6 MAY 18, 2017 THE VILLAGE GAZETTE WWW.QNS.COM A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE FROM A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 The great thing about CK is that we take students of all academic levels and treat them all the same.We work to their strengths and try to provide a sense of community. I think that’s why so many families continue to come here and why a large number of our graduates become teachers.Back in '78, it was our local school.I walked here each morning with about 40 other kids from Glendale.My parents and grandparents donated towards the building of the school.Five other family members are graduates, and one is starting here in September.That makes this place a big part of our story. ************************** Mrs. Maureen Engesser (nee Shepherd), Class of 1978, is a member of the Board of Trustees.On par with a phrase she learned at Christ the King, Mrs. Engesser took a sour situation, and turned it into a sweet opportunity to fight for a place she knew as a second home.Being only a sophomore when the school was closed, Mrs. Engesser participated in many protests, including one outside of the bishop’s office. Below, she tells how she fought and why Christ the King was so important to her: Many students participated in “sit-ins” or other forms of protests as a result of the closure.Were you a part of any of these protests or did you know about them? “I participated in all of them. Once we realized this was something very serious, every day after class we would go to the grass section after school, the oval, and we would have a candlelight vigil. We would sing songs like “Candle in the Wind”. We had our own picket line at the bottom of the hill and protested in front of the bishop’s office chanting, "Hell no, we won't go! Save our school!" I remember sleeping in the hall the day the school closed. We slept there so they couldn't close the doors. It was a seriously emotional time.” Now as a board member at Christ the King 40 years later, how has CK changed? How has it stayed it the same? “I think that Christ the King has remained a fabulous institution. I think we graduate leaders, and I am proud of every single student that walked the halls after me. It's stayed the same because of the caliber of people who teach, attend the school and the administration. They work so hard to keep Christ the King the great school it is.” ************************** An Interview with Chairman of the Board of Trustees Senator Serphin R. Maltese Daniel Scarpati, Class of 2011, interviewed Senator Maltese on December 28, 2011, at Christ the King High School. In 1975, Christ the King was having labor problems. The Bishop of the Diocese, Francis Mugavero, was having difficulty dealing with those problems. The Diocese said that CK had an annual deficit of $200,000. The union was a very militant union, led by Robert Gordon, who was also a teacher at Christ the King. They were having strikes and walkouts. My daughter Andrea was here, and Leslie had already applied. The students at Christ the King were given a notice that the school was closing and would only graduate the senior class, and everyone else would have to seek another school. There was no advance warning. I was then counsel to Assemblywoman Rosemary Gunning (as well as to U.S. Senator James Buckley and the NYS Senate Majority). Since CK’s closing would have a disastrous effect on the surrounding communities, Rosemary Gunning and I attended the hastily called Emergency Parents Meeting at CK on October 6, 1975. The parents were in the cafeteria downstairs, which was filled to over capacity. They were also out in the yard and in the rear. People were crying, The school official were reluctant to start speaking to the emotional crowd because the only information the Diocese had given them was that the school would be closed as soon as possible. Parents were there with the deeds to their homes crying that if it’s a matter of money, they would mortgage their homes. Everyone wanted to help in some way, but it was absolute chaos. Assemblywoman Gunning said to me: “Serf, you better go the microphone and try to resolve order.” That was around 9 P.M. By 2 A.M. that morning, I was Chairman of the Committee to Save Christ the King. We put together a committee representing everyone there. I asked friendly and involved public officials to serve with me as officers. Assemblywoman Gunning and Senator Marty Knorr, my Senate predecessor, who had been at the meeting, agreed to serve. So did many CK parents including community leaders Phil Shea and Tom Kane. A good number of parents who were there to help were union members in many different unions. We took the position that as parents, we should have input since it was the donations of the parents and parishioners that built the school. I believed our friends in government would be needed for their political “clout” in dealing with the union and Diocese. Our Assemblywoman Rosemary Gunning, and our Senator Marty Knorr were both very influential. Jim Buckley was the U.S. Senator for NYS and Jim Delancey was the Congressman from LIC with national stature and was a conservative Democrat who had been endorsed by my party. Through Senator Jim Buckley, a prominent Catholic layman, and the others we secured meetings with the Cardinal, the Bishop and the Diocesan authorities. I remember the meeting with Bishop Mugavero was more of a social meeting, and we ultimately met with Monsignors and Diocesan authorities. They said, “You have no place in these negotiations.” We reached out to the involved union leaders primarily through our friendly state and city blue collar and law enforcement union leaders and were also told by the striking union leaders and were also told by the striking union leaders, “You have no place in these negotiations.” Senator Buckley was paramount in securing our participation with the Labor Boards and Gov. Carey was also helpful. It was the first time the New York State Labor Relations Board permitted an outside party, not management nor labor, to meet with officials and participate - and we did. Both sides were begrudging, but we kept insisting that parents should have a role and that we wanted to help them settle. I believe we convinced the Diocesan representatives first. Our Committee Vice Chairman Phil Shea and Tom Kane, prominent Catholic parishioners, were especially influential in this regard. Both parties were at an impasse and were $50,000 apart for all five Hald Catholic Schools. Our parents wanted their children back to classes and normalcy, so finally I said, with the concurrence of Phil Shea and Tom Kane who were present (although both sides were still reluctant to acknowledge us, let alone have us negotiate), that if $50,000 would be paid to the teachers. After lengthy discussion, the Diocese accepted and thereafter the Union Rep. accepted and the dispute was over and the teachers would return. We worked out a payment method dividing the funds to all 282 teachers from all schools, paid by the Save Christ the King Committee, parents and friends. Our Committee approved the payments unanimously and established an appropriate donation fund. Many teachers declined their shares and some gave it to charities. Thirty CK teachers signed a heartfelt letter declining their grant. Eventually our pledge was $60,000 and 100% fulfilled with every teacher entitled to payment receiving it. All we had wanted was for Christ the King not to close and the union and management to come together. After a while, it had become Senator Serphin R. Maltese at a commencement ceremony CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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