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Commack HIgh School. Photo from Google Maps

By Harry To

The Commack school district is in the midst of adopting a new budget for the 2021-22 school year. The revised budget reduces the planned tax increase from 1.99% last year to 0.99% and establishes funding allocation for the district with a 2.69% budget-to-budget increase. There will be a budget hearing this Thursday, May 6, with a final vote on Tuesday, May 18.

Along with the new budget vote, incumbent Jarrett Behar will face off against longtime Commack resident Gustave Hueber for a spot on the Commack school district board of education.

Jarrett Behar

Jarrett Behar

A board member for six years, Behar has put an emphasis on keeping tax rates low while also focusing on ensuring a smooth transition back to in-person instruction.

“We will continue to run the board in a fiscally conservative manner to ensure that students can achieve the futures that they want while keeping tax rates low,” he said in a phone interview.

While currently serving as the vice president of the board, Behar has resided in the Commack school district for 15 years. In an email, he touted his lengthy experience, as well as his extensive community involvement.

“That wealth of community involvement allows me to understand the concerns from all corners of Commack,” he said. “I am able to listen to ideas and concerns from a variety of different sources and advocate to the district administration on behalf of our community.”

In his personal life, Behar is a practicing attorney. A partner at a Hauppauge-based law firm, Certilman Balin, he graduated from New York University School of Law in 2000 and served as the competitions editor on the NYU Moot Court Board student academic journal.

He has children attending Commack schools, a major reason for his candidacy.

“I have two children in Commack schools and more than anything, I want them and all children in my hometown to receive a top-quality education,” Behar said. “I truly care for this community and its residents, working hard to serve our people in one capacity or another for almost a decade.”

Gustave Hueber

Gustave Hueber

The challenger, Gustave Hueber, is also an active community member.

After graduating from Binghamton University and Queens College, Hueber began his 34-year career in education that includes being a school psychologist, assistant principal and, currently, principal of The Three Village Academy — an alternative high school in the Three Village school district.

Hueber has a long history in Commack. Having resided in the district for 22 years, he has had three kids go through the Commack school district, with his youngest graduating high school in 2020.

“All three received an excellent education at Commack and were well prepared for their college experience,” he said in an email.

Throughout his time in the district, he has been a coach for Commack Little League, PAL football and basketball at Christ the King CYO in Commack. Hueber attributes this experience to his children being active in sports.

Like his opponent, he has put an emphasis on reopening schools. However, he is critical of how Behar and other board members have handled their reopening plans.

“The reopening plan, which was proposed and implemented during 2020-21 by the current BOE members and the superintendent, was a disappointment to many,” he said. “After closing school last spring for almost four months, their reopening plan continued to leave students sitting home every other day since September, with no plan to have them return.”

He said that neighboring school districts dealing with a similar situation to Commack were able to return to five-day-a-week instruction while others returned to full instruction for the spring semester.

Another plan he hopes to implement is an alternative school program, which is similar to the one that he currently spearheads at The Three Village Academy. The program is aimed at kids who deal with a variety of issues such as depression, anxiety and bullying.

“The kids in my experience get along great with one another,” he said in a phone interview. “They all have stories to tell, and it’s just a great environment.”

He believes that his insight will provide an invaluable perspective on a school board where educators are sparse.

“The people on the board are lawyers, engineers and that’s great, but my 34 years as an educator means I know the questions to ask,” he said. “The way I see it is if I wouldn’t support something as a parent, why would I advocate for it as a board member? A lot of the time there’s a lot of emphasis on how something can be done without thinking about the consequences.”

The budget and board of education votes will take place May 18 at Commack middle and high schools from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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Kings Park High School. Photo by Rita J. Egan

The Kings Park board of education race has four candidates vying for two seats at large. Incumbents Diane Nally and Kevin Johnston will be on the ballot May 18 along with newcomers Clayton Cobb and Cynthia Grimley.

Both Cobb and Grimley were inspired to run after they and other parents were discontented with the reopening process in September as Kings Park secondary school students returned to the classrooms five days a week in person later than younger children. While the school year began with a hybrid model, with students attending school two days a week and taking classes remotely the others, the return to buildings the entire week for middle and high school students didn’t occur until a few weeks ago.

