Education

Residents flooded the Rocky Point High School auditorium on Tuesday for a night of education on drugs and a chance to see what drug use is like in the district.

John Venza, vice president of Adolescent Services for Outreach, a New York-based organization that encourages community residents to seek help for substance abuse, and Suffolk County Senior Drug Abuse Educator Stephanie Sloan tackled drug education in the nearly two-hour forum.

Gateway drugs, drug use causes, the evolution of these substances and how parents and students alike can navigate through life without using drugs were among the topics discussed. The forum was also an opportunity to see results from the New York State-issued 2014-15 survey regarding youth development. Rocky Point was one of 10 school districts that took the survey, which examined drug use and prevalence in the district.

“Let’s face it, teenage years are tough enough to begin with, but then you have all this stuff added on — I wouldn’t want to go through [adolescence] again [now],” said Amy Agnesini, forum organizer and athletic director for Rocky Point.

Although drug use in Rocky Point’s seventh and eighth-graders falls below state average for alcohol and energy drinks — the most common substances used by this age group — the survey revealed the use of these two drugs in addition to chewing tobacco or using marijuana, cigarettes and pain relievers, among a few other drugs, increased in high school.

Town of Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) was among the speakers in attendance. Bonner announced her piece of legislation to ban hookah lounges, vape and smoke shops within 1,000 feet of various locations, including schools, non-degree granting schools, like a ballet or karate studio, religious facilities, hospitals and other areas. She added that there will be a public hearing on the ban proposal in the near future.

“This is a war — we are in the trenches as parents, as educators, as members of the community — we’re the ones battling,” said Rocky Point Superintendent of Schools Michael Ring. “The battle isn’t necessarily in the streets, the way a lot of people think it is … it’s in your living room.”

According to Venza, technology isn’t the only thing that’s evolved; drugs have as well. People can now use devices like vape pens to smoke different forms of marijuana, including a dab, a waxy substance with high concentrations of THC. Between 14 and 24-years-old is the worst time to smoke marijuana in a person’s life, Venza said during the forum. The potency of drugs, including marijuana, has also increased over the decades.

“Unlike 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago where you needed a needle, you no longer need a needle because [of the purity of the drugs],” Venza said about heroin needles. People can now sniff the drug and get high, which makes trying the drug less daunting, Venza added.

Outreach’s Vice President of Adolescent Services John Venza educates adults and children about drugs during a forum at Rocky Point High School. Photo by Giselle Barkley
Outreach’s Vice President of Adolescent Services John Venza educates adults and children about drugs during a forum at Rocky Point High School. Photo by Giselle Barkley

Hope House Ministries’ Opioid Overdose Prevention Program’s Clinical Director Dr. Jennifer Serrentino said 120 people die from drug overdose daily. Last year, there were around 100 fatal heroin overdoses in Suffolk County alone.

Although one resident voiced her concerns that the forum would give students more ideas on how and where to use drugs, the speakers and parents, like Sound Beach resident Sharon Ferraro, think knowledge is power.

“If you were at a party or at a friend’s house and you see that paraphernalia, that’s your trigger to get out,” Ferraro said to her daughter Molly Searight, after the resident posed the question.

Ferraro said she is very involved with her children, but that’s not the case for every family. She said some parents are busy and don’t always spend quality time with their children. Although Ferraro’s daughter Molly hasn’t seen students using drugs on campus, beyond electronic cigarettes or vape pens in the bathroom, she said she hears of drug use from peers. After the event, Molly said she’s more aware of the effects of alcohol on youth.

Residents and speakers alike, including the councilwoman, were not only pleased with the event’s turnout, but also the large volume of residents who were in attendance.

“I was so proud of the community that I live in, that it was standing room only,” Bonner said. “People [are] finally recognizing that you can’t bury your heads in the sand. Community forums like this one are integral to combatting this [drug use issue].”

Northport Superintendent Robert Banzer speaks to the board about capital projects. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

The Northport Board of Education voted to include more than $3 million worth of capital projects on the ballot last Thursday. Improvements range from renovating the softball field at Northport High School to irrigation for the Pulaski Road school.

