Alfred G. Berner High School was a high school that served Massapequa, New York

Massapequa, New York

Massapequa is a hamlet located in the suburban Nassau County, New York. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 21,685.Massapequa is located on the South Shore of Long Island....

 from 1962 to 1987. The school was named after Alfred G. Berner, who served on the Board of Education from 1945 to 1954. The campus currently serves as Berner Middle School for 7th and 8th grade students that matriculate to Massapequa High School

Massapequa High School

Massapequa High School is a four-year public high school located in Massapequa, New York for students grades 9 through 12. It is known locally for its low drop out rate and quality sports teams.As of the 2005–06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,868 students and 133.0 classroom...

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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.

All four of the Baldwin brothers are Berner alumni.

Campus

The former high school's athletic facilities, including a track, football field, and tennis courts, have mostly fallen into disrepair. The north soccer field is still often used by the Long Island Junior Soccer League for the Massapequa Soccer Club's travel teams, but the south soccer field is often torn up due to constant use by middle school students during the soccer and football seasons. It is also used heavily for adult leagues and unsanctioned soccer games during the weekends.
The tennis courts have recently been torn down and they have built a new softball field there instead.

Athletics

Berner 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 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 (lost to Syosset).

The Berner football team went undefeated in 1966.

2009 Enrollment

As of 2009 Berner Middle School had an enrollment of approximately 1,600+ students.

Notable alumni

• Neil Rubbens (SPOOF) (1977)
• Alec Baldwin
  Alec Baldwin
  Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
  
   (1976)
• Daniel Baldwin
  Daniel Baldwin
  Daniel Leroy Baldwin is an American actor, producer and director. He is the second oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, all of whom are actors. Daniel Baldwin is known for his role as Detective Beau Felton in the popular NBC TV series Homicide: Life on the Street...
  
   (1979)
• William Baldwin
  William Baldwin
  William Joseph "Billy" Baldwin is an American actor, producer, and writer, known for his starring roles in such films as Flatliners , Backdraft , Sliver , Fair Game , Virus , Double Bang , as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom , Art Heist , The Squid and the Whale , as himself...
  
   (1981)
• Stephen Baldwin
  Stephen Baldwin
  Stephen Andrew Baldwin is an American actor, director, producer and author. One of the Baldwin brothers, he is known for his roles as William F. Cody in the western show The Young Riders and as Stuart in the movie Threesome...
  
   (1984)
• Bob Nelson
  Bob Nelson (comedian)
  Bob Nelson is an American stand-up comedian and actor.-Biography:Nelson specializes in rubber-faced comedy characters, much as Red Skelton did in his heyday...
  
   (1976)
• Wade Boeger (now Preston) (1979)
• Mark Mucci (1985)
• Tom Terwilliger

External links

• Berner66 alumni website