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Kids stand up to bullying through song

by Erika Karp - June 2, 2015

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Suffolk Stop Bullying music video contest winners announced

A Mount Sinai Middle School student will share his original anti-bullying song with hundreds of people at Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker’s concert series this summer.

Jameson Wessels, a Mount Sinai eighth-grader, was named the winner of Anker’s (D-Mount Sinai) bullying awareness music video contest on Monday. Jameson and his friend Katie Gudzik created the anti-bullying video featuring the song — called “Why?” — that will be posted on the Suffolk Stop Bullying website.

First-place winner Jameson Wessels, left, poses with second-place winner Isabela Neves. Photo by Erika Karp

The site, which launched last year, provides information and resources about bullying and anti-bullying efforts. Jameson also received a $500 prize from the North Shore Youth Council.

The video showcases music written and performed by Jameson and stars Katie as a victim of cyberbullying. Savannah Moore, another student, wrote the song’s lyrics.

Jameson said he hopes the music video will show others how sad bullying can make someone feel.

“I’ve been bullied in my life and I think that it’s wrong,” he said. “It happens more often than you think.”

Fellow Mount Sinai student Isabela Neves won second place for her original song, while teachers Sommer and Margie Marchand, of Marchand’s School of Dance in Miller Place, won third place for their dancers’ performance of Colbie Caillat’s “Try.”

Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker announces the winners of an anti-bullying music video contest on Monday. Photo by Erika Karp

Mike DelGuidice, lead singer of Big Shot, a Billy Joel tribute band; Anthony Mingoia, drummer of pop punk band Patent Pending; and Danny “Enjetic” Rivera, of the Asking Myself Association, an anti-bullying organization, judged the entries.

“There are so many ways to get a message across and I think one of the most important ways is through creative music, and that is why we chose this type of forum,” Anker said.

DelGuidice, a Miller Place native, said bullying affected his life and now, as a father, he sees how bullying still affects kids.

“[I] just thought we could all gather together as a community and actually put a stop to it and do our best to keep our eyes on it,” DelGuidice said.

Jameson, who has been bullied, said bullying is in every community and parents and administrators can’t push the issue aside. He added that other students must take a stand and not be just a bystander when they witness bullying, which can be a hard thing to do.

“I think I’ve gotten better at it as I’ve gotten older, but it is still something many people struggle with, including me,” he said.

Mount Sinai softball wins first county title

by Desirée Keegan - June 2, 2015

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The No.1-seeded Mount Sinai girls’ softball team topped No. 4 Islip, 5-2 Saturday, for the team’s first Suffolk County Class A title in school history.

Senior Cassandra Wilson pitched the first three innings and left with a 4-1 lead after freshman infielder Love Drumgole evened the score at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, followed by sophomore first baseman Angela Bukofsky’s RBI double in the bottom of the third and senior outfielder Emily Solomos two-run double right after.

Eighth-grade pitcher Julia Golino, who went four innings, entered the game with two Islip opponents on base and no outs in the fourth, and escaped the inning thanks to senior Julia Gallo’s leaping catch at second.

Mount Sinai, which is now 21-2, and finished the regular season at an almost perfect 17-1 to claim the League V title, moves on to Long Island championship game Friday at St. Joseph’s College at 3:30 p.m.

Northport school board forms athletics committee

by Rohma Abbas - June 2, 2015

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Northport-girls-soccer-Victoria-Colatosti-2-Keeganw — Above, Northport girls' soccer player Victoria Colatosti winds up in a game against Garden City. File photo by Desirée Keegan

A group of Northport-East Northport school district residents will be bringing their A-game to a new committee tasked with brainstorming ways to upgrade its athletic facilities.

The school board voted unanimously on Monday to appoint a group of 15 district residents who will roll up their sleeves and get to work on recommending repairs and projects.

Trustee Regina Pisacani spearheaded the creation of the Athletic Facilities Citizens Advisory Committee back in March in an effort she said was born out of community desire to do something about the district’s sports facilities.

“I hope to meet the needs the community wants for the district for the athletic fields and facilities,” Pisacani said in an interview with reporters at Monday night’s school board meeting. “There’s been a lot of disappointment in the state that things have gotten to and I hope to turn that around.”

The school board first approved the creation of the committee in March and tasked it with focusing on the inspection and evaluation of the present state of athletic facilities and grounds and deciding whether to rehabilitate or replace fields, equipment and facilities. It is also charged with reviewing, analyzing and summarizing the state of the district’s athletic facilities in a written report to the school board and creating a list in order of safety and importance of recommended repairs and/or replacements.