A total $1.639 million of the improvements are included in the budget, and the remaining approximate $2 million worth of improvements would have to be funded by a capital reserve fund, which the public would need to approve separately.

Superintendent Robert Banzer said the district is proposing $1 million in capital funds be spent on replacing a boiler at Ocean Avenue Primary School and upgrading the fire alarms at Dickinson Avenue Elementary.

“Over the last few years we have been replacing boilers, and so we can almost see the end with this project,” Banzer said at the meeting. As for the fire alarms at Dickinson, he said “we need to get to each of the classrooms the strobes with the alarms and the smoke heads. And that’s what this money would allow us to do.”

The boilers would come in at $800,000 and the fire alarms at $200,000.

According to the district, other projects not funded by the capital reserve could be funded through additional state aid.

With the state budget passing on Friday, it was confirmed that districts will be receiving full restoration of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a deduction of state aid taken from all New York school districts, enacted several years ago in an effort to close a state budget deficit.

“This is sort of saying if we receive more state aid, here are some projects that have emerged over the last few months,” Banzer said.

Totaling almost $640,000, these improvements include renovating the softball field at Northport High School, district wide door lock replacement and installing irrigation at the Pulaski Road fields.

“There has been a discussion about replacing our door locks … so that they can lock on both sides,” Banzer said. “This is a safety issue as well as helping us streamline our classroom’s keys and locks.”

As for the field repairs, Banzer said there has been a lot of talk about the conditions of Northport’s fields.

The $2 million capital reserve fund would go toward replacing the gymnasium ceiling at Northport Middle School, renovating the locker rooms at the middle school and replacing a boiler at the Pulaski Road school, among other improvements.

BOE Vice President David Badanes made a motion for all projects to go on the ballot, as well as an additional project: replacing the tennis courts at Northport Middle School.

Community members passed the budget at the North Shore Public Library, above. Photo from Laura Hawrey

The North Shore Public Library ended Tuesday on a high note, after residents passed its 2016-17 budget proposal and re-elected library board of trustees member Richard Gibney. The library’s approximate $3.5 million dollar budget passed with 147 votes in favor with just 19 in opposition. The budget is around $18,500 less than last year’s budget.

Library Director Laura Hawrey said the money will help fund the library’s ongoing concert series and various programs. It will also help fund library books, electronic media and typical maintenance of the facility and its computers, among other items.

“Technology, educational courses, entertainment and other current offerings make this a much different library than what they grew up with,” Gibney said in an email about residents who use the library. “Anyone who visits and enjoys the library would never even think of voting down its budget. The returns far exceed the costs.”

Community members of the North Shore Public Library re-elected board of trustees member Richard Gibney to another five-year term. Photo from Laura Hawrey
Community members of the North Shore Public Library re-elected board of trustees member Richard Gibney to another five-year term. Photo from Laura Hawrey

As a member of the board of trustees, Gibney helped oversee the budget process. He was re-elected with 142 votes, and will serve on the board for another five years. The Wading River resident is a certified arborist and President of Gibney Design Landscape Architecture in Wading River. Although Gibney ran unopposed for his seat, the election isn’t political. Being a member of the board is simply a way for him to further serve his community.

“I like hearing about and being involved in the ‘workings’ of my library,” he said.

The trustee doesn’t only split his time between work and the library, but also lends a hand around the community. According to Gibney, he works alongside his wife Debra on Wading River Historical Society’s Holiday Tea and Duck Pond Day events. He also provided his professional services at the Tesla Science Center site and has educated second-grade Boy Scouts about landscape architecture and horticulture over the years.

“Richard Gibney has been a dedicated, responsible and cooperative member of the board, who knows the appropriate questions to ask at the appropriate time,” said William Schiavo, president of the board. “As a dedicated library user, he has been very sensitive and aware of the needs of the library and the taxpayers who support it. He has been a pleasure to work with in the past and I am looking forward to working with him in the future.”

Going forward, Gibney would like to have a new stand-alone or state-of-the-art library that has ample parking space, if the library can afford this kind of project. He added that he will serve as long as he feels he is effective and will step down if any future conflicts arise.