All candidates agree that an upcoming summer program in the district will be beneficial to ensure that students have an opportunity to fill in any learning gaps or deal with any emotional or social problems caused by the pandemic.

Clayton Cobb

Clayton Cobb

Cobb has lived in the district for more than eight years. He and his wife have three children who were homeschooled temporarily during the pandemic but will be returning to the classrooms in September. The vice president of an information technology consulting firm said that before the schools were shut down in March of 2020, he wasn’t familiar with BOE dealings, and then he started paying attention.

He said he believes that his IT experience can help in providing new solutions, and his business experience would also be an asset to a board position.

He said the district’s response during the shutdowns and the return to the classrooms wasn’t handled properly. It wasn’t until parents pushed back after a survey was sent out and parents rallied that the BOE took them seriously. Cobb said the board members weren’t tenacious enough with getting all students back to school full time in person. He added he felt they should have studied and researched the data more.

“You have to be forward thinking, proactive,” Cobb said. “You have to do research. You have to look at other counties, look at other states, look at the districts in other counties. You assemble, gather and assimilate information and come up with a solution and keep fighting for it.”

Cobb added that it’s important in cases such as this to bring up any legal aspects and harmfulness to the students even to state and county officials.

He said he felt at times the board was too quick to dismiss new ideas, and with his business background he said he understands how taxpayers are the same to the district as a customer is to a business.

“The whole point of this board and the school district is us,” he said.

Cynthia Grimley

Cynthia Grimley

A Kings Park resident since 1988, Grimley graduated from Kings Park High School and is raising her two daughters in the district.

Grimley holds a degree in psychology and education. She started her career as a special education teacher for six years and then moved on to higher education in 2003 where she worked at Suffolk County Community College. She is currently employed at Stony Brook University where she is a testing coordinator for the Student Accessibility Support Center.

While Grimley said she thought about running for the board of education before, she never felt a need to do so until now.

“I just feel that this year was difficult for everybody,” Grimley said.

She added that because she works at SBU she saw how another educational institution proceeded after the pandemic forced shutdowns. According to Grimley early on in March 2020, SBU leadership found a way to connect with students, even though she said higher education systems are different, she said she felt there should have been more connection with the students in Kings Park by teachers.

Her older daughter went a long time after the shutdown before hearing from teachers, and Grimley said she addressed her concerns about both daughters’ education to the BOE members, even though she said she was understanding that the district wasn’t prepared to teach via Zoom

“I kept going to board meetings and I said, ‘Why is this OK with anybody?’” Grimley said.  “Why is this OK with the principals, with the administration, with the board, that there are children who haven’t had any connection with their teachers for weeks?”

Over the summer she became part of the reopening committee. She said she was vocal about there being a return to five full days and also a remote option. She said she felt not much changed in the new school year with sixth- through 12th-graders still following a hybrid model, and it was frustrating to see other schools returning full time early on. She added many on the board don’t currently have children in school.

“I just think that the board members didn’t have kids in the schools and didn’t realize,” she said. “We saw the kids suffering — the parents who have children — and saw the kids. The second my kids went back to school full time, it was like two new kids. It was like a light switch, both of them.”

Working in higher education in disability services, Grimley said she knows it’s hard to compare the two, but she feels her work experience, especially working with special-needs students, can be an asset to the board.

“I have a lot of background about accessibility, making education accessible for all and universal design and that sort of thing, so I feel like I bring a unique perspective to the board,” she said.

Kevin Johnston

Kevin Johnston

A resident of the hamlet for nearly 35 years, Johnston’s two children graduated from Kings Park High School in 2007 and 2010. The student-teacher supervisor with SUNY Oneonta has a background in education including being a former teacher, coach and adviser in the Kings Park school district from 1981-2015.

Johnston is completing his second term on the board. With issues due to the pandemic, he said it was important to run again due to financial constraints with the district possibly not getting state funding this year.

Johnston said one thing that will help financially is that the district just received money from winning a lawsuit from a case which was going on for nearly 10 years.

