CLOSE
Authors Posts by Mallie Jane Kim

Mallie Jane Kim

83 POSTS 0 COMMENTS

by -
0 669
Horseshoe crabs at Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai. Photo by John Turner
The bill has passed in Albany, but awaits governor’s signature

By Mallie Jane Kim

The future of a bill to enhance protections for horseshoe crabs in New York waters is unclear, but advocacy around the issue is heating up.

If signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), the bill would prevent the taking of horseshoe crabs for commercial or biomedical purposes in New York. The bill was passed by the state Assembly and Senate June 7, and though it has not yet been called up by the governor for consideration and potential signature or veto, advocates for and against the bill have been working hard to make their voices heard.

“Our job is to make sure the governor is aware that the horseshoe crab is a beloved species, it’s in danger and she can help it,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which is spearheading efforts to encourage the governor to sign the bill.

Fifty-eight groups signed on to a September letter urging Hochul to adopt the bill, including Audubon, Sierra and Rotary clubs from around Long Island, as well as the Port Jefferson Harbor Commission, The Whaling Museum & Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor and the Setauket Harbor Task Force.

Thousands of citizen postcards supporting the bill are on the way to the governor over the next weeks, according to Esposito, who predicts the bill won’t get called up before December, a pattern she has noted for environmental bills over the last few years. 

“The tough bills are the ones they wait longer to call,” she said. “The issue now is to make sure the public raises their voice.”

Horseshoe crabs, which are relatives of arachnids like spiders and scorpions, are considered “living fossils” since they have been around for an estimated 450 million years, but they have faced a steady decline in recent decades due to harvesting and habitat loss, impacting bird species that feed on horseshoe crab eggs during migration, like red knots. Commercial fisherman rely on horseshoe crabs as bait for whelk, and its blue blood is prized for biomedical research and vaccine development — though there are not currently any permits for biomedical harvesting in New York.

Local fisheries oppose the bill

Opponents of the bill don’t believe a complete ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs is an appropriate way to protect the species, since it is already monitored and regulated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

“If they felt that the horseshoe crab stock was in danger, we would hear about it first,” said Bonnie Brady, executive director of Montauk-based Long Island Commercial Fishing Association. “To use a law to regulate a fishery, when they are already regulated by appropriate bodies that have the science to back it, is just not the way to allow fisheries to survive.”

Some individual members of the association have written to the governor advocating against the ban, according to Brady, who added that she believes the proposed regulations are based on feeling, not fact. 

“No one wants to see [horseshoe crabs] become depleted to the point where their continued vibrance is in danger,” Brady said, explaining that whelk fishing is a significant aspect of day fishermen’s seasonal catch. 

“It would be like suddenly someone says, ‘We’re going to take 20% of your paycheck going forward without any scientific basis for doing so and without any compensation,’” she said. “Would you be OK with that?”

The Long Island Farm Bureau, based in Calverton, is also advocating against the bill with state lawmakers on Long Island and the governor’s office in Albany, according to the bureau’s administrative director Rob Carpenter. 

He emphasized that the state DEC’s efforts to preserve the species since the population levels in New York were rated “poor” in 2019 — including voluntarily limiting the annual take of horseshoe crabs to 150,000 and requiring mesh bait bags to reduce the amount of crab that fisheries need to use in whelk traps — should be given a chance. 

“Before we go and ban everything, I think that needs an opportunity to really work,” he said.

by -
0 777
Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano
Additional transportation costs would come from within the budget

By Mallie Jane Kim

Will Three Village secondary students get 35 minutes more sleep?

Most parents who showed up to comment publicly at school district-sponsored forums Sept. 10 and 17 believe they should.

“This is basic biology,” said one parent, who identified herself as a neurologist and pointed to scientific studies on adolescent sleep needs. She said allowing teens to sleep later impacts more than academics and test scores. “Mental health improves, physical health improves, there are less motor vehicle accidents from those seniors,” she said. “It really seems like a very small price to pay for all of those advantages.”

