Comsewogue School District From left: Susan Casali, Jennifer Polychronakos, Michael Mosca, Joseph Coniglione and Jennifer Quinn. Photo from David Luces
By David Luces
Come the start of the 2019-20 school year, a number of new positions will be filled by well-known faces. Meanwhile many school officials are still dreading the day when Superintendent Joe Rella will step down as the district’s head.
The Comsewogue board of education approved new positions at its district board meeting on Jan. 7.
Joseph Coniglione, who previously served as Comsewogue High School principal, was appointed assistant superintendent for staff and student services on a four-year probationary appointment from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2023.
‘This school district prides itself on being a family.’
— Joseph Coniglione
Coniglione has been an educator for nearly 23 years, but before he came to Comsewogue he taught special education in the Brentwood school district for 10 years. He has served the Comsewogue district for the past 12 years and during his time there became the assistant principal and ultimately principal at Comsewogue High School.
The new assistant superintendent said he is looking forward to continuing to make the school district the best place for its students.
“Academics is a huge part [of our school],” Coniglione said. “But also, this school district prides itself on being a family.”
Jennifer Quinn, who has been named the incoming superintendent of Comsewogue School District at the start of the next school year, said she is excited to be working with Coniglione and new principal of the high school, Michael Mosca.
“The things we were able to do at the high school was amazing,” Quinn said. “We are so proud of that work.”
Mosca was approved on a three-year appointment from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2022, and he has previously served as the principal for Islip High School starting in 2014. Before that he served as executive assistant principal in the Comsewogue School District.
“We worked together many years ago and now I’m re-joining the team,” Mosca said. “I’m excited to be back and we’re going to do some great things.”
Mosca said his focus is for his students at Comsewogue High School to be ready for the next step whether it be college or straight into their career. He also wants to revamp the school’s business department.
‘It’s going to be exciting to see how everything transitions to the next level.’
— Jennifer Quinn
Quinn said another focus for the high school will be increasing results of the district’s Problem-Based Learning program, which is a student-centered teaching method in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving open-ended problems that are often based in real-life examples, for example, figuring out what might be wrong with the sediment in a teacher’s garden.
Additionally at the board meeting, Susan Casali was appointed assistant superintendent for business and Jennifer Polychronakos was named the district’s new assistant superintendent for instruction.
While those appointed said they are excited to start in their new positions come July, many said they will miss Rella, who announced he would be stepping down back in November 2018.
“We are following the foundation that (former superintendent) Dr. Rella laid for us,” Quinn said. “It’s going to be exciting to see how everything transitions to the next level.”
Tom Judge, center, stands with his family. Photo from JoAnna Judge
By Rich Acritelli
“Every kid should have one Tom Judge as their teacher and coach within their lifetime.”
These words were recently stated by Comsewogue School District Superintendent Joseph Rella on the educational and coaching legacy of Tom Judge who is finally being recognized by the district after decades of working for the school and community. On Jan. 10, his name will adorn the high school wrestling room.
As a kid, the longtime resident of Mount Sinai lived in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. Judge’s father was a New York State police trooper and a veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart as a Navy gunner in the Pacific during World War II. After living in government housing that was provided to veterans, Judge’s father moved a family of nine children to a Levitt house in Hicksville. From his earliest years as a kid, Judge supported himself by working jobs as a roofer and pumping gas at a local Shell station.
Judge’s true athletic passion was displayed through his iron will to play baseball, football and wrestling. At Hicksville High School, Judge was a respected team leader who excelled at being a linebacker and halfback. While it was many decades since he played for the Comets, with a big smile, Judge has recalled how his football team defeated rival Farmingdale to win their conference. In the winter months, Judge was a devoted wrestler who competed at 167 and 191 pounds. In order to help his team win matches, Judge wrestled at a heavier weight, where he made a name for himself by placing in several tournaments.
Tom Judge in his college football days at Yankton college 1968. Photo from JoAnna Judge
After taking a year off after high school, Judge had a unique opportunity to attend college. Football coaches from South Dakota’s Yankton College held a recruiting picnic at Belmont State Park in Babylon. This school was interested in accepting Judge due to his reputation for being a competitive football player. Judge received an athletic scholarship and grant funding that was offered to him by this school. At Yankton, this kid from Nassau County demonstrated his versatility as a football player and a wrestler. Attending college with him was Robin Winkel, a native of Hicksville and a strong wrestler, who later proved to be an incredibly successful wrestling coach at the Rocky Point school district. Both men drove together from Hicksville to the wide-open lands of South Dakota where they met members of the Sioux tribe.