Other tasks of the group include determining the costs of the recommended repairs and analyzing outside funding opportunities to help pay for upgrades.

The resolution authorizing the group said the committee must present a five-year plan to identify priorities for the board by Dec. 14, 2015. It must also prepare a presentation for the 2016 budget meeting before the committee expires on June 30, 2016.

Earlier this year, parents lobbied the school board to seriously consider funding upgrades to the district’s facilities in the school’s budget. In January, 27 people emailed the school board on the issue with many saying they felt the current state of athletic facilities is “embarrassing” and in some cases “a safety hazard.”

Steve Kils, who wrote one of the letters, said at the time he was disappointed with the sports facilities, particularly at the high school.

“For example, lighted football/soccer/lacrosse/field hockey fields with either well-groomed grass or, preferably, artificial turf is the standard,” he said. “Our children are competing with others throughout the country with these basics, and I believe strongly that we need to make these upgrades a priority for our community and school district.”

Some parents echoed the desire to bring turf to the district.

“The children playing on these fields are putting themselves at risk of being injured due to lack of upkeep, and quite frankly, after visiting many high schools with gorgeous turf fields, it is quite an embarrassment to show off our overgrown, bumpy and lumpy, grass fields,” Michele Bica wrote at the time. “Please put this in your budget immediately… How many years do we have to sit by and wait (for something that would benefit many teams as well as the high school image) for you to make room for something as important as this in our budget.”

Pisacani said the first meeting of the committee is on June 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the school board conference room at the William J. Brosnan School building. The meeting is open to the public.

Build an oasis in your own backyard

Lifestyle Magazine

by Rohma Abbas - June 2, 2015

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Outdoor-Firepit-w — Photo by Katherine Link of R.J.K. Gardens, Inc.

Picture this: the sun is setting. You’re sitting by a small waterfall that empties into a pristine pond. The campfire is roaring in the background. Someone is barbecuing up a storm.

It feels like you’ve escaped. But you’ve merely stepped outside your home.

Furnishing outdoor spaces is an increasingly popular home improvement trend on Long Island, according to Richard Kuri, president of St. James-based R.J.K Gardens Inc. Lately, homeowners are installing things like fire pits, synthetic golf greens, horseshoe pits, bocce courts and more, to create spaces to live and play in.

It’s not a new movement, but one that has gained momentum over the last five years or so. The most popular items tend to be fire pits and outdoor kitchens, said Kuri in a recent interview. Other intriguing elements include outside heaters, water-resistant couches, flat-screen TVs, waterfalls and ponds stocked with fish. The idea of creating “serenity spaces” is also big — Kuri said his company recently converted a wooded area rife with bramble that was an eyesore at a condo complex in Hauppauge into a meandering path with benches and a gazebo. “For the people who live at these condos, it’ll be a destination, a place for people to relax,” he said.

Some of these popular outdoor space furnishings can be found in do-it-yourself form at your local home improvement store. One of the simpler items, the fire pit, comes in a kit nowadays, Kuri said — easy enough for the average handy person to assemble. Do-it-yourself fire pit kits could run up to about $900, he said.

Marc Weinstein, the maintenance manager of Owens Brothers Landscape Development in Baiting Hollow, is seeing an increase in demand from clients for outdoor LED lighting, including lights that can illuminate a pathway, or shine up or down from trees. He said he thinks the reason for the increase in demand is because people want to enjoy their outdoor spaces for longer periods of time once the sun sets.

It’s also not a budget-breaking improvement. Outdoor lighting is something one could also find at a local home improvement store, Weinstein said. “I would say that places like the Home Depot and Lowe’s, I think they’re making it more, the word sexy, to have these kinds of things, and more affordable, to have these kinds of things,” Weinstein said in a recent interview.

Kuri feels the rise of outdoor living spaces stems from when the economy crashed around 2008 and 2009. That’s when outdoor-living home improvements really ramped up because people who would have normally dropped big money on vacations decided instead to pour it in to their homes and create a “staycation” getaway.

“I think that the phrase ‘getting back to nature,’ the fact that if you have nice weather or if you can enjoy nature and get outside [to] enjoy it, why not do it?” Kuri said. “It’s another destination — in your own yard.”