The school board is considering a proposal to shift Ward Melville High School’s start time to 7:40 a.m., from 7:05, and push the junior high schools back from 7:40 a.m. to 8:15. Under the plan, Minnesauke Elementary School would join the three schools that start at 9:25 a.m., and Nassakeag would stay at 8:40. 

The district is gathering feedback from all residents and employees through an online form to inform the school board’s decision. Each household in the district was sent a flier with a QR link to the form.

The proposed schedule requires nine additional buses and will add an estimated $1.4 million to the transportation budget, based on the district’s 2024-25 contract with the bus company, which is subject to change. Those funds, however, will have to come from within the existing overall budget, which for this school year is $236 million. Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon has made it clear there is no will within the district to go above the state-mandated limits on increasing taxes year over year.

“We don’t have an unlimited pot of money,” Scanlon said. “We do not want to exceed the tax cap for any of these issues.”

The superintendent noted that the district has already been working to tighten its belt anywhere possible, including a $770,000 savings from restructuring the administration and about $3 million from retirements last year.

At the forums, some parents pointed out that in the context of a $236 million budget, $1.4 million amounts to about half a percent.

“I can’t think of anything we could do that is this easy for a million dollars that could benefit the kids this much,” commented one parent on Sept. 17.

District officials have publicly acknowledged they believe early school start times are a major problem for adolescents but have pointed to issues of transportation logistics and related costs in delaying a change.

Scanlon, who mentioned about 10% of high school students chronically miss first period, presented a detailed background of efforts to make secondary school start times later, as well as the rationale for trying to do so. 

“The issue for us is the way the schools are structured,” Scanlon explained, referring to the staggered school start times that allow the district to use far fewer buses than if all the schools started around the same time. “This is saving us money — if we change back to a different configuration, it’s going to cost us money.”

The current setup started in 2011, after the district adjusted start times to use fewer buses. For that effort, Three Village received a management efficiency grant from New York State paid out over three years and totaling $747,789, according to the district. 

But some commenters said these early start times highlighted an equity issue within the district: Certain parents have the ability to drive their students to school in the morning, which isn’t possible for those who have to be at work early or do not have anyone to stay home with younger sleeping children. 

“What we’re saying is the kids who have advantages — whether that be financial or their parents’ time — can sleep an extra half hour or 45 minutes and do better in school,” one woman argued. “And their mental health is more important than those kids who don’t have those advantages. That’s really troubling.”

Not all public commenters were against the early start times. 

“I thought it was disciplined,” said a woman who identified herself as Karen and said she had two Three Village graduates and current student. She added that her son couldn’t compete as a track athlete because he was up too late at night, studying. 

“If we had moved that start time up later, he would have stayed up even later,” she said. “I know in my household, it would not work.”

Others on social media and at the forums raised concerns about future transportation costs soaring due to the New York State mandate to electrify bus fleets in coming years, something Scanlon emphasized was out of the district’s control and an “unfunded mandate.”

Scanlon indicated that, as of the Sept. 17 meeting, about 200 people had participated in the online survey, and so far the opinions were varied. He encouraged every stakeholder to participate and let the school board hear their feedback.

“They read everything,” Scanlon assured audience members. “They will read every comment made by every community member, good, bad and indifferent.”

The online feedback form will be open until Sept. 30, and the board of education plans to discuss the issue in October.

by -
0 901
New principal, John Holownia, in front of Ward Melville High School. Courtesy John Holownia

By Mallie Jane Kim

For Ward Melville High School’s new principal John Holownia, the first week of the 2024-25 school year has been a bit surreal — he grew up attending Three Village schools and graduated from Ward Melville in 1999. 

“It has been fantastic,” he said. “It’s not something I ever imagined when I was a high school student walking around the hallways.”

Holownia returns to his old stomping grounds after serving as an assistant principal at Shoreham-Wading River High School since 2019, and before that as a special education teacher in the Comsewogue school district.

