Lincoln Alumni President, former teacher, responds to article on BROOKLYN SINGS
My name is Fred Newman and I am the President of the Abraham Lincoln High School Alumni Association, a position that I have held for more than 23 years.
I am writing to you in regard to your article entitled, “Three High Schools to Compete in BROOKLYN SINGS Competition.” Your article was sent to me by a former Lincoln student. I am thrilled that these three schools are going to participate in such a great, positive activity. I also like
the fact that the American Cancer Society will benefit financially as well.
But there is an error in your article and I feel that I should give you the information that others may not know. The article states that “SING!, the school talent show that pits students from the same school against each other, is for the first time going to feature a three-school rivalry.”
I taught at Lincoln for almost 35 years (Feb. 1973-June 2007). From September 1975 to March 1987, I had the pleasure to be Lincoln’s SING Coordinator. During most of these years, except for 1987, Lincoln was also involved in a three-school competition that was called InterSchool SING. It is my understanding that InterSchool SING began the year before I got involved with Lincoln SING. For the first few years, InterSING featured the winning SINGs from Lincoln, Sheepshead Bay and Midwood High Schools. The InterSING competitions were held at Sheepshead because it had the most modern stage of the three high schools. In January 1982, Canarsie replaced Midwood. In January 1983, Madison replaced Canarsie. In January 1985, Canarsie replaced Madison. InterSING 1986 consisted of Sheepshead and Canarsie. I believe that was the last InterSchool SING.
I took the time to write this to you because it is my understanding that many former students were made to feel that this great activity that they dedicated themselves to didn’t exist. I know that you didn’t do this intentionally, but it is important to them that people understand that the history of InterSchool SING is not just beginning on March 8, 2014, but that it actually took place for many years from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s.