At Yankton, Judge was a leading wing back who was able to run the ball and block against the large defensive linemen. He also played with fellow Nassau County native Lyle Alzado. This aggressive and wild football player had a distinguished career with the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. Judge’s team won the tri-state football championship comprised of teams from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, but the training conditions were not ideal, and he seriously hurt his ankle playing on a practice field that was formerly a cow pasture.
Judge’s youngest daughter, JoAnna, marveled at the concentration that her father had to play both football and wrestling at an extremely competitive level and still maintain his grades. JoAnna said her father has “firmly lead by example, and his energy is contagious during every endeavor.” While he was at this school to play sports, Judge has said he is immensely proud of his opportunity to earn a college degree that saw him major in physical education and sociology and minor in psychology.
As a kid, Judge was only a short train ride away from New York City, and as a college senior he completed his student teaching in a school that only had 200 children. He recalled most of these kids were farmers who had to endure the late winter flooding of the tributary waterways that flowed into the Missouri River. Judge has long enjoyed the finer aspects of the outdoors and he was able to hike through the beauty of the Black Hills near Yankton. Judge’s oldest daughter, Amanda, fondly remembered the family nature walks that were led by her father to “look for fox and deer in the fields by their house, and this respect of the outdoors has stayed with me ever since.”
For three years after his graduation in 1969, Judge taught physical education at the Tuckahoe School in Southampton. Around the same time Judge was hired as an assistant wrestling coach at Long Island University. In 1973, he was employed as a gym teacher at Comsewogue and he later earned his certificate to teach health from Stony Brook University.
Judge, top right of picture, stands with Comsewogue wrestling team 1985. Photo from JoAnna Judge
Judge’s son, Brenden, identified how he constantly meets his father’s wrestlers out in the world, and they always mention the “positive lessons” that were taught by his father. Through his 23 years as a varsity wrestling coach, Judge constantly preached a team first mentality. Brenden said his father was a stickler in ensuring his team did not disrespect the colors of the school and that his athletes were expected to conduct themselves as “gentlemen.” As a superintendent and friend, Rella praised Judge’s genuine approach in “absolutely refusing to allow any kid to fail and teach them life lessons in education and sports.” Up until he was 55 years old, Judge could be seen running, doing calisthenics, staying active and otherwise being a model for the students around him.
Judge had the opportunity to coach and mentor one of the finest wrestlers and football players ever to be produced on Long Island. Adam Mariano was a two-time New York State champion who was also a Hanson Award winner in football. In this school year, Judge has come out of retirement to coach the junior varsity team at Comsewogue, and his current athletes have been curious to see his coaching presence around Mariano in YouTube videos that still show the strength of this legendary competitor. While wrestling is extremely difficult and grueling, the big smile, laugh and kind demeanor of Judge always made the rigors of this sport easier to handle for his athletes over the years. The character of Judge has been instrumental in turning out graduates who have been productive within all aspects of society. Because of his work within the school community, the Comsewogue wrestling team will name its room after coach Tom Judge Jan. 10 with a plaque listing all of the league, county and state winners from this school.
According to his children, Judge always pronounces his love for his wife Barbara and the success that she has achieved as a gymnastics coach at Mount Sinai School District. The Judges enjoy watching their grandson, Jaden, who is also the third generation of this family to learn how to wrestle. Armed with a warm personality, Judge practically glows about the accomplishments of his children, and he said he is elated Brenden just completed his training to become an occupational therapist. Over the last five years, he has watched JoAnna, a former state champion and respected gymnast at the University of Rhode Island, to teach and move on to coach gymnastics at Commack School District.
Judge has never lost his love of nature and to this day enjoys visiting his daughter, Amanda, a social studies teacher at Wappinger Falls, where they continue their pursuit to discover the natural wonders of upstate New York.
Port Jefferson Superintendent Paul Casciano addresses the Class of 2018 during graduation June 22. File photo by Alex Petroski
Port Jefferson School District has a lot on its plate, and whoever ends up sitting in the captain’s chair is going to need a strong character to deal with it all.
In August Paul Casciano, the district’s current superintendent, announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2018-19 school year. By July 1, 2019, a new superintendent will have to fill the position.