It’s not his first time returning to his home turf, he said, as he coached football at Ward Melville for a few years as a young adult in the early 2000s after earning his bachelor’s degree in English literature from Princeton University. Returning mid-career as the high school principal, though, is a whole different ball game.

“My biggest priority right now is to just learn,” Holownia said, pointing to the high school’s reputation for excellence and his desire to keep it that way. “The most important thing I can do is learn how things work here and how things have been done in the past, and get a real feel for what has made Ward Melville such a successful place.” 

Holownia replaces acting principal Paul Gold, an assistant principal who stepped in last November after the previous principal, William Bernhard, was reassigned. Gold has since retired.

Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon, who was a social studies teacher at the high school during the years Holownia attended, said he looks forward to the new principal’s successful administration.

“John will be a tremendous asset to Ward Melville High School,” Scanlon said in an email.

Holownia is already thinking ahead to the structural changes the district has planned for 2025-26. The plan is for sixth grade to move up from the elementary schools into the junior high schools, and for ninth grade to move into Ward Melville, making it a four-year high school. 

District staff and administrators have been working out over the past year the adjustments and structural modifications necessary for the high school to accommodate adding an academic grade level.

“Certainly that’s going to need to be well-coordinated,” Holownia said. “We’ll be putting all those programs and things in place to make sure we’re ready for that change.”

But for now, he’s focused on acclimating to the current set of students under his purview. 

Three Village Board of Education officially appointed Holownia to his position April 3, and he’s been working in the building since July 1. He has enjoyed seeing staff and students filling the corridors after a quiet summer of preparation, he said. 

“The energy in the building really comes from the kids,” Holownia said. “It’s been exciting, and definitely a great start to the year.”

by -
0 1109
Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano

The change would mean later mornings for secondary students

By Mallie Jane Kim

After years of advocacy and discussion over shifting secondary school start times later, Three Village Board of Education settled on a framework to put forward for community input. If adopted, Ward Melville High School and the district’s two junior high schools — P.J. Gelinas and R.C. Murphy — would each start 35 minutes later than they currently do, at 7:40 a.m. and 8:15 a.m., respectively. 

Any such adjustments would likely take place starting fall 2025, in tandem with the district’s plan to move sixth grade into junior high and ninth into the high school. To make the changes possible with the fewest added buses, the plan would mark a change for at least one elementary school. Currently, two schools start around 8:40 a.m. and three at 9:25. Under the proposed plan, only one elementary school could begin the day at the earlier time.

Three Village would have to find a bit over $1 million in other areas of the budget to accommodate the increased transportation costs incurred by a change in start times, according to district officials.

“That is the best that we came up with from both the dollar standpoint and also what seemed to work best,” said interim Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Carlson at an Aug. 21 board meeting as he laid out the rationale for the plan. “It’s not going to make everybody thrilled, but it does a number of things that we were looking to do.”

District administrators and some board members have said for many months that they believe and agree with study results that indicate starting later is better for adolescent physical and mental health and for academic outcomes, but concerns over financial implications have kept the district from committing to make a change — as has figuring out the most efficient configuration.

Advocates were hoping to push the high school start time past the 8 a.m. mark, though Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon pointed out the current proposal ends Ward Melville at 2:21 p.m., allowing time before sports begin at 3 for students to participate in a club or get extra academic help — something he said was a major concern expressed at public meetings on the topic.

“There’s no such thing as perfect,” said Scanlon, who also mentioned the later time should help the 10% of high school students who chronically miss first period. “This is getting us there a little better.”

The board had engaged a transportation consultant to help find efficient ways to change start times and possibly push the high school time to 8 a.m., but unfortunately that exercise produced results Scanlon called “lacking at best.”

The current proposal is one the board has had since at least January and came from a start time subcommittee that has been meeting over the past two years.

The district will seek community input on the change, particularly because of the over $1 million price tag, through a pair of planned public meetings in September, Scanlon announced, adding that the district planned to livestream the sessions and sort out the appropriate technology to allow people to participate and provide feedback virtually.