Hawrey was more than pleased with Tuesday’s results and was grateful for community members’ support of the budget and return of Gibney.

“The approved budget will continue to provide the North Shore Public Library community with exceptional library services,” Hawrey said in an email. “I am pleased that Richard Gibney has been re-elected and will continue to share his expertise with the other members on the Library Board of Trustees.”

Above, Chris McCrary is running for a spot on the Comsewogue library board. His opponent, Richard Evans, did not provide a photo to the library. File photo

Local voters approved their libraries’ budgets on Tuesday night and elected a new community member to serve on one district’s board of trustees.

Comsewogue Public Library residents elected Chris McCrary to their board with 116 votes, as compared to challenger Richard Evans’ 45 votes, Library Director Debbie Engelhardt said in an email. Both men had been vying for the seat of library board President Ali Gordon, who declined to run for re-election.

Gordon is also a member of the Comsewogue Board of Education.

With his win, McCrary, a 49-year-old high school biology teacher and neighborhood soccer and lacrosse coach, will join the board in July for a five-year term.

Related: Library budgets going down, trustee race heating up

Comsewogue voters also passed the library’s $5.4 million budget, 149-25. That 2016-17 budget will raise taxes almost $0.13 for every $100 of  a home’s assessed value.

Over in Port Jefferson, voters also passed their own budget, 110-10, according to a message posted on the Port Jefferson Free Library’s website.

That $4.2 million spending plan will roughly keep taxes flat for library district residents.

The Northport-East Northport Public Library’s budget was approved. File photo

The votes are in, and all library budgets in the Huntington area have passed.

The Harborfields Public Library $4.8 million budget passed with 244 votes in favor and 29 against, resulting in a 0 percent change from last year. Centerport resident David Clemens was also elected to the library’s board of trustees. Clemens is currently a trustee of the Suffolk County Historical Society and chairman of the library committee.

Huntington Public Library’ $8.8 million budget is also a 0 percent increase from the 2015-16 budget. There were 201 votes in favor to 34 against, and incumbent Trustee Charles Rosner was elected for another term.

Director Joanne Adam said the new fiscal year’s budget included expanding operating hours on Friday nights during the summer months so the library can be open until 9 p.m. on Friday nights yearlong. Another addition from the budget Adam touched upon is the library rejoining Partnership of Automated Library Systems.

“This will enable our patrons to pick up their hold items at any library in the county and will make the process of borrowing items from other libraries much easier,” Adam said.

Northport-East Northport had the highest vote count, with 408 votes in favor and 65 against for the nearly $9.8 million budget. The budget has a $21,100 overall increase in the tax levy.

Incumbent Margaret Hartough was re-elected as trustee there. She is currently the head of the teen services department at the Half Hollow Hills Community Library.

Finishing off the list is Cold Spring Harbor Library and Environmental Center, which passed the approximate $2 million budget, another budget with a 0 percent increase, with 143 votes in favor and 22 against.

Trustees Dana Lynch, Gayle Quaglia and George Schwertl were re-elected for another term.

“The residents of Cold Spring Harbor have continually demonstrated their commitment to the Library,” Director Roger Podell said in a letter posted on the library’s website.

by -
0 1441
File photo

Comsewogue officials have finalized a budget for the next school year, days after the state came through for school districts in a big way.

The school board adopted Superintendent Joe Rella’s proposal for the 2016-17 school year during its meeting Monday night, supporting a $87.2 million budget that maintains all existing programs, thanks in large part to the state axing its Gap Elimination Adjustment.

The adjustment was enacted six years ago in an effort to close a state budget deficit, and deducted funds from each school district’s state aid allotment. Since its inception, it has cumulatively cost Comsewogue about $23 million in state aid, according to Susan Casali, the district’s assistant superintendent for business.

But the new state budget, upon which lawmakers agreed last week, eliminated that deduction, netting Comsewogue roughly an additional $1.3 million in revenue.

“I think it’s great,” Rella said. “I’m glad we got it back. It means we don’t have to make any big cuts. We’re happy about it — it’s significant.”