The amount of rainfall is affecting our gardens on Long Island

by Ellen Barcel - June 1, 2015

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quince-flowers-w — Flowering quince, once established, is somewhat drought tolerant and has lovely red flowers in the spring. By planting drought-tolerant plants, you’re less likely to have to spend your time irrigating your garden. Photo by Ellen Barcel

By Ellen Barcel

The last two years have been interesting weatherwise on Long Island. The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which predicted a cold and snowy winter for 2013-14, and yes it was, also predicted a hot and rainy summer. As far as the hot part is concerned, it was one of the coolest summers in many years. So much for the hot part!

The wet part, well that’s a different story, kind of. Through early August we were below average. The average rain at Brookhaven National Lab in Upton for June, July, August and September hovered around four inches each of those months — a little above, a little below. June’s actual rainfall was just a little over two inches and July’s was about two and a half — definitely below average. Last fall and early winter, however, gave us plenty of rain. Last winter (2014-15) was incredibly cold and snowy. While the meteorologists didn’t talk “polar vortex” as they had the winter before, the almanac did predict a very cold winter, and yes, it was. But spring, so far has been relatively cool and dry.

Because rainfall on Long Island can vary so much from not only year to year but week to week, gardeners needed to keep an eye on it so that their gardens thrive. On average, it rains once every three or four days, but we can go for weeks in the summer with little or no rain or have it rain every day for a solid week or more.

Place a rain gauge strategically in your garden so you can see how much rain you’re getting each week and adjust your irrigation schedule accordingly. Above, the gauge shows that approximately four inches of rain/irrigation were received at that spot in the garden in just a few days. Photo by Ellen Barcel

Not only does rainfall vary timewise but geographically as well. August 13’s, 2014, record 13 plus inches of rain in southwestern Suffolk County (the Islip area in particular) flooded roads that tied up traffic, but the North and South forks got less than an inch of rain from that storm. So eastern Suffolk gardeners were watering their plants while western and central Suffolk gardeners were pumping out flooded basements.

So, place a rain gauge in your garden where it can accurately measure how much rain your garden has received. Make sure that the gauge is not under bushes, for example, which can cover the gauge’s opening. Check your gauge periodically. You can then adjust your added watering accordingly.

Most of us have very sandy soil. We need to be particularly concerned with weeks and weeks of no or little rain during the summer. We need to supplement what Mother Nature provides, particularly with plants such as tomatoes or hydrangeas, both of which need a steady supply of water. Tomato plants that dry out can result in blossom end rot. Grass should receive about an inch a week. Remember that since most of us have very sandy soil, even torrential rain, say two or more inches at once, drains quickly into the soil, and a few days later you may need to water. Also, containers dry out more quickly than plants in the ground.

Some of us have clay soil or live in an area where the water table is very high. For those gardeners, it’s not a question of getting enough rain; it can be controlling too much water or finding plants that do well in very wet soil.

If you have an area where lots of water drains into the soil, say from your roof top, you might want to consider a rain garden. This basically consists of a depressed area, frequently with a berm around it, which acts like a recharge basis (a sump) for the island’s water table. If you have an area where water virtually never drains, you might consider a bog garden. Plants that enjoy “wet feet” do well here.

Using native plants is an option and will make it easier for the gardener. Native plants are adapted to Long Island’s periods of rain and drought and need little tending.

More on native plants, rain gardens and bog gardens in future weeks.

Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.

Celebrating cancer survival together

Health

by TBR Staff - June 1, 2015

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cancer-center-flower-w — An exterior view of the Stony Brook University Cancer Center. Photo from SBU

By L. Reuven Pasternak, MD

Thanks to major advances in cancer prevention, early detection and treatment, many patients are enjoying longer lives and maintaining their quality of life, as the number of cancer survivors grows.

Anyone living with a history of cancer — from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life — is a cancer survivor, according to the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation. In the United States alone, there are more than 14 million cancer survivors. That’s cause for celebration, and for the past 10 years, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing at Stony Brook University Cancer Center at our annual National Cancer Survivors Day event.

Stony Brook’s 11th annual celebration will take place on Sunday, June 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Cancer Center, and will feature a talk about the Cancer Survivorship Movement by inspirational speaker Doug Ulman. A three-time cancer survivor and a globally recognized cancer advocate, Ulman, with his family, founded the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to supporting, educating and connecting young adults who are affected by cancer. Ulman is also known for his work at LIVESTRONG and now as president and CEO of Pelotonia.