Board member David McKinnon, a long-time later start time advocate, emphasized that Three Village would source that $1 million by reapportioning funds within the whole budget — not tacking that amount directly onto what residents pay in taxes. Taxpayers vote each year on a budget number, not line-by-line allocations.

McKinnon also cautioned against looking at the change in terms of pure economic efficiency.

“Efficiency is making use of all our resources in an optimal way,” McKinnon said. “As students are starting school so early that they’re not learning, we’re wasting vast amounts of money on teacher salaries. It’s inefficient to be trying to teach kids when they can’t learn or when they’re learning less optimally.”

If the board decides this fall to adopt new start times for the next academic year, those changes would still be subject to the annual budget planning process.

by -
0 1691

Local business groups are looking to increase the cross-Sound connection

A Bridgeport & Port Jefferson ferry. File photo

By Mallie Jane Kim

Riding the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry as a walk-on may become more attractive in coming years, since business leaders on both sides of Long Island Sound have reignited interest in coordinating efforts to attract interstate day-trippers.

“We want to get people to visit us, explore the village and understand our history — and patronize our museums and our shops,” said Barbara Ransome, director of operations at the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce.

In fall of 2019, there was movement toward creating a sort of reciprocal passport system with discounted rates for a walk-on ferry ticket as well as coupons for area businesses in Port Jefferson and the Bridgeport region, according to Ransome, but those efforts ended with the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.

Leaders from the Bridgeport Regional Business Council reached out to Port Jefferson’s chamber this summer and revived hopes for working together, according to Ransome. The two groups had a successful meeting and tour of the Down Port area in June.

“They wanted to learn more about Port Jeff and create a synergy between the two regions,” Ransome said, adding that members of the Port Jefferson chamber showed the visitors highlights of the area, including retail stores, restaurants and ice cream parlors. “The visit went really, really well.”

Now, Ransome is leading a walking tour for a group of about 30 people from the greater Bridgeport region’s Women’s Leadership Network on Thursday, Aug. 1, that will highlight women-owned businesses in Port Jefferson. The group is also slated to tour the Drowned Meadow Cottage Museum and eat at local restaurants.

“We’re fortunate,” Ransome said of Port Jefferson, which, in addition to eateries and retail, boasts Harborfront Park, playhouse Theatre Three and a seasonal ice rink. “When you get off the ferry, you’re right there in the commercial district. It’s very walkable.”

On the Connecticut side, there is a lot of interest in visits across the Sound, according to Natalie Pryce, leadership and development director for Bridgeport’s business council.

“It’s so close, and I don’t think people get that experience,” Pryce said.

She framed Thursday’s trip as an economic development tour for her group of women business leaders — a more interesting opportunity to network than meeting to chat over drinks.

“My preference is not to meet at a bar and just talk every time we get together,” she said. “This way we can learn about other women in business, meet other ladies and support each other.”

For Ransome, the walking tour reawakened hopes of working together toward the passport system idea, or something similar. She said in 2019, the ferry company was amenable to collaborating to figure out discounted tickets — a foot passenger round trip currently costs $39 for adults, with seniors at $28 — and even potentially a shuttle service to places like Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, Bass Pro Shops or the Klein Memorial Auditorium. But any such arrangements are still ideas, at this point.

“I will be finding out where we go from here,” Ransome said.

Pryce expressed excitement about working with Ransome as well, adding that other groups under the Bridgeport Regional Business Council umbrella expressed good-natured jealousy for her day trip.

“There’s just interest across the board,” she said. “This is just the beginning — this is a conversation we’re going to continue after Thursday.”

by -
0 1200
Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich and town historian Barbara Russell shake hands in front of a new historical marker, with West Meadow’s environmental educator Nicole Pocchiare. Photo by Mallie Jane Kim

By Mallie Jane Kim

Brookhaven Town officials unveiled a new historical sign at West Meadow Beach July 19, to mark the location of a summer beach community of bungalows that was removed in 2005.

