Berner Middle School

Berner Middle School
Location
51 Carman Mill Road Massapequa, New York 11758 United States
Coordinates	40°40′23″N 73°26′1″W
Information
Established	1962 (1962) (as Berner High School)
School district	Massapequa Public Schools
President	Timothy Taylor (Board of Education)
Dean	Robert Tucker
Principal	Jason Esposito
Grades	6–8
Enrollment	~1,600 (2009)
Campus type	Middle School
Color(s)	Navy blue and gold
Mascot	Chief
Website	Official website

Alfred G. Berner Middle School, formerly Berner High School, is a middle school that serves Massapequa, New York, since 1987 after the conversion from Berner High School. The school was named after Alfred G. Berner, who served on the Board of Education from 1945 to 1954. The campus serves students in grades 6–8 that matriculate to Massapequa High School.

History

Berner High School opened in January 1962 as a junior high school under principal Donald Woodworth. Half of that year's 9th and 10th grade students attending Massapequa High School were assigned to Berner High School for the 1962–1963 school year and the school's enrollment peaked in the early 1970s. After a decline in district enrollment from a high of 17,000 students in 1970 to 7,800 by 1986, Berner High School closed in 1987.

There is currently no talk of returning the middle school's status to a high school, though it is possible that many of the schools in the Massapequa Union Free School District system may exchange uses, due to the rising adolescent population in both Massapequa and Massapequa Park.

In February 2016, the Massapequa School District's Board of Education voted to move the district's sixth graders from the Elementary schools into Berner starting in the 2017–2018 school year. Some parents were against the move, leading to the Board of Education controversially reversing it in a 3–2 vote in July 2017, leading to protests by proponents of the move, who were often students. On August 1, 2017, the Board of Education received a stay from the New York State Department of Education, requiring them to leave the move as is, with the official decision being made to move the sixth graders to Berner at a meeting on August 3, 2017.

Campus

The former high school's athletic facilities, which included a track, football field, and tennis courts, fell into disrepair. In summer 2016, the Massapequa Board of Education elected to renovate the athletic facilities at Berner. The north soccer field is often used by the Long Island Junior Soccer League for the Massapequa Soccer Club's travel teams, while the south soccer field is primarily used by middle school students during the soccer and football seasons. The tennis courts were torn down and replaced by a softball field.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Berner High School holds one state football record: second place (tie) for most field goals in a single football game, set by Richard Pierce in 1983 with 4 field goals in one game.

Robert "Bob" Reifsnyder, an All-American player at the U.S. Naval Academy and who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997, was the varsity football coach for the Berner Bisons for many years as well as a math teacher at the school. Reifsndyer, the 1957 recipient of the Maxwell Award for College Player of the Year, coached at least two of the Baldwin brothers, Alec and Daniel. Under Reifsnyder, the football Bisons won the South Shore (Long Island) championship in 1971 and made it to the Nassau County Conference I-II championship game in 1974, losing to Syosset. The Berner football team went undefeated in 1967 and 1968.

Thomas Cappelluzzo, a cross-country runner, won the NYSPHSAA Cross Country Championships Class A race in November 1971. He posted the fastest time of three class races held, while also setting a course record. He won the mile run in the inaugural NYSPHSAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in March 1972.

Notable alumni

• Alec Baldwin (1976)
• Daniel Baldwin (1979)
• William Baldwin (1981)
• Stephen Baldwin (1984)
• Bob Nelson (1976)
• Emily Pickering (1981)