All cancer survivors are invited, whether they were treated at Stony Brook or not. In addition to Ulman’s talk, attendees can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, musical entertainment and light refreshments. They can also participate in the very moving Parade of Survivors. To register, visit www.cancer.stonybrookmedicine.edu/registration or call 631-444-4000.

Cancer Center staff members actively partake in the day’s events and look forward to reconnecting with patients. It’s gratifying for them to see the strides these survivors have made throughout the years to lead normal and productive lives after a cancer diagnosis.

National Cancer Survivors Day is just one of a number of ways Stony Brook reaches out to the community. The Cancer Center has created many initiatives and programs to help make life a little easier for patients with cancer, including support groups, cancer prevention screenings and the School Intervention and Re-Entry Program for pediatric patients.

As a leading provider of cancer services in Suffolk County, Stony Brook is constructing a state-of-the-art Medical and Research Translation (MART) building that will focus on cancer research and advanced imaging and serve as the home of our new Cancer Center. Located on the Stony Brook Medicine campus, this 245,000-square-foot facility will allow scientists and physicians to work side by side to research and discover new cancer treatments and technology.

The MART will double Stony Brook’s capacity for outpatient cancer services and enhance all cancer care for Long Island and beyond. And once it is completed in 2016, we’ll have one more reason to celebrate life after a cancer diagnosis.

L. Reuven Pasternak, MD, is the CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital and vice president for health systems, Stony Brook Medicine.

Mount Sinai lax claims Long Island title in sudden death

by Desirée Keegan - June 1, 2015

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The pressure was on for the Mount Sinai girls’ lacrosse team on Saturday as they fought in sudden death for the Long Island Class C crown. Under the hot sun at Adelphi University, sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Van Middelem made her last of the game’s eight saves during the tense overtime period and passed to senior midfielder Sydney Pirreca, who tossed in the game-winning goal to edge out Cold Spring Harbor, 10-9, for the crown.

The Mustangs led their opponents, who scored 35 goals in their previous two playoff games, 4-2 at the end of the first half.

With three minutes left in the second, a Seahawks goal put that team out in front, 7-6, before Mount Sinai senior midfielder and co-captain Kasey Mitchell passed to freshman attack Camryn Harloff on a free position shot to retie the game, 7-7.

Mustangs senior midfielder and co-captain Mary Ellen Carron and Pirreca, also a co-captain, helped the girls build a two-goal lead in overtime but Cold Spring Harbor scored two goals, the second with 4.8 seconds left on the clock, to send the game into sudden death.

In the final moments of the game, Van Middelem snatched a point-blank shot by the Seahawks out of the air, then dished the ball to Pirreca. The senior, who is known for her speed, sprinted the length of the field and took the ball all the way to the cage, stretching the net for the game-winning goal.

Mitchell and Pirreca led the team with four points apiece. Mitchell scored two goals and added two assists, while Pirreca tallied four goals. Freshman attack Meaghan Tyrrell netted two goals and an assist, Harloff scored a point in each column and senior defender Jessica DeMeo rounded out the scoring with an assist.

Mount Sinai will play the winner of the Salmon River-Skaneateles in the state semifinals at 9 a.m. on Friday in Cortland.

Suffolk comptroller, treasurer merger moves up two years

by Victoria Espinoza - June 1, 2015

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County Executive Steve Bellone cites increased savings for taxpayers

Bellone-Kennedy-Paul-merger_photo-from-county — Steve Bellone, Barry Paul and John Kennedy, Jr. spotted at a recent press event. Photo from Suffolk County

The merger of the offices of Suffolk County treasurer and the Suffolk County comptroller is being moved up by two years — a move Executive Steve Bellone’s office claims will save taxpayers even more money than originally anticipated.

The treasurer’s office will be folded into the comptroller’s office on Jan. 1, 2016 instead of a planned 2018 deadline, and the groundwork for the transition has already begun, with changes in the treasurer’s office implemented as early as January this year.

A whopping 62 percent of Suffolk County voters overwhelmingly supported a referendum to combine the two offices in a vote , and ever since then, plans have been put into action to complete the merger.

Merging the departments is expected to save taxpayers more than $3 million, according to Bellone’s office in a statement. Moving the merger up by two years saves more money because the county can eliminate positions sooner. Also, implementing new human resources software will allow the county to realize more savings.

The merger includes abolishing the treasurer’s position, as well as two deputy treasurer positions. Five positions have already been eliminated from the treasurer’s office. These positions included staff members who had retired or left the office and were not replaced, since the positions were deemed no longer necessary.