The seasonal community, built along Trustees Road, had a contentious history, yet for those who enjoyed access, the string of nearly 100 beach bungalows was a place of rich memory of summer beach life.

“If you don’t tell the history, you lose it,” said Barbara Russell, Brookhaven’s town historian, who headed up the application to the Syracuse-based William G. Pomeroy Foundation, which granted the sign. Russell said growing up, she knew cottage owners and spent time visiting the unique community. 

“My grandparents, my parents, me and my children have wonderful memories of the cottages here,” she said. “My six grandchildren absolutely never knew them.”

The new marker, which sits near the entrance of what is now the Trustees Road walking trail, reads, “West Meadow beach summer colony, private cottages built here on town-owned leased land starting in 1905. All but four of 93 cottages razed in 2005.”

Some area residents who remember the divisiveness of the private cottages, especially in the last few years before most of them were razed, question the move. 

“Why memorialize the cottages?” wondered Setauket resident George Hoffman, who worked for the Town of Brookhaven during those last years, and currently sits on the West Meadow Beach Advisory Committee. “It was a very contentious thing.”

One concern is that the brief, neutral wording may gloss over the whole story.

“I hope that this new sign — that doesn’t say much — does not cause us to forget that during the almost century-long cottage era, most of the people of Brookhaven Town were denied access to their own public land, which was leased to a favored few,” said Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).

The sign that previously marked the spot simply acknowledged that the “West Meadow Beach Cottages Historic District” was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 — an unsuccessful last-minute effort to save the bungalows, which were already scheduled for demolition by then. 

The cottages started as tent platforms the town rented out, including to people fleeing the city due to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19, according to documents on file with the U.S. Department of the Interior. Lessors were later allowed to build structures on the lots, which they rented originally for $10-20 per year.

In the intervening years, there were questions of whether the leases were given out as political favors or in sweetheart deals to the well-connected, and the fact that private cottages were built on public parkland led to multiple lawsuits and appeals over decades, culminating in their ultimate removal. 

After a judge ruled in favor of removing the cottages in the late 1990s, Englebright, then a state assemblyman, authored legislation that solidified the timing of removal — allowing cottage residents to finish a prearranged lease term, and for the town to use that lease money to fund the removal of the structures and restoration of the parkland. He said his local office had to install security cameras and a panic button because of threats and harassment over the issue.

He added that over the years, he heard stories of cottage owners themselves being hostile to residents trying to access the area. 

Englebright himself remembers an incident from his 20s, before he got involved in politics, when he was out on the water in a dinghy and a surprise summer storm drove him into that stretch of West Meadow Beach. He said a cottage owner with two German Shepherds confronted him.

“He said, ‘Get the hell off my beach,’” Englebright recalled, adding that after he apologized, the man repeated his demands and sent his dogs after him. “They drove me into the water, which was still breaking waves over my boat and myself.”

He added, “That was before I learned that, in fact, it wasn’t his beach.”

Englebright suggested a second sign could tell a more complete version of events. “The way in which courageous civic advocacy ultimately created the magnificent park that we have today deserves to be remembered,” he said. 

Town historian Russell doesn’t see the neutral sign wording as a problem.

“You can’t ever tell the whole history in five lines,” Russell acknowledged, adding that she hopes long-stalled plans to restore one of the remaining cottages will result in an education center that can tell a more complete story. Or, perhaps one of the local historical organizations could take up the task. The Pomeroy sign, she said, is to pique interest.

“This is just to get your attention and say, ‘Oh, there were cottages here once,’” she said. “There was a whole summer community here once.”

by -
0 1412
One of over a dozen derelict buildings that have been removed from the Lawrence Aviation Superfund site in Port Jefferson Station. File photo.