“The most important decision a school board makes is who they hire as a superintendent, because that’s basically your CEO,” Casciano said.
While the board still has to interview candidates in January and February of next year, come May 2019, board President Kathleen Brennan said she expects the board will make its final choice.
“Different people interact with the superintendent differently.”
—Kathleen Brennan
In the meantime, the Port Jefferson school board is looking for community feedback on what they would most like from a superintendent. Working with Eastern Suffolk BOCES, the board released an online survey to community members asking them to judge what best qualities they wanted from the head of their school district. Some of the questions ask residents to rate how important a prospective superintendent’s knowledge of finance and business is or how important is their background in education.
While a superhuman superintendent would exhibit five stars in all these qualities, Brennan said the questions are there to gauge how important one quality is compared to another. She added people who work in education might place a greater emphasis on the new superintendent’s educational knowledge versus a local business owner placing more significance on the financial health of the district.
“Different people interact with the superintendent differently,” Brennan said.
A superintendent makes the day-to-day decisions for the entire school district, often trying to keep to the vision of the school board, including spending, staffing, facilities and school programs.
However, the next superintendent of Port Jeff will have to find ways to handle the situation involving the local National Grid-owned power plant. LIPA has alleged the plants in both Port Jefferson and Northport have been overassessed in its payment of millions of dollars in annual property taxes, though Dec. 14 the Town of Brookhaven announced it had reached a settlement with LIPA, promising to reduce the Port Jeff plant’s assessments by around 50 percent over nine years.
The fallout of whatever ends up happening with LIPA has the possibility of directly impacting residents property taxes as well as school funding. Casciano said it will be important in the future to make sure the fallout of LIPA does not fall too much on either the district’s head or on residents.
“The next superintendent is going to need to take a balanced approach,” Casciano said. “We don’t just represent the residents who have children, it affects their taxes and we’re cognizant of that. … On the other hand, our core mission is teaching and learning — our real clients are children — we can’t turn our back on that and call ourselves educators.”
The Port Jeff school district is of much smaller size compared to neighboring districts, though the current superintendent said they enjoy small class sizes and specialized programs. Should a final LIPA decision impact the district negatively, the next superintendent would have to make hard choices on which specialized education programs to prioritize if the economic situation gets any more complicated.
Based on that looming potential crisis, Casciano said a new superintendent is going to need a strong backbone.
“No matter which way you go, you never satisfy everyone with a decision,” he said. “When it comes to schools which has taxes and kids involved with it, there is a lot greater passion attached to those voices.”
“No matter which way you go, you never satisfy everyone with a decision.”
—Paul Casciano
Brennan said she expects the incoming superintendent should use the current district administration, which has been cultivated to provide a good support structure to whoever steps into the position.
“We’re not overstaffed administratively, by any means,” the board president said.
Casciano said while he expects a new superintendent to bring their own ideas and creative solutions to problems, he doesn’t expect them to overhaul on current staff.
“It’s a successful school district, and to come in and think there’s major changes to be made says you don’t really know the district,” he said.
The school board will be hosting a public meeting Jan 3. with Julie Davis Lutz, COO of Eastern Suffolk BOCES, to allow residents to express their thoughts on the necessary skills for the next superintendent. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.
The Port Jefferson Free Library is at the corner of Thompson and East Main streets. File photo
Two spots for trustee on at the Port Jefferson Free Library are coming up for vote in January and five community members are asking library cardholders for their vote.
While current library trustee Christian Neubert is running again for the same spot, trustee Lisa Ballou has decided not to run again for her seat.
Those who wish to vote for the trustees must be a Port Jefferson Village resident and be a cardholder “in good standing,” meaning voters cannot have more than $5 outstanding on their library cards. The vote will be held 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Jan. 9, 2019, at the library.
Christian Neubert. Photo by Kyle Barr
Christian Neubert
As the incumbent, Christian Neubert said he feels he has become intimate with the qualities and the issues of the library over his six-year tenure.
“It’s important to not lose sight of the day-to-day processes we have going on here,” Neubert said.
Neubert said the library is missing out on the demographics of fourth- or fifth-graders as well as young professionals. He said if he were elected, he would work toward reaching out to those groups in conjunction with the library and is thinking of integrating the teen center with the main library building.