Interim Treasurer Barry Paul has been spearheading the merger, and it is the main reason he was brought into the position. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone nominated Paul to the post when previous Treasurer Angie Carpenter was named Islip Town supervisor and left the office in early January of this year.

Bellone has worked with Paul and Comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr., whose two offices will become one. However, at first, Kennedy was not in favor of the merger. During Kennedy’s campaign for comptroller last year, he strongly opposed the referendum and the merger.

“I had concerns with the separation of functions and the new oversight of the two offices,” Kennedy said. Once he was elected into office and realized the public’s support for the move at the polls, Kennedy said he altered his point of view.

“I try to be guided by the will of my constituents, and they wanted to see consolidation so I am now on board,” Kennedy said.

Originally the merger was scheduled to be complete in January 2018, since Carpenter’s term as treasurer was from 2015 to 2017. Once Carpenter stepped down, there was an opportunity to bring on Paul and speed up the process.

Previously, Paul was a Bellone staffer, and once he finishes overseeing the merger of the treasurer’s office with the comptroller’s office, he will return to his post there. For Paul, the treasurer appointment was always a short-term assignment.

“All existing personnel from the treasurer’s office will go under Kennedy, and Kennedy has really embraced that,” Suffolk County Deputy County Executive Jon Schneider, who has worked on the merger as well, said in a phone interview. “This merger will save taxpayers money, while delivering better services.”

Another place that the treasurer’s office has been able to save money is with regards to a backlog of providing tax refunds. As of May 14, the backlog tax refunds were reduced by a third, coming down to 7,810, whereas over a month before, the number of backlog tax refunds was 11,830, according to Bellone’s office.

The backlog is expected to be completely eliminated by July, and will save the taxpayers more than a million dollars in reduced interests costs annually.

The new merged office will also host Munis software in the county’s IT system, which will save another $150,000 to $200,000 dollars. Munis is an integrated enterprise resource planning system that manages all core functions, including financials, human resources, citizen services and revenues.

In a statement, Paul said he has been following Bellone’s mandate to make the treasurer’s office as efficient as possible, and is confident in this timeline and the work his office has been doing to save taxpayer dollars.

Mount Sinai lax falls in final seconds of Class B Long Island championship

by TBR Staff - June 1, 2015

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Mt.-Sinai-lacrosse-Dan-Bullis-053015-Landon-WJL_2160w — Mount Sinai senior attack Dan Bullis looks for a cutter as he races around the circle in the Mustangs’ 7-6 Class B Long Island championship loss to Manhasset at Stony Brook University on May 30. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Mount Sinai senior midfielder Zack Rudolf maintains possession of the ball as he cuts inside past a Manhasset player in the Mustangs’ 7-6 Class B Long Island championship loss at Stony Brook University on May 30. Photo by Bill Landon

With 28 seconds left, Nassau County champion Manhasset scored the go-ahead goal to edge out the Suffolk County title-winning Mount Sinai boys’ lacrosse team, 7-6, in the Long Island Class B championship game Saturday night at Stony Brook University’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

“It’s just frustrating,” Mount Sinai head coach Harold Drumm said. “When you play your heart out and you give it everything you have and you don’t come out as the winner, it’s hard to accept.”

As the two teams collided, Mount Sinai found itself lighting up the scoreboard first with three unanswered goals.

Senior midfielder Tony DiMonti drove home an unassisted shot, followed by senior midfielder Zack Rudolf, and then junior midfielder Griffin McGrath dished one up to senior attack Dan Keenan, who split the pipes for the 3-0 lead.

Manhasset broke the ice with a goal to end the first quarter, and added another to open the second, but Mount Sinai senior attack Dan Bullis got the call next, finding the back of the cage unassisted at the 7:32 mark to edge ahead, 4-2.

Demonstrating that any position on the field could score, Mount Sinai sophomore defenseman Lucas Capobianco-Hogan went the distance, as the longstick buried his shot, as his team took a 5-2 advantage into the half.

Mount Sinai senior midfielder Tony DiMonti shoots and scored in the Mustangs’ 7-6 Class B Long Island championship loss to Manhasset at Stony Brook University on May 30. Photo by Bill Landon

Both teams traded goals in the third quarter, with Manhasset scoring first, and Keenan following off a feed from Bullis, to help the Mustangs stay out in front, 6-3, to start the final stanza.