By Mallie Jane Kim 

Plans to transform the Lawrence Aviation Superfund site in Port Jefferson Station hit a slowdown this week as a key contract deadline passed. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority requested to extend its June 30 closing deadline to Dec. 31, in a letter addressed to the Suffolk County Landbank Corporation, which is managing the property.

All other terms of the contract, a $10 purchase of land suitable for building a railyard, should remain in effect, according to the letter.

“The MTA’s decision to delay the closing date is understandable given all of the pressing issues that MTA leadership is dealing with right now,” said Landbank board member Peter Scully. “The most important thing is that the community’s long-term vision for the future use of the Lawrence Aviation site is still alive.”

The delay may be related to MTA’s current focus on fallout surrounding Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) June 5 decision to pause congestion pricing for cars entering New York City’s central business district, which had been scheduled to begin at midnight June 30. That plan had been in the works for nearly two decades, but Hochul cited the currently difficult economic conditions as a reason to wait. She has said she did not want to add a financial burden to New Yorkers already struggling with soaring prices of groceries and utilities.

But the pause threw MTA into funding uncertainty. Funding from congestion pricing was designated to go toward critical improvements to subways, buses and rails, according to a congestion pricing information page on the MTA website. Now, $16.5 billion in projects will be deferred, and some projects already in progress have had to be stopped, MTA board members announced at a June 26 meeting.

For advocates of cleaner-energy rail, reserving the Lawrence Aviation space is an opportunity to allow for infrastructure that can make possible future upgrades to the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. That line currently runs on diesel.

“Acquiring this property is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Three Village Community Trust President Herb Mones, referring to the fact that it is unusual to find an appropriately-sized space available on Long Island for a railyard. “For MTA not to pursue it full throttle would be really unfortunate.” 

The contract previously hinged on an easement agreement with New York’s Department of Transportation that would allow a future railyard to cross a straight line of DOT property that currently hosts the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway trail. In the proposed site plan, the Greenway trail would be adjusted to loop around a railyard once MTA decided to build one — disturbing the flow of any potential highway there.

There was no word whether those negotiations had yet been ironed out. 

Mones, whose trust oversees the nonprofit that maintains the biking and walking trail, called the idea of someday replacing it with a four-lane highway “preposterous.”

by -
0 973
File photo

By Mallie Jane Kim

Three Village Central School District is on track to restructure its schools as planned in fall 2025, according to superintendent of schools Kevin Scanlon.

The district has been planning to move sixth grade up into the junior high schools to form middle schools and move ninth grade up to form a four-year high school.

Staff teams responsible for planning the changes have been working to prepare what will be needed as far as staffing, facilities, grading and curriculum to accommodate the changes and support kids’ mental health needs during the transition, Scanlon shared at a June 12 Board of Education meeting.

“We’re not done yet,” he said. “Next year is still going to be busy, but I think we’re way ahead of our schedule and on target to move forward.”

The district has already taken into account planning moving-up ceremonies and related activities for both fifth and sixth grades at the elementary schools, as well as eighth and ninth grades at the junior high schools, for the 2024-25 school year since all four grades will be changing schools at once.

One thing still under consideration is the possibility of repurposing one of the five elementary schools in tandem with the change, to address ongoing financial concerns, especially as the schools will no longer house sixth grade. Though the possibility has come up multiple times, the board has not made any substantive moves toward such a decision.

The district also must decide whether to change the names of any of the schools — for example, changing the junior high schools to middle schools.

Some parents and at least one staff member have tried to convince the district to hit pause on the restructuring plan, expressing worry that a change could risk losing what is good about the district. 

“Three Village school district has distinguished itself by providing top-notch opportunities for our students across diverse areas, while also fostering nurturing environments during pivotal transitional years,” wrote Gelinas Junior High guidance counselor Anthony Dattero in a March perspective piece in The Village Times Herald. “Our district has maintained its uniqueness for over 40 years, resisting the trend toward common middle school models adopted by other districts.”

District administrators have argued the new structure will bring Three Village into line with the way New York State standards are written and will provide sixth and ninth graders the benefits of the curriculum available in the upper schools.