“We feel we have a lot to do, especially concerning loss of learning and the mental, social, emotional needs,” Johnston said.

He added in addition to a program implemented for this summer to deal with loss of learning, next year it’s important to look at more staffing for academic intervention and for standard social, emotional needs.

He said the district has to make every penny count as they don’t have chair people, and don’t have a level of checks and balances that other school districts with bigger budgets have.

“So, we do scrutinize the entire budget process, very carefully,” he said. “Make sure that there is no fluff.”

He said recently an opponent asked what are the wants versus the needs of the district.

“We’re just trying to meet the needs of the students,” he said. “We don’t have an agenda. We don’t have a special list of wants or wish list.”

Diane Nally

Diane Nally

The current board president has lived in Kings Park for more than 60 years. In addition to her three children being graduates of the high school, she has a grandchild starting kindergarten soon.

In 2016, Nally retired as assistant director of religion education at St. Joseph’s. If reelected, this will be Nally’s fourth term on the board, and she said she would like “to continue to improve the school district and maintain the progress we have achieved over the last nine years.”

Regarding the full return to school, she said the board acted accordingly saying the timing was “spot on” due to the decreasing number of COVID cases. She said a plan has been introduced to address learning loss and social emotional learning. The program will begin this summer.

“Our current school board acted responsibly by ensuring that the health and safety of all our students and staff were our number one priority,” she said. “We continually sought updated guidance for bringing all students back to school five days a week, which we did last month.”

Nally said her more-than-25 years with St. Joseph’s provide her with valuable experience working with parents and children to resolve issues. Her nine years on the board she said has enabled her to form relationships “with members of other school boards and with members of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.”

Nally said she is an advocate for small class sizes. She said this made it possible to bring grades K-5 back to school five days a week in the beginning of the school year. In September 2019, a one-to-one device program was introduced in the district. It was originally expected to take a few years before middle and high school students had devices.

“In response to the COVID pandemic, the board, superintendent, administrators, teachers and staff worked collaboratively to accomplish this goal by September 2020, which made it possible to run our hybrid and remote learning platforms,” she said. “With the increased state aid we received, we were able to set a tax levy of 1.99%, the lowest in years, while maintaining all current curriculum, programs and activities. As a responsible school board member, I am always mindful of the impact of tax increases on our community.”

Budget and voting information

Kings Park School District residents will vote on a 1.60% budget increase and 1.99% tax levy increase for the 2021-22 school year.

The budget vote and trustee election will be held Tuesday, May 18, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Kings Park High School back gymnasium, 200 Route 25A, Kings Park.2021-

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Katherine Liang of Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School with the bridge that earned her first place in BNL’s annual Bridge Building Contest

Sometimes the term building bridges takes on a more literal meaning. 

David Liang of Ward Melville High School placed second in the bridge building contest.

The Office of Educational Programs (OEP) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory announced local students who earned the top spots in both the  2021 Bridge Building Contest and 2021 Maglev Competition during an online awards ceremony on April 16.

Each competition, held virtually this year, offers students a hands-on opportunity to apply math, science, and technology principles as they design and build bridges and magnetic levitation cars.

“Conceiving, designing, and building the one-of-a-kind facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory takes extraordinary vision on the part of our scientists and our engineers to advance our science mission,” said OEP Manager Kenneth White. 

“These two competitions test the design and analytical skill of contestants to create bridges and vehicles to exacting specifications and performance expectations much like our facilities demand of our staff. We hope some of these contestants will be our staff one day to take on another engineering challenge supporting extraordinary discoveries.”

Bridge Building Competition

Victor Prchlik of Ward Melville High School took third place in the bridge building contest.

In the annual Bridge Building Contest, high school students became engineers competing to construct the most efficient model bridge out of lightweight wood. Efficiency is calculated from the bridge’s weight and the weight the bridge can hold before breaking or bending more than one inch. The higher the efficiency, the better the design and construction.

Dedicated Brookhaven Lab staff engineers and technicians tested 40 qualifying structures during a live online event on April 8.

Katherine Liang, a 9th grade student of Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School earned first place with a bridge that weighed 18.7 grams, supported 38.6 pounds. The bridge earned an efficiency of 936.29.

