Mr. Carl Verdi

Our Principal

Interview with Mr. Verdi

Four of the EXCEL students interviewed Mr. Verdi. We questioned him about diversity in our school throughout the years. We got many thorough answers from Mr.Verdi.

When the school first opened, it was a combined junior and senior high school that housed grades 7 through 12. As far as foreign languages were concerned, only French, Spanish, and German were taught. In the 1970’s, many other languages such as Chinese were added to the curriculum. According to Mr.Verdi, approximately 14-15% of the students spoke a language other than English before being taught in school. Many students that knew a second language took that language in school to learn more about the grammar, and because they enjoyed it.

When asked if there were many first generation immigrants when he taught at Longwood in the 1960s, Mr. Verdi answered “no”. The immigrants that were here, however, did receive an education even if they were already schooled in their homeland.

Mr.Verdi also said that there was a social pyramid in our country during his time based on race. While it was true that different groups mingled with other groups while at school, when school was over, they would go home to different neighborhoods and mingling wasn’t seen as much, if at all, White-Americans also had more opportunities in business in those days, though some people of all races did become successful.

During the 60s at Longwood, an overwhelming percentage of African-Americans lived in Gordon Heights, while the Caucasian population resided in the surrounding communities of Yaphank, Ridge, Middle Island, Coram, and Shirley

Mr.Verdi believes that the African-American culture, and all cultures, should be preserved, not erased.

Mr.Verdi also believes that just because another culture differs from ours, it does not make it bad or undesirable. It just makes it different. He also believes that students who immigrate to America from another country sometimes react to situations differently based on what they were taught in their original country.

Mr.Verdi explained that students at the Longwood MIddle School are placed into homerooms based on boy/girl ratio, which elementary school they attended, and their ethnic background. This is done to ensure that a diverse population exists in every class He also said that overall, there are more white-Americans in the school than any other culture, so there will always be more white-Americans than other races in each homeroom.

When Mr.Verdi taught in the district, the class sizes were much smaller. There were also less students in the schools. There were approximately 750 students in grades 7-12 in 1963. Through the 1980’s, there were still fewer students in our schools than we have today. The class sizes didn’t really affect the students because, according to Mr. Verdi, those who were motivated could learn in a phone booth, while children who weren’t eager to learn wouldn’t be motivated by a class the size of an ant.

Mr.Verdi noticed that over the years, some extra curricular activities had more of a specific race attending them. Such as basketball, which was made up of mostly African-Americans, whereas drama club was made up of mostly white-Americans. When the schools first opened, there were few extra curricular activities, and the little there were, were not exactly “girl friendly.”. Female athletes were not encouraged and the chances of them getting scholarships were slim to none. In the 1950’s, black male athletes were made fun of and treated badly. They didn’t have much of a chance either. Most African-Americans even had to go to different colleges than white-Americans.

After school activities were less organized years ago. More children played in their neighborhoods and had more physical activity compared to today, where there are more organized activities. Many parents are worried for their children.

As more immigrants came to the United States, Mr.Verdi said, our knowledge base increased and because of that technology developed rapidly. The more people working on a goal, the sooner it gets accomplished.

The closing question was a comparison made up by a Brooklyn native, asking if New York City was any more segregated by race than Longwood in Mr.Verdi’s opinion. He answered that NYC and the Longwood community are both still basically segregated by race, but both are changing rapidly to melt cultures together.

Cultures will keep mixing until there are no traces of segregation. Until then, this is the EXCEL class saying, ethnic diversity rocks!

by
Daniel Bornschein     Matthew Coonan      Stephen Kalogeras     Mary Rossillo

You must be wondering how old Mr. Verdi is, since he's been working in the district for forty years.

Well, how long have you been living!?!?!