Lynn Hallarman. Photo by Kyle Barr
Lynn Hallarman
Dr. Lynn Hallarman, the director of Palliative Medicine Services at Stony Brook University Hospital said she is throwing her hat into the ring based on her unique background looking strategically at programs and institutions, as well as with urban planning, development and programming. Hallarman said the biggest changes will come to the library through urbanization, traffic, an aging population and higher taxes.
“The board has to be extremely forward thinking and out of the box in thinking about how a small-town library will survive,” she said.
Nancy Loddigs. Photo by Kyle Barr
Nancy Loddigs
Nancy Loddigs has been a resident of Port Jefferson for more than 30 years and boasts of her experience working in the libraries at Comsewogue School District and both Port Jefferson and Comsewogue public libraries.
The longtime Port Jeff resident said the library has already done a good job in its programming, with various adult programs being the most popular. She said she hopes those programs continue, but that the library will keep up with changing technology in order to stay current.
“I am interested in seeing how the library would be physically changed by incorporating all of these things,” Loddigs said.
Wailin Ng
Wailin Ng, an engineer at Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been a Port Jefferson resident for a year, but she has been a patron of the library for close to a decade before that.
Wailin Ng. Photo by Kyle Barr
Ng said there is potential for growth in the number of educational programs the library provides,
especially those that could get kids interested in STEM.
“We can increase the focus on introducing children to science,” Ng said. “We are in a very diverse community, and we have many people from other districts coming here. We need to assess where our needs are for educational programs.”
Joseph Orofino. Photo by Kyle Barr
Joseph Orofino
Joseph Orofino is a lifelong Port Jefferson resident with two kids currently in the Port Jeff school district. As a person who has worked in finance for 25 years, in both an upper management and on a voluntary basis with several local community organizations, he said he would work to make sure the library stays on top of its finances.
“My contribution could be making sure the library stays fiscally solvent,” he said.
When it comes to renovating the library’s currently owned properties, Orofino said the board should look at it from a long-term point of view.
“We need to weigh in on the existing plans and look at how financially they fit into the library on a long-term basis,” Orofino said.
Businesspeople are lending a hand in the Three Village Central School District to help students figure out the career path that’s the best fit for them.
Local businesses have partnered with the school district to form the Three Village Industry Advisory Board. Its first initiative is hosting the Ignite Your Career … Discover Your Opportunities career fair Jan. 9, which will give junior and senior high school students the opportunity to learn about potential career paths.
According to a press release from the school district, before the fair, students in grades seven through 12 will take a “career DNA” analysis called the Holland Code. The evaluation reveals career paths that correspond with a student’s personality which is denoted by different colors.
Michael Ardolino, owner of Realty Connect USA/Team Ardolino and co-chair of the advisory board, said the students who sit on the advisory board have contributed many exciting ideas.
He added all the businesses at the career fair will have a table marked with a color from the Holland Code corresponding with the personality that dominates its field, with minor colors that show other types that may be involved in the business.
Businesses are always looking for quality people, Ardolino said, and students can discover interesting information at the event about various fields of industry. One example is how the role of mechanics has changed to where computers are now widely used. Several businesses will also incorporate videos to educate attendees about their selected field.
Ardolino said the school district made the right move in opening the career fair to junior high school students.
“Let’s invite them all here so we can begin to enlighten them to the opportunities of what they can be doing with their lives,” he said.
The event could also be helpful for students to choose elective courses based on their interests and find clarity when it comes to college majors, according to the press release.
“We can learn much from our community partners on what businesses and postsecondary schools need most in terms of the skills that drive their success,” said Alan Baum, executive director of secondary, curriculum and human resources in the school district. “By collaborating with our partners we can learn from them to better inform our own instructional practices. By keeping our eyes open and listening to the business community and our postsecondary colleagues, we hope Three Village remains at the forefront of providing our students with a meaningful education, authentic experiences and equip them with the skills they need for future inquiry and success.”
The career fair will include more than three dozen businesses from across Long Island, including trades and crafts that are in high demand. Local companies participating include Competition Automotive Group, PPS Advisors, Gold Coast Bank, Atlantic Businesses Systems, Camco Services of NY, K&M Truck and Auto Repair, Journey Martial Arts, Equity First Foundation, Realty Connect USA/Team Ardolino, Stafford Associates, Vision World, ProSysCon Computer Technologies, Alternatives For Children, Stony Brook Child Care Services, Bagel Express, Holiday Inn Express, H2M Architects + Engineers, The Meadow Club, The Curry Club, The Meridian Financial Co., Jesco Brick & Concrete, Rossman Tax Service and Bliss restaurant.