Manhasset owned the final 12 minutes of play, and scored three unanswered goals to tie the game at 6-6 with 4:02 left in regulation.

The game looked as though it was heading into overtime, but with 28 seconds left on the clock, a spin move in front of the cage led to the Indians scoring the go-ahead goal. Mount Sinai won the ensuing faceoff, but could not respond as the clock expired, ending the Mustangs’ season.

Drumm said he was proud of his team for playing hard and giving it all they had.

“I told the kids it’s been a great season for Mount Sinai, and this has been a special season for us,” Drumm said. “They’ve got to look at themselves in the mirror and decide what’s important in life.”

MaryEllen Elia to take on New York education commissioner post

by Victoria Espinoza - June 1, 2015

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New York native to start on July 6

MaryEllen Elia succeeds John B. King Jr. as the state’s next education commissioner. Photo from state education department

MaryEllen Elia, a former Florida superintendent, will succeed John B. King Jr., as New York’s next education commissioner and local education leaders across the North Shore are anxiously waiting to see if she’ll pass the test.

The New York State Board of Regents formed a seven-member search committee in January to find a replacement for King, who announced he was leaving his seat after accepting a federal senior advisor position to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

For a decade, Elia served as the superintendent of Hillsborough County, Florida, and was named state Superintendent of the Year in 2015. She is credited with much success in Hillsborough, as her district won $100 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help develop a teacher evaluation system that used student standardized test scores as a key factor.

The system, Empowering Effective Teachers, received national praise from Duncan and the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who stated in a press release the system provides extensive support for teachers and pay structure incentivizes teachers to take on more challenging positions.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said in a press release that Elia has a remarkable record of working collaboratively with parents, students and teachers to get things done, which was crucial to make sure the implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards went smoothly for students and teachers in Florida.

Elia is delighted to return back to New York, and said in a press release that she is happy to work on behalf of the children. She still considers herself a teacher at heart, and believes that a good teacher is also a good listener.

The New York native had her first teaching job in Sweet Home Central School District in Amherst, N.Y., where she taught social studies for 16 years. In 1986, when her family moved to Florida, she became a reading teacher for three years and then held various administrative positions in the district until her departure.

During Elia’s 10-year tenure as superintendent of Hillsborough, students have received national recognition for their achievement. Fourth and eighth grade students earned high reading scores than any of the other 22 districts that participated in the 2013 Trial Urban District Assessment.

All of Hillsborough districts public high schools placed on the Washington Post’s list of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” in 2012 and 2013.

Former state education Commissioner John B. King Jr. at a community forum. File photo by Erika Karp

King stepped down last December amidst much controversy, specifically for his methods of implementing the highly controversial Common Core in New York.

Superintendents, politicians and members of the community all found problems with King’s techniques, feeling that the Common Core was rushed into the schools and not given enough time for teachers and students to understand it. Another fault was his background, which lacked any teaching jobs. King was a co-founder of Roxbury Prep, a charter middle school in Massachusetts.

“I was the first to call for his resignation, he developed a hostile approach and seemed oblivious to his role,” New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) said.

Englebright said he hopes Elia will provide a fresh look at the system, and that she’ll bring her background as both a teacher and an administrator to the schools of New York.

One thing is for sure; Elia has her work cut out for her.

“I think she has a monumental task ahead of her, “ Timothy Eagen, Kings Park’s superintendent said. “On Long Island, about 50 percent of students in grades three through eight refused to take the assessments this past year. There is a lot of work to be done.”

Middle Country school district Superintendent Roberta Gerold felt there wasn’t a collaborative culture surrounding the application of the Common Core under King’s tenure.

“There needs to be a responsible conversation, and I don’t think we had that with King, he was reluctant to slow down,” said Gerold, who also serves as president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association.

Fellow superintendent, Joe Rella, of Comsewogue, said he is desperate for a more collaborative and ongoing conversation.

“This reform dialogue needs to stop, he said. “We need time to examine what has happened. I am optimistic on Elia’s hiring until further notice.”

The superintendent’s prayers may just be answered, as Elia stated that her first item of business as commissioner will be listening to the members of the community, parents, teachers, students and administrators.

Johanna Testa, vice president of the Miller Place Board of Education, said while she is 100 percent happy to see a new commissioner, who has experience teaching in New York, she still has some concerns over Elia’s track record of student test scores being tied to teacher evaluations.

“I’m just not convinced she’s the right person for the job,” Testa said.

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