“We are ready to move forward,” Scanlon said. “This is happening.”

Scanlon indicated the teams will continue to work over the summer and into the fall to make ready the transition. 

Start time complications

Secondary school start times after the restructuring are still up in the air, as there is no solution yet for making start times later, something parent advocates have been pushing for over several years, citing mental health and academic costs of having adolescents start school at such early hours. 

Ward Melville High School currently starts at 7:05 a.m. and the junior high schools start at 7:40.

“We have to do our very best to make sure we’re not moving grade nine up to an earlier start time, if we possibly can avoid it,” said trustee David McKinnon, referring to the fact that restructuring will bring ninth and sixth grade up to schools that start earlier than the schools that currently house them.

At issue is the tiered bussing system, which allows the district to get by on fewer buses than they would need if all the schools started at the same time. 

Each additional full-sized school bus added to the fleet would cost about $105,000, according to estimates by a transportation consultant, called in to help the district figure out the most efficient way to make a change with the lowest price tag. 

The consultant shared the results of his assessment at the meeting, but the board did not see an immediately clear solution. Some of the proposed scenarios had elementary schools starting as early as 7:20 a.m. or as late as 10:00 a.m., which would mean dismissal wouldn’t begin until 4:15 p.m.

“Any elementary school that ends later than it is now, is a problem,” said Karen Roughley, who is a longtime advocate of later secondary start times. She added that the early start times would also be a problem. 

“The whole point of us moving our high school kids is that we don’t want them there so early and waiting for the school bus when it’s dark,” she said. “I’m not going to have my elementary kindergarteners standing in the dark waiting to get on a bus.” 

Some of the proposed scenarios would require adding six new buses to the fleet.

Board members indicated they would continue to work with the consultant to fine-tune his results into realistic proposals they can lay out for the community, possibly in September to make a decision by October.

by -
0 856
Pixabay
Future students may see Regents exams decoupled from their diploma

By Mallie Jane Kim

In the heat of finals season anxiety on June 10, New York State Education Department shared a vision for future updates as to how students earn a high school diploma, including decoupling Regents exams from graduation requirements. 

But these changes are not happening just yet.

“A lot of people got very excited on Monday when the Regents met to discuss what their vision is going to be for the new graduation measures,” said Karen Roughley, Three Village Central School District board member, at a meeting June 12. “But right now it is still a vision.”

In addition to removing Regents as a graduation requirement, the education department’s vision sets out a “Portrait of a Graduate,” which would require New York students show proficiency in critical thinking, problem solving, literacy across content areas, cultural and social-emotional competency, effective communication and global citizenship. Under the vision, credits would be based on demonstrating proficiency rather than time spent in class and students could demonstrate proficiency through various pathways, not limited to assessments like Regents exams.

Roughley, who sat as a parent member on the Blue Ribbon Commission which initially gave the recommendations that inspired this new vision, emphasized that the state Department of Education still needs to work out details before implementing any changes.

“It looks beautiful on their presentation,” she said. “It’s something I think that we need to aspire to, but there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

The Board of Regents plans to hold forums through October to gather feedback from stakeholders and will continue to fine-tune the vision into a full plan, which should be ready by November.

Regents exam scores in final grade

Those Regents exams were front of mind for some worried parents and students, who in Three Village will see their exam scores count as 10% of their final grade for the first time since a COVID-era “Do No Harm” policy allowed the scores to be left out if they would negatively impact a final mark.

Despite emails requesting a return of “Do No Harm,” the Three Village board opted to stay the course they charted in a 4-2 vote last November to end the policy, but left open the possibility of reexamining the issue in the fall.

 “A vote is a vote, and it has to matter unless the circumstances have changed,” said board president Susan Rosenzweig. “They really haven’t right now.”

 New York does not provide a recommendation on whether or how much to count Regents exams in final course grades, but rather leaves it up to each individual district. 

