2012 Spring/Summer Forum - Friends' Central School

issues of creativity, rebellion and alienation. Words are important to
Ray. Dylan’s plaintive rebellion, his ordinary “whitebread” background
juxtaposed against pain and protest, and the poetry of his
lyrics have appealed to Ray since his own young adulthood. In his
home, he has every album Dylan has ever recorded.
It seems there are no loose ends in Ray’s life. His experiences—
friendships, work, play interests—all revolve around family and FCS.
His home is a mile away from the City Avenue campus, where his
son READ (Raymond, after Ray himself, Edward for his wife Pat’s
father and brother, Anthony for his father and brother and D for
DeSabato) is a seventh grader. On the Lower School campus, his
daughter Andrea (whose name also has READ in it, he points out) is
in the fourth grade, and Pat is the receptionist. He and Pat (born
Patricia Ann O’Malley) met when they were in middle school (called
“junior high” at that time), and although they didn’t connect until
college, he describes them as “birds of a feather.”
Security is important to Ray: he likes to have it and to provide it.
He provides it for his larger FCS family too, his faculty and students.
Ray’s philosophy of a middle school education is strong and sure: it
is a time to teach skills like reading, writing, speaking, computing,
athletics and art. Content is the means; curriculum is what you use to
teach skills. “I like the energy, the enthusiasm, the changes that take
place at this age,” he states, and he likes the concept of “a strong,
separate faculty devoted to this age group.”
And the Middle School faculty appreciates him. “You always
know where you stand with Ray; he’s very supportive,” states Deb
Fedder, a member of his faculty. “He is the most moral person I
know. His standards are on such a high level that he keeps everyone
up there with him.” Doug Ross, a Middle School science teacher,
points out he has “worked with Ray for years and not for him, a nice
distinction. Ray allows creativity because he is so grounded. We give
him the ideas…he makes sure they become reality.”
And what a reality! A dizzying panorama of programs fills the
year: Adventure Day, Ski-skate Day, Echo Hill, Renaissance fairs,
Egyptian markets, intricate scheduling, study skills, service projects,
team-teaching, thematic weeks, fully developed curricula in math,
language arts, language, computer, social studies, the arts and
athletics. The almost 300 students are exposed to a vigorous,
experiential, hands-on education of variety and excitement. They are
watched over by a nurturing advisory system which Ray has brought
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