Rella’s initial budget proposal in January banked on a full aid restoration, despite the fact that, while state legislators had been pushing for it, the restoration was far from a done deal. Other North Shore school districts, such as Huntington and Miller Place, planned for little to no restoration of the funding during their own budget processes.

Had the state budget fallen short in restoring the funding, Comsewogue would have been faced with some difficult decisions on program cuts.

“If that doesn’t happen, then it’s a whole different world,” Rella said in an interview in March. “We’re anticipating it will happen. Albany’s been very quiet about it, and I’m taking that as ‘no news is good news.’”

Casali said the district administration’s faith in state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), the majority leader who previously called the aid restoration a “top priority” this year, paid off during the budget process.

“From the very beginning we’ve done the budget assuming that Flanagan and everybody [else who] promised us this GEA, that they were going to make good on their promise, so we didn’t make any cuts in the budget,” Casali said.

School board President John Swenning expressed appreciation for the additional funds because the district can avoid cuts without presenting a budget to residents that would pierce the state-mandated tax levy increase cap.

The district will receive about $30 million in total state aid next year and will collect about $53.5 million from taxpayers.

“We appreciate what we get,” Swenning said on Monday. “Do we want more? Yes. Do we think we deserve more? … Yes, but we’re not going to be greedy and we’ll say thank you for all that we get.”

Residents will vote on the adopted budget on May 17. Polls at Comsewogue High School will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Cheryl Pedisich speaks at the podium after receiving the first-ever Administrator of the Year award from the New York State School Counselor Association. Photo by Andrea Moore Paldy

As New York State lawmakers wrapped up the budget last week, they approved the end of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a measure that took money from school aid packages to supplement the state budget.

To the relief of school districts across the state, remaining Gap Elimination Adjustment funds will be restored to 2016-17 budgets.

For Three Village, which has lost $34.7 million to the GEA since its inception in 2009-10, the district will receive a total aid package of $46.5 million — a $6.6 million bump from last year. This amount includes the $3.3 million in restored funds, as well as a $2.9 million increase in building aid for the 2014 bond.

The district’s cap on the increase to the tax levy is 2.41 percent and will not require Three Village to cut programs to meet the cap. Instead, said Jeff Carlson, assistant superintendent for business services, the district will restore a number of positions. 

Speaking at last week’s school board meeting, Carlson said that at the secondary level, the district would bring back assistant coaches for junior varsity football and lacrosse, as well as for winter and spring track. These positions will enhance safety, supervision and instruction, he said.

At an earlier meeting, Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said administrators would reassign 3.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions to academic intervention services (AIS) at the elementary level and 1.6 FTEs at the secondary level to rebuild Ward Melville’s business department. There will also be a .4 FTE increase for American Sign Language. 

The board will adopt the budget for the upcoming school year at its April 13 meeting. The public vote will be on May 17. 

Also on the May ballot is a separate transportation proposition to eliminate minimum distance requirements for busing. The measure would allow the district to provide busing for all students.

Currently, all elementary students are bused. Junior high students must live at least a mile away from school and high schoolers a mile and a half away to get transportation. School administrators believe that offering transportation to all students will address safety concerns about narrow, winding streets without sidewalks and crossing busy roads like Nicolls Road. 

If the proposition passes, it would cost $160,000 to add two buses. The addition of the buses would generate $70,000 in transportation aid from the state, Carlson said. 

Taxpayers will also elect two trustees to the school board on May 17.  Following former board member Susanne Mendelson’s resignation last month, the board decided to keep the seat open until the May 17 vote.  Board president Bill Connors said the person with the highest votes would finish out Mendelson’s term, which ends June 30.   

In other financial news, district officials finalized a five-year contract with the Three Village Teachers Association. There will be no salary increase for the first year, 2016-2017, followed by a 1 percent raise each year after, as well as a 2.5 percent step increase for longevity for up to 30 years, Carlson said.

Department updates

The chairs of the foreign language departments at the three secondary schools gave an overview of the departments’ offerings, which now include American Sign Language in the ninth grade. The district also offers French, Italian and Spanish, beginning in seventh grade and continuing to the Advanced Placement level. 

The district hopes to add “one of the less commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Farsi or Japanese” in the future, the administrators said. 

