The Parkwood Lakes School

From 1930 to the early 1950s, the only school in town for West Islip students was the Higbie Lane School.  It was only an elementary school so after eighth grade, West Islip students went to Babylon High school to finish their studies.

Once the population boom of the 1950s occurred, more schools could not be built fast enough to keep up with the growing number of students. The town turned to alternative sites in the community to use as temporary schools. One of those places was a mansion on Parkwood Road that became the Parkwood Lakes School.

"There were two fifth grade classes and two sixth grade classes in that school,"  said Ginger Costanzo, who has lived in West Islip since 1946.  "I went there for sixth grade, from 1951 to 1952.  Before that we only had one school and one library. Someone from the Higbie Lane School would bring lunch over to us at Parkwood and we would eat lunch in the entrance foyer. We had gym in the entrance foyer also.

"The class room I was in had pocket doors that opened up to another room. But the mansion isn't there anymore. They knocked it down and there are houses there now."

Costanzo grew up on Higbie Lane, and moved to West Islip when she was six.   She also has the distinction of being in the first graduating class from West Islip High School.

"Before the high school was finished we had double sessions at the Higbie Lane School," Costanzo said.   "Some kids went from 7 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and then another group came in at 12:30 p.m. The high school was finished in 1957 so we started that September and graduated in June 1958.  There were 92 kids in that first graduating class. When my daughter graduated in 1982, there were over 700 kids who graduated."

She did admit that being the first class had its drawbacks.

"Everything was experimental. There was no regular gymnasium, no regular auditorium. There were no bleachers to watch a game from. Teachers were there one year and left the next. And it was for 7-12 grade so the Higbie Lane School went down to K-6," she said.

After Costanzo was married, she moved to Dubois Street where she and her husband raised their two children. She remembers one parade in the neighborhood sometime in the late 1960's where something unexpected happened.

"When Richard Nixon was campaigning for President, he came to West Islip. There was a parade so I took my kids to see it. Nixon was marching down Higbie Lane when this baby elephant that was in the parade got loose and starting running away. My kids got a big kick out of that," Costanzo said.

The answer to last week's trivia question is: The two ships which sunk at Conklin's Point, leaving behind their keels buried in the sand were named the Thames and the Fair Helen.

This week's trivia question: What was the original name of the Paul J. Bellew School? The answer in next week's column.