12 (9th graders attend the Brentwood Freshman Center) and also has an adult continuing education programs. According to city-data.com, the school has a total of 3532 students attending: 1371 from 10th grade, 991 from 11th grade, 806 from 12th grade, and 275 from adult continuing education. The high school has two auditoriums, two gymnasiums, and six cafeterias. The school is divided into 3 centers, Ross center, Sonderling center, Dipietro learning center. Students that came from East or South middle schools go to the Ross center and students who came from West and North middle schools go to the Sonderling center. The Dipietro learning center holds art and music classes. It also has a weight room and a gym, as well as a lecture center, where students go to attend lecture.

1960-1981

• Jef Raskin (Jeffrey Frank Raskin) widely acknowledged as the "Father of the Macintosh", a noted computer scientist and expert on the human/computer interface, inventor, conductor, artist, writer and businessman, (graduated 1960) died February '05
• Robert Gallucci, former US Ambassador at Large (1994–1996), currently Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University (graduated in 1962)
• Leonard H. Tower Jr., a founder of the Free Software Foundation (graduated in 1967)
• Jack Scalia, actor (graduated in 1969)
• Mitch Kupchak, former basketball player and current general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers (graduated in 1972)
• Frank Urso, member, Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Hall of Fame and National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (graduated in 1972)
• Reggie Fils-Aime, current President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America (graduated in 1979)

1981-2000

• Rahadyan Sastrowardoyo, staff editor, The New York Times (graduated in 1981)
• (Richard And Brian Dowling) Divine Sounds, Old school hip hop group. Song "What people do for Money" and "Bed Stuy do or die" (Richard Graduated 1982. Brian 1987)
• James "Buddy" McGirt, boxer (graduated in 1982)
• Parrish Smith, rapper; also performed as part of the group EPMD (graduated in 1986)
• Hartriono B. Sastrowardoyo, journalist (graduated in 1987)

• Craig Mack, rapper (graduated in 1988)
• Jai Rodriguez, member of Queer Eye (graduated in 1997)
• James McGirt Jr., boxer (graduated in 2000)

External links

• Official site
• Brentwood Alumni Student Association