From class sizes to budgets, education around Oneonta appeared to be shrinking in 1980.
Anyone who went to school in Oneonta from the early 1950s through mid-70s will recall large class sizes, and frequent overcrowding in rooms.
That trend was coming to an end, as The Daily Star of March 2 reported, “The Oneonta School District will lose more than 100 students each year through 1985, according to a recent enrollment forecast.
“Total student enrollment for grades kindergarten through 12 will drop from 2,493 to 1,800 in 1985, figures show.
“Despite the projected 28 percent drop in enrollment, Superintendent Thomas Paternostro said he had no immediate plans for closing schools — including the controversial Center Street building.
“While estimating last month that the district may cut six teachers next year, the Superintendent indicated Friday that staff cuts beyond that time have not been projected.
“Paternostro said the decline in students will mean ‘more and more space available’ throughout the district.
“‘If and when that (space) becomes enough to consolidate, then we’ll have to deal with it,’ he added. ‘We’ll have to make that move.’
“Retired high school teacher Katherine Ingersoll said she thought there were some potentially positive aspects to a decline in student enrollment.
“Recalling an English class of about 42 students in the 1960s, the teacher of 44 years said large classes didn’t ‘leave you with time to fiddle around.’
“‘It was more difficult to teach with a class of that size,’ she said. Most classes, she said, ran ‘anywhere from 20 to 35 students.’
“The district now has approved a policy setting maximum and minimum class sizes. The range is 20 to 25 students for kindergarten, 20 to 27 or 28 in grades one through six, and 20 to 28 in junior and senior high school.”
While enrollment was becoming an issue in the public schools in Oneonta, a budget was troubling a public college campus that year.
As Star readers learned on March 11, “SUCO officials have formed an advocacy group they hope will lobby for government and public support on behalf of the college.
“‘We hope that this group will be a visible representative of the kind of support the college enjoys in the area,’ Helen Baldo, assistant to SUCO President Clifford Craven, said.
“SUCO, along with other parts of the state university and other state agencies, suffered drastic cuts in its 1980 budget. Governor Hugh Carey’s executive budget cut some $27 million from the university’s spending plan.
“The SUCO lobby group, called Advocates for Oneonta State, plans to petition the state legislature to restore some money, Mrs. Baldo said. The legislature has until the end of the fiscal year on March 31 to act.
“‘But the group will be more involved than simply fighting the budget cuts,’ Mrs. Baldo said, ‘we hope it will be made up of people who care about the college and want to make it better.’
“Hartwick College President Philip Wilder and Oneonta Mayor James Lettis were the first two members of the group, she said. Invitations have been distributed to other community members, she added.”
Students also got involved with the budget dilemma, as The Star of March 22 reported, “About 1,000 SUCO students and faculty braved chilly winds and an irritating drizzle Wednesday afternoon to protest $27 million in budget cuts.
“The lunch-time rally was the latest in a long line of actions by administrators and students aimed at getting the state legislature to restore reductions ordered by Governor Hugh Carey.
“‘Part of the reason for the rally was to get the attention of the media,’ William Benedict, president of the local chapter of the United University Professions, said. ‘We wanted to sustain the attention focused on the budget issue.’
“Benedict said rally organizers asked faculty to cancel noon classes so students could attend the rally. It was up to the individual faculty member to cancel classes. More than half the classes scheduled for noon were held.
“SUCO President Clifford Craven urged the students to get their parents to appeal to members of the legislature on behalf of SUNY.
“The organizers of the protest led the crowd in chants such as ‘Carey you liar, why don’t you retire,’ and ‘they say cut back…we say fight back.’
“Seventh Ward alderman Charles Burnsworth, representing Oneonta Mayor James Lettis, said Lettis has urged mayors from other cities to protest the University’s cuts.”
This weekend, a local milestone and a memory from the spring of 1925.