For some students, a trial-and-error process was key to solidifying a design. Liang said she built and tested five bridges by weighing them down with a bucket of sand before submitting her final winning structure.

Second place went to David Liang of Ward Melville High School, whose bridge weighed 19 grams, held 36.4 pounds had an efficiency of 868.98.

Victor Prchlik, also from Ward Melville High School, placed third with a bridge that weighed 23.7 and supported 44.5 pounds with an efficiency of 851.87

Jonathan Chung of Smithtown East High School won this year’s Aesthetic Award.

“The whole process was fun from start to finish,” Chung said. “One of the most challenging parts was getting the glue to stick the wood together. I ended up solving that problem by using a hairdryer to dry it.”

This year’s Bridge Building Contest Aesthetic Award went to Jonathan Chung of Smithtown East High School, pictured with physics teacher Dr. Gillian Winters.

Brookhaven Lab staff tested magnetic levitation cars built by students from Island Trees Middle School and Bay Shore Middle School to see who came up with the fastest design.

MAGLEV Contest

This year’s Maglev Contest for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students included two main categories for speed and appearance. Brookhaven Lab staff tested 21 maglev cars for speed on a fixed gravity track–13 of which reached the finish line.

Brady Leichtman of Bay Shore Middle School won first place in the speed category.

Second place went to Isabella Rouleau of Bay Shore Middle School. Jesse Bonura of Island Trees Middle School placed third and also won the top spot in the competition’s appearance category with a futuristic blue car. Bay Shore Middle School students Amber Marquez and Andrea Romero, placed second and third in the appearance category, respectively.

Brookhaven Lab staff tested magnetic levitation cars to see who came up with the fastest design. Bonura found that part of the fun was testing and reengineering the maglev’s design. “We’d make it quicker and test it over and over again to make it perfect,” Bonura said.

The maglev contest is based on research by two Brookhaven engineers, the late Gordon Danby and James Powell, who invented and patented maglev technology—the suspension, guidance, and propulsion of vehicles by magnetic forces.

Magnetic properties give the maglev trains their extraordinary capabilities for speed and stability. These same principles—using magnetic forces to move matter — are used in world-class research facilities at Brookhaven Lab, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) — which are both DOE Office of Science user facilities. Magnetic properties allow the machines to move particles at nearly the speed of light for research purposes.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.

Photos courtesy of BNL

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File photo

By Kimberly Brown

Karen Pitka and Paul Staudt are running Tuesday, May 18, for two available seats for a three-year term on the Mount Sinai School District Board of Education. 

Karen Pitka

Photo from Karen Pitka

Pitka has lived in Mount Sinai since 2011. Celebrating her 20th year as a fourth-grade teacher this fall, she is an educator in the school district. She has experience in teaching second and fifth grade, and spends her free time being director of the school’s drama club. 

Having the experience in teaching elementary school, Pitka also was the leader of her schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports team and has created presentations to faculty, staff and other Long Island educators about motivating and engaging elementary classroom practices.

When Pitka isn’t working, she spends time with her three children who are 7, 6 and 2 years old.

Having been recently nominated by the district administration and selected to serve on a standards committee for New York State educators, she is prepared to run for the school board.

“Being an elementary school teacher, I feel that I am well versed in what our children need,” she said, “All of our children have suffered greatly from the closure of the school in 2020 along with the hybrid learning plan into 2021. During these unprecedented times, I feel I will be able to offer the proper guidance as to what our students truly need due to being involved in it every day in my own classroom.”

Having young children in the community, Pitka has a vested interest in the well-being of all Mount Sinai students. She also feels having longevity in the district is important. 

Paul Staudt

Photo from Paul Staudt

Staudt, a heavy equipment technician for Komatsu America Corp, was born and raised in Mount Sinai. He has two children who are currently attending Mount Sinai schools. Both Staudt and his wife Krista have grown up in the same town and have been married for 19 years. 

After battling a very tough year with the pandemic, Staudt felt it was imperative to run for the school board. Despite the current BOE doing their best to work through the COVID-19 crisis, he believes he can offer a different perspective if elected. 