The career fair will start at 7 p.m. Jan. 9 in the Ward Melville High School cafeteria.
Stony Brook’s iGem team pose with Randy Rettberg, president of the iGem Foundation, at the event. Photo from SBU
Stony Brook’s University’s 2018 team for the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition took home the university’s first gold medal during the four-day iGEM Giant Jamboree held at Hynes Convention Center in Boston in October.
Since 2014, Stony Brook’s iGEM teams have competed at this annual event, previously receiving bronze and silver medals for their student-designed synthetic biology projects. This year’s competition involved 343 teams from around the world, including 60 from different colleges and universities in the U.S. Stony Brook was one of only seven collegiate teams from the U.S. to earn a gold medal.
Stony Brook’s iGem team pose with Randy Rettberg, president of the iGem Foundation, at the event. Photo from SBU
Led by sophomores Priya Aggarwal and Matthew Mullin, the 14-member team’s project, The Sucrose Factory, focused on the use of cyanobacteria to economically sink carbon dioxide by simultaneously producing sucrose that can be used to produce biofuels and bioplastics. Their project proposal was the only one to win all three open competitions offered by the iGEM sponsors Genscript, Opentrons and Promega.
The iGEM competition promotes the advancement of synthetic biology through education and a competition aimed at developing an open and collaborative community of young scientists. Synthetic biology projects developed by previous SBU iGEM teams have ranged from a search for innovative treatments for diabetes and pancreatic cancer to lowering the cost of vaccine preservation. At Stony Brook, new teams are recruited each year, and members are mentored by students from previous teams and advised by Peter Gergen, director of undergraduate biology and a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.
“The Jamboree was a great experience for the 14 students on the team, and I think there may actually be some long-term potential in the ideas behind their project,” said Gergen, who said he is very proud of this interdisciplinary and talented group of students.
In addition to Aggarwal, a human evolutionary biology major, and Mullin, a mechanical engineering major, members of Stony Brook’s 2018 iGEM team are Stephanie Budhan ’21, chemistry; Woody Chiang ’19, biochemistry and psychology double major; Dominika Kwasniak ’20, biochemistry; Karthik Ledalla ’21, biomedical engineering; Matthew Lee ’21, biology; Natalie Lo ’21, biology; Lin Yu Pan ’20, health science; Jennifer Rakhimov ’21, biology; Robert Ruzic ’19, biomedical engineering; Manvi Shah ’21, psychology; Lukas Velikov ’21, computer science; and Sarah Vincent ’19, biology.
More details on the team’s project are available at https://2018.igem.org/Team:Stony_Brook/Team.
Port Jefferson Earl L. Vandermeulen High School. File photo by Elana Glowatz
In the Port Jefferson School District Board of Education’s efforts to hire a new superintendent of schools, an online survey is collecting information on community input on the qualifications, instructional leadership and community engagement it expects from the next leader of the district.
The online survey is available in both English and Spanish and is open until Dec. 21. Those interested can use the links below:
The district is allowing residents to fill out a paper copy as well if they visit the District Office located at 550 Scraggy Hill Road, Port Jefferson.
On Jan. 3, 2019, Dr. Julie Davis Lutz, Chief Operating Officer of Eastern Suffolk BOCES, will meet with interested community members to further provide residents an opportunity to discuss skills and characteristics that the new superintendent of schools should possess, and the short-term and long-term issues that he or she will need to address. This meeting will be held at the Earl L. Vandermeulen High School at 7 p.m.
Check back next week for more details in Port Jefferson School district’s search for a new superintendent.
What remains of a playground at Cleary School for the Deaf in Nesconset. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
What remains of a playground at Cleary School for the Deaf in Nesconset. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
The remaining playground at Cleary School for the Deaf has a small wooden play structure and two baby swings too close to the fence for use. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
ANesconset school that provideseducational opportunities for deaf children is pleading for the public’s help in funding a new playground for its students.
The yard outside Cleary School for the Deaf in Nesconset lies barren, as old split railroad ties square off desolate sections of rock devoid of any slides or swings. Jacqueline Simms, the school’s executive director, said the school was forced to remove its 30-year-old wooden playgrounds in May after an engineer determined they were “inappropriate” and did not meet New York State Department of Education’s safety requirements.