Three Village administrators say Regents scores shouldn’t be a major worry for students. District data presented at the meeting showed even if a student exam score is 20 percentage points less than their average grade per quarter, the overall grade would only drop by two points. For example, a student who has a 95 in the four quarters of classwork but scores 75% on the Regents, the overall grade would drop to 93.

“It wouldn’t have a significant impact,” said Brian Biscari, assistant superintendent for educational services, who previously shared the rationale for including the scores was partly out of concern students take the exams less seriously when they don’t count toward their GPA.

Though to some, even two points may be extremely valuable. 

“Oftentimes a single point can be the difference between being accepted or rejected from your dream school,” wrote an unnamed student in an email to the Three Village board. “As someone who strives for excellence in the classroom, I work diligently to ensure that my GPA is the highest it can possibly be.”

The student’s email, read aloud during the public comment section of the board meeting, added that lower scores could also disadvantage Three Village students looking to earn scholarships. 

Biscari pointed to the fact that teachers are the ultimate authority on each student’s grade and can adjust a final grade if a student underperforms on a test, relative to their demonstrated proficiency. 

“A two-point discrepancy is well within our teachers’ purview to change,” he said.

by -
0 1121

By Mallie Jane Kim

[email protected]

Permanent protections for New York horseshoe crabs cleared a major hurdle during the last days of the 2024 state legislative session, passing both the state Senate and Assembly on June 7.

“It’s extremely exciting,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which advocated for the bill. “The horseshoe crab has ambled around the earth for more than 350 million years — we think they have a right to continue to do so.”

The bill, which still needs the signature of Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) before becoming law, would prevent the taking of horseshoe crabs for commercial or biomedical purposes from state waters. The animals are used as bait for commercial whelk and eel fishing operations, and their blue blood is used to improve vaccine safety and aid in biomedical research, though a synthetic alternative is already in the works for that purpose.

The species has faced a steady decline in the last few decades, which in turn impacts birds like red knots, who feed on horseshoe crab eggs during their migration.

Not everyone is happy with the bill as it is currently written.

“The commercial fishing industry here on Long Island is going to be severely impacted by the passage of this bill,” said Rob Carpenter, director of the Long Island Farm Bureau, which advocates on behalf of commercial fishermen. “Their needs are not addressed in the bill.”

Carpenter, who indicated he hopes for the bill to be amended or vetoed, said horseshoe crab is the only usable bait for commercial fishermen catching whelk. 

“If they are not allowed to utilize it, that means the state has just shut down an entire industry of fishing for an entire species,” he said.

The state Senate passed the bill 53-7 and the Assembly sent it through 102-39. Five North Shore legislators voted against the measure, namely Assemblymembers Jake Blumencranz (R-Oyster Bay), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Smithtown), Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) and Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor); and state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk).

Esposito, who previously said she hoped new protections would incentivize commercial fishing operations to find alternative baits, said she knows from her recent time lobbying for the bill in Albany that the farm bureau and biomedical industry representatives are lobbying against it.

Biomedical companies do not currently harvest from Long Island waters, according to Esposito, though she is concerned stricter rules in neighboring states like Connecticut and Massachusetts could bring New York’s horseshoe crabs to their attention. 

“The fact that they are lobbying against this bill is absurd,” she said. “We’re not inhibiting the medical industry — they have alternatives and they’re using alternatives. They’re just crying wolf.”

According to state governmental procedures, since the Legislature is now out of session, the governor will have 30 days to sign the bill once it is delivered to her, but there is no indication of when that delivery will happen. If the bill is not delivered to the governor before the end of the year, or if she does not act within 30 days of delivery, the bill is effectively vetoed. 

“Our job’s not done yet,” Esposito said. “Now we’re going to begin our campaign to request the governor sign it.”

Prev123...9Next Page 2 of 9
TBR News Media is your local news and entertainment website.
We provide you with the latest breaking news and information for your community.
Contact us: [email protected]

Most Viewed

©