“Obviously over the last year, some issues and concerns have arisen from both the parents and teaching perspective,” he said. “There’s been a lot of issues with clarity. Their communication to the community, in my opinion, is outdated.” 

With a broad background of different jobs Staudt has accomplished throughout his life, he feels he is well rounded and will be able to aid the board in achieving transparency. 

“I am a nine-year military veteran, I have 23 years as a volunteer fireman, I am also a tradesman,” he said, “All of these things, coupled with my life in Mount Sinai, bring a different perspective to the board.”

Staudt said he feels the board needs more diversity: “I think that is what a school board needs, people of varying backgrounds with different perspectives. We, as a board, need to put our personal experiences together and use that to make decisions in the best interest of all of our children.”

As the school district makes the transition from online meetings to in-person, Staudt hopes the same amount of people who have been attending the online meetings will translate into coming down for the actual board meetings. 

“I’ve been around a long time, I grew up in this town, so to be able to step into this role and be able to look at things through a different lens is something you need to have on a board,” he said. 

Voting

The school budget and board of education votes take place Tuesday, May 18, at the Mount Sinai Elementary School back gym at 118 North Country Road, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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File photo

By Harry To

The Shoreham-Wading River board of education will be conducting its budget vote and board elections on May 18. The two candidates are running unopposed.

Robert Rose

Trustee Robert Rose is running unopposed, making this his fourth reelection since 2012. 

In an email interview with TBR, Rose highlighted his success in getting students back in the classroom. 

“I think the biggest accomplishment has been getting our students back in school every day,” he said. “I think our teachers and staff have done a great job during this global pandemic. I also think that our facilities have drastically improved over the last several years.”

Rose has more-than 20 years of experience in education. For the past 15 years, he has served as the assistant principal at Smithtown High School East.

James Smith

Board member James Smith is also running unopposed. He was first elected in 2018 after his second run for office. 

In the 2018 election Smith ran on a campaign of greater psychological and emotional resources for students, calling for more psychologists and social workers in schools. 

Smith has been an active Shoreham resident for about nine years. In that time, he became vice president of the PTA. He also coached kids through Sound Beach Soccer Club and Father Joe’s Soccer.

Smith did not respond to TBR’s request for comment.

Voting

Board elections will take place with the budget vote for a 1% tax levy increase and two capital project propositions Tuesday, May 18, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Shoreham-Wading River High School gym, located at 250A Route 25A in Shoreham.

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Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano

By Andrea Paldy

Three Village Central School District residents will vote on the 2021-22 budget and select three school board trustees when they head to the polls next Tuesday, May 18.

Next year’s $222.6 million budget requires supermajority approval since it exceeds the 1.37% cap on the tax levy increase. Deputy superintendent, Jeff Carlson, has said that opening schools five days a week to all students cost the district about $6.5 million this year. Speaking at the most recent school board meeting May 5, he explained that with most of the money coming from reserves, the district has to pay itself back while also keeping current safety protocols in place for the upcoming school year.

At a previous meeting, Carlson said the 1.85% tax levy increase will generate close to an additional $800,000, roughly the amount the district will use to pay back its reserves. The average increase to taxpayers is $222 a year — about $58 more than they would pay per year under a 1.37% levy increase. State aid will increase by $1.8 million in the coming year, but because the current year’s aid package was less than the previous year, the net gain will only be about $200,000, Carlson said.

The district has budgeted for the restoration of health education for kindergarten through third grade, math labs at the high school and electives in the secondary schools. That will mean the addition of three full-time health teachers and an additional math teacher at $90,000 (including benefits) for a total of $360,000. In an email, Carlson said the cost will be covered through savings from retirements.

The district will also add a social worker for the elementary schools, an elementary chair to manage 504 programs, which provide support for students who need learning accommodations, and a music technology teacher. Carlson said each position is budgeted at $90,000 with benefits and will cost about $270,000.

If the proposed budget doesn’t pass, the district can either put the same budget up for a second vote, present a revised budget for vote or go straight to a contingency budget. A contingency budget would mean no increase to the tax levy and would require the district to cut $3 million, Carlson said. A failed second vote would also result in a contingency budget.