Since then, parents of its deaf students have launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise $100,000 toward a playground.
“These are school-aged children with disabilities who don’t have a playground.”
— Nicole Abbene
“These are school-aged children with disabilities who don’t have a playground,” Nicole Abbene, of Smithtown, said. “They already feel different in regard to their disability, so for them to have a playground would allow them to have the same opportunity as every other child.”
Abbene said her son, Liam, has attended Cleary since he was 3 months old in their Parent Infant Program, designed for children with profound hearing loss from birth through age 3, with their families. Now, at age 4, he’s in a full-day preschool program for children ages 3 to 7 that has approximately 50 enrolled students from 36 school districts across Suffolk County.
“We have a growing enrollment — a huge growing enrollment — that we are meeting with our [state] legislators to see if we can do something about,” Simms said.
The executive director said the state’s funding for the school has not increased proportionally to the influx of students, leaving it tight on funds for capital improvements and the latest technology needed to assist its hearing-impaired children. Simms said she has applied to several grant programs but has yet to be awarded any money.
“I took them outside, and we started to play hide-and-seek. There was no place to hide.”
— Katie Kerzner
“We’ve been trying to do everything to accommodate our population and help with the struggle of not having a playground,” she said.
The school’s staff has set up a small portable jungle gym, a few sand tables and set out tricycles and foot-powered minicars for the children to play on the blacktop. It has created a small play loft in its library, but Principal Katie Kerzner said these don’t fully fill the gap with the opportunities the children would have with an outdoor playground.
“I took them outside, and we started to play hide-and-seek,” she said. “There was no place to hide.”
Kerzner said teaching her preschool children games has been difficult without a playground. In addition, the principal said students’ interaction on playground equipment can provide vital life lessons.
“For children with hearing loss, they need opportunities to practice having those language experiences,” she said. “For our kids it’s all about language. They need more typical, realistic situations to practice their skills.”
“We are all aching to have something for the spring.”
— Katie Kerzner
The GoFundMe campaign launched by Abbene has raised more than $6,000, as of press time, for an age-appropriate playground for children ages 3 to 7. Cleary’s executive director said the school once had three playgrounds divided by age group: birth to age 3, ages 3 to 7, and a third for older school-aged children in its full-time summer programs. The school has received an estimate of $150,000 to replace one playground, according to Simms, and would require significantly more funds to purchase new age-appropriate, handicapped-accessible equipment for all its students.
“We are all aching to have something for the spring,” the principal said. “Our goal is when the kids open that door, after the snow melts, there’s something out there that will facilitate their play.”
In recent weeks, the GoFundMe campaign has captured the attention of some local businesses, who have stepped forward offering aid, and community residents. Simms said one generous individual stepped into the school to donate $150 in person, not sure how to give via the website. While she is “extremely grateful,” Cleary still needs to raise significant funds.
“The playground presents itself as a must,” Kerzner said. “It’s not something on a wish list. It’s a have-to-have.”
Mount Sinai Superintendent Gordon Brosdal and Trustee Robert Sweeney listen to parents’ concerns at a board meeting. File photo by Erika Karp
Mount Sinai School District’s $25 million bond failed to pass Dec. 11 with a vote of 664-428.
Members of the school board walked dejectedly through the halls of the elementary school Monday night after learning of the results.
“There was so much misinformation on Facebook,” board Trustee Edward Law said immediately after the votes were tallied. “I feel like we had an open and transparent process.”
Some residents in community Facebook groups said they were concerned about rising taxes in the Mount Sinai area. Others criticized the district’s use of its finances in the past, specifically the June New York State comptroller’s audit which said the district had amassed millions of dollars in its unrestricted fund balance, higher than the legal maximum of 4 percent of the district’s overall budget.
“I feel like we had an open and transparent process.”
— Trustee Ed Law
District officials said they have made efforts to create a rainy-day fund that could support them in the case of an emergency, but they have said they would be establishing a capital reserve of $750,000 to reduce that fund balance, which could go toward additional capital projects in the future.
In May, residents voted 787-176 to use $5 million of the district’s capital reserve funds for a project that renovated the high school’s turf football field and track, replaced a portion of the high school’s ailing roof and created new fencing around the perimeter of the school campus.
This new bond would have borrowed $2.1 million to finish repairs for the high school’s roof, which teachers and district officials said was causing water damage in rooms throughout the building.
