Bethpage School District

Below is a letter that appeared in HARKING BACK describing the first schoolhouses located in Bedelltown - Central Park. The letter was from Mrs. Jarvis.

"The first one-room little red school house (built about 1858) was located near the corner where Broadway joins the Plainview Road. It had a wood burning stove, and drinking water was carried from a neighbor's. No lights were in the building, and at an evening meeting such as the annual election of trustees, lanterns were used. Late in the 1890's this school was abandoned and another school was errected on Broadway on land adjoining the present Gifford property. It too was a one room building and was built at a cost of $700.00. This was an amount considered far too much by many residents. Here instead of the pupils occupying long benches as in the former school, individual desks were provided. This school also had its own well from which the drinking water was drawn and kept in pails in the entries. Heat was furnished by a stove in the rear of the room. This building was occupied until the building on Powell Avenue was constructed about 1912. The first building here was an eight room brick structure with central heating. When it was outgrown, the building was enlarged to its present size by an addition at the rear. This was later supplemented by a two room wooden annex.

The Powell Avenue School went from Kindergarten to 8th grade, built in 1911. To continue on to high school the Bethpage students went by train to Mineola and later to Hicksville. When Farmingdale built a new high school, the trustees agreeded to accept Bethpage pupils at a lower tuition rate, and transportation by bus began in 1931. The Powell Avenue School was razed in 1962, and the Bethpage Public Library was built on this site.

After World War II Bethpage grew so rapidly that they built a high school and junior high school on Broadway with 23 rooms. It opened in 1951 and the last graduating class from Farmingdale High School, of Bethpage students, was in 1955. In 1957 22 rooms were added to this building. When the high school opened in 1959 this building housed the Bethpage Jr. High School and renamed John F. Kennedy Jr. High School. Then it became John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Pine Avenue Elementary School was opened in 1954 - 1955 with 22 classrooms. Closed in 1980 due to declining enrollment.

Central Boulevard Elementary School opened in 1956 with 33 classrooms.

Kramer Lane Elementary School opened in 1957 with 22 classrooms. The school was named for Mr. Frederick P. Kramer former president and member of the Board of Education for 21 consecutive years.

Bloomingdale Avenue Elementary School opened in 1959 with 14 classrooms. Closed in 1972 and in 1988 32 homes were built at this site.

Senior High School opened in 1959 and formally dedicated 1960 with a 1600 pupil capacity on the corner of Cherry and Stewart Avenue.

Charles Campagne Elementary School was built in 1962 on Plainview Road.

The school year of 2008/09 marked the first year the school district provided Full-Day Kindergarten, after the community approved the initiative in the spring of 2007. Each of the districts three elementary schools, Charles Campagne, Central Boulevard, and Kramer Lane.