Social workers and school psychologists also outlined their roles within the school community. Each school has at least one full-time psychologist and a social worker, they said.  Dawn Mason, executive director of pupil personnel services, said district psychologists “partner with families and administrators and teachers to create safe, healthy, learning environments.”

Assemblyman Steve Englebright speaks in opposition of the Gap Elimination Adjustment during a 2013 protest against the state school aid cut. File photo by Rohma Abbas

New York State is doing away with a funding cut that has kept billions of dollars out of schools, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced last week.

Legislators recently agreed on a state budget that would end the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a deduction taken out of each school district’s aid for the last several years, originally enacted to close a state budget deficit.

Parents, educators and even legislators have long been advocating for the adjustment’s finish but the push became a shove after state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), the majority leader, sponsored legislation to get rid of it. Flanagan called axing the Gap Elimination Adjustment his “top education funding priority” earlier this year.

“We will not pass any budget that does not fully eliminate it this year,” he said. The deduction “has been hurting schools and students for way too long and it is past time that we end it once and for all.”

Over the past five years, legislators had reduced the total statewide deduction from $3 billion to $434 million. In the next school year, it will be removed all together.

“Over the years, the GEA forced many school districts to cut educational programs and reduce services,” Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) said in a statement. “This restoration of aid will greatly help local school districts, and our taxpayers, with the budget funds necessary to educate our children.”

State school aid is projected to increase to almost $25 billion overall — and Long Island is slated to get $3 billion of that.

The New York State School Boards Association noted that the additional aid comes just as the state’s almost 700 school districts are grappling with a “record low” cap on how much they can increase their tax levies, a limit mandated by the state.

“The infusion of state aid will help them preserve student programs and services while still keeping property taxes in check,” the group’s executive director, Timothy G. Kremer, said in a statement.

However, the association said the state should “make sensible adjustments” to the tax levy cap, suggesting officials no longer use the rate of inflation as the standard for setting the limit each year.

by -
0 3145
Superintendent Ken Bossert. Photo by Eric Santiago

Superintendent Ken Bossert announced on Friday that the 2015-16 school year would be his last with Port Jefferson.

According to a letter distributed to the community, he was appointed the new superintendent in Elwood, and plans to submit his letter of resignation to the Port Jefferson school board at its April meeting.

Bossert, a Port Jefferson resident, took over the helm five years ago. Financially, it has been a time of uncertainty, as the school district waits, along with the rest of the community, to learn the fate of the aging local power plant, whose property taxes fund almost half of the school district’s budget.

In addition to receiving Bossert as a new arrival, during his tenure parents and teachers have also seen changes in leadership at each school building.

At the elementary school level, the district brought in Principal Tom Meehan. When former middle and high school principal Roseann Cirnigliaro retired, the district brought in Antonio Santana at the middle school and Matthew Murphy at the high school, both of whom have since moved on to other schools.

Students now have Principal Christine Austen in the high school and Principal Robert Neidig at the middle school.

Bossert said in his farewell letter to the community on Friday, “With the current leadership team in place, I know that the district is in very capable hands.”

He called working in Port Jefferson “an honor and a privilege” and thanked the students, parents and staff for their support over the years.

Bossert will make the jump to Elwood in July. The school board there has appointed him to a five-year term as their superintendent, according to a board agenda posted on the Elwood district website.

Kids relax at a previous fun run for the Royal Educational Foundation. Photo from Jill Russell

The Royal Educational Foundation is hosting its third annual Power of One Family Fun Run on Saturday, April 16, to benefit the Port Jefferson school district.

According to the event flyer, the 2-mile run is meant to “encourage physical activity and is intended to celebrate the positive influence we can have on one another within our families and community.” The course starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Port Jefferson Village Center on East Broadway and goes through the streets of the village, ending at Earl L. Vandermeulen High School on Old Post Road.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will go toward the foundation’s efforts to improve the school district. Each runner or walker is $15, while families cost $50.

People of all ages are welcome to participate, and can register between 7:30 and 8 a.m. at the Village Center. Participants should check in no later than 8:15 a.m. Everyone will get a fun run T-shirt before the start of the race.