“The board has to decide their next step,” said Superintendent Gordon Brosdal.
Trustees said they were unsure if they could propose another, smaller bond.
“This was a bare bones bond,” Law said. “Though this wasn’t a lesser bond, I don’t think we could go any tighter.”
Trustee Peter Van Middelem said while many of the board member’s children are in school, the actual application of the bond would have gone to supporting both the longevity of the school buildings and the children just entering elementary school.
“The irony is this wasn’t about our own kids but the kids in kindergarten,” Middelem said.
Mount Sinai’s next board meeting is Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. in the Middle School Auditorium.
Laurel Hill Road at Elwood Road in Northport. Photo from Google Maps
A traffic study of Laurel Hill Road conducted following a serious September accident found that drivers’ “poor behavior” makes roadway conditions significantly worse outside Northport High School, according to Town of Huntington officials.
The town’s Department of Transportation and Traffic Study conducted a study following the Sept. 4 accident involving 14-year-old Miles Lerner. Miles was an incoming freshman walking to cross-country practice at Northport High School when he was struck by a 2005 Honda sedan traveling eastbound on Laurel Hill Road at 8:06 a.m., according to Suffolk County police. He was airlifted to Stony Brook University
Hospital with a traumatic brain injury.
Following the incident, Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R), a citizen’s advocate and town employees met with members of the Northport-East Northport school district and Suffolk County Police Department’s 2nd Precinct Sept. 14 to discuss the accident and pedestrian traffic in the area. As a result, the town decided to undertake a traffic study of Laurel Hill Road, which is in the town’s jurisdiction, the result of which was shared with school officials and police officers at a Nov. 27 meeting.
“The next steps are to meet with the school district’s architect, Suffolk County and residents to discuss the town’s traffic study and plans for improvements along Laurel Hill Road and on the school property.”
— Scott Spittal
“Our Traffic Safety team has been carefully analyzing the data they collected from vehicular as well as pedestrian bicycle traffic to formulate a recommendation that will make our roads safer for student walkers, reduce driver frustration and achieve an overall traffic calming effect, especially during those critical pick-up and drop-off times,” Lupinacci said.
From Sept. 19 to 27, town employees placed traffic counting devices along Laurel Hill Road and the driveways that provide access to and from the high school to collect data on traffic volumes and speed. The data showed an average of 420 vehicles traveled eastbound and roughly 500 vehicles westbound on Laurel Hill Road during the peak morning hour of 7 to 8 a.m. weekdays, compared to an average of 40 to 50 cars on weekends. The 85 percentile of vehicles were clocked traveling at approximately 45 mph eastbound and 39 mph westbound, nearly twice the school speed zone restriction set at 20 mph. The average number of vehicles counted traveling on Laurel Hill Road during the peak 2 to 3 p.m. hour was between roughly 220 to 240 cars in each direction.
“Conditions are made worse due to poor driver behavior that was observed, including drivers speeding, dropping off students in the westbound Laurel Hill Road shoulder area and travel lane, and using the westbound Laurel Hill Road shoulder to bypass the queue of vehicles waiting to enter the school’s westernmost driveway along Laurel Hill Road,” read the town’s report.
In addition, Huntington transportation and traffic employees noted that buses and vehicles made “precarious” left turns out of the school’s easternmost driveway on Laurel Hill Road, close to the intersection with Elwood Road.
Based on these findings, the town had produced a concept plan that suggests adding an exclusive westbound left turn lane on Laurel Hill Road to reduce driver frustration for westbound motorists looking to travel through the area, which would be achieved by reducing the width of the existing shoulder areas on both sides of the roadway. This would have the added benefit of eliminating the ability of drivers to use the shoulder to bypass the travel line and drop off students in the westbound shoulder of Laurel Hill Road, according to the town’s report.
“The next steps are to meet with the school district’s architect, Suffolk County and residents to discuss the town’s traffic study and plans for improvements along Laurel Hill Road and on the school property,” said Scott Spittal, Huntington’s director of transportation and traffic safety.
One downside to the Town of Huntington’s proposed concept plan is it would eliminate on-street parking in the eastbound shoulder of Laurel Hill Road, or approximately 25 spaces.
“The superintendent is appreciative of the town’s efforts in conducting the traffic safety study, however, it is too early to render any reaction since the preliminary recommendations were just released Nov. 27,” Mike Ganci, spokesman for Northport school district said in a statement.
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