COVID safety protocols

During the public participation portion of this week’s board meeting, a group of parents spoke of being concerned about the “negative social, emotional and academic effects” of plexiglass barriers that have been erected as part of COVID-19 protocols on the desks of elementary students. They demanded that they be taken down “immediately.”

Members of the group said that since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends the barriers and district secondary students weren’t using them, the district was “keeping the most severe district protocol in place for the least vulnerable students.” They called the protocol “unacceptable.” Some also declared the use of masks and barriers “redundant.”

Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich explained that elementary students eat at their desks, while secondary students do not.

“I hear the emotion, and it’s heartbreaking,” she said.

She also said the district had tried hard to “create as normal an opportunity” as possible for students, and that the district’s “layered approach” was part of its effort to keep students in school and keep everyone “safe and healthy.”

Pedisich said she also hears from parents “who feel very differently” and want the safety measures in place until the end of the year.

The superintendent acknowledged that “COVID fatigue is real,” but said that after speaking with the school governance committee and other superintendents, the prevailing sentiment is to “stay the course until the end of the year.”

“I don’t want to make imprudent decisions that in any way would jeopardize the health and safety of our students, and I think the board feels the same way,” Pedisich said.

The vote

The vote for the budget and school board trustees will take place Tuesday, May 18, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the district’s secondary schools, P.J. Gelinas and R.C. Murphy junior highs and Ward Melville High School.  Candidates for three trustee positions are David McKinnon, Sue Rosenzweig, Shaorui Li, Karen Roughley and Deanna Bavlnka.

See tbrnewsmedia.com for last week’s article about the candidates.

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File photo

By Chris Cumella

Michael Lisa is looking forward to serving on the Rocky Point Board of Education after running unopposed.

Along with incumbent Edward Casswell, Lisa plans to claim two open seats on the trustee’s board on May 18 after what will be a landslide victory for both candidates.

Caswell did not respond to a request for a conversation from TBR.

Working in the Massapequa school district for over 23 years, Lisa is a high school social studies teacher, but yearns to partake in a larger conversation about the future of education. 

His unique experiences garnered over two decades of being an educator is what Lisa believes will make him a benefit to the district upon election.

“I have aspired to become a member of the board,” Lisa said. “I’m ready to represent the Rocky Point community members in any way which I can.”

While managing projects on the technology committee for the Rocky Point School District, Lisa said that he had seen firsthand what has worked and what has not when it comes to tech in education. 

Remote learning is a hurdle that Lisa said must be overcome by providing a safer, cleaner in-person learning environment for students and staff to return to in the fall.

Within his classes, Lisa noticed a decline in classroom productivity resulting from remote learning, a compromise that has proven safe yet challenging for many in the school district.

“If we do get back to a sense of normalcy, of course, there will be some difficulty transitioning back,” Lisa said. “This social isolation has brought a great deal of anxiety among students. Not being in person, no real interaction with your classmates, it’s a struggle to reach many of these learners remaining at home.”

Further collaboration with teachers, members of the board, teachers, and students — Lisa is advocating for continuously collecting input from the Rocky Point community to reflect on what is working in their system and what must change. 

Lisa has analyzed the school district from various perspectives as a teacher, a community member and a father. 

Now he is taking the initiative to give back to his community by providing an optimal in-person educational experience for the youth of Rocky Point.

“I’m looking forward to engaging with our students and others to bring back this sense of normalcy that we all need for our wellbeing,” he said.

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Families rallied in August asking the Smithtown Central School District to consider five days of in-person schooling for all of the district’s students. Photo by Lina Weingarten
Stacy Murphy

The 2020-21 school year began with a tumultuous start for the Smithtown Central School District when local parents rallied in front of the administration building before various board of education meetings demanding schools to be opened five days a week for in-person learning during the pandemic. The charge was led by the Facebook group Smithtown Parents Watchdog Group, which was founded by Stacy Murphy, a guidance counselor in the Amityville school district.

Now Murphy along with educator Karen Ricciardi and real estate agent John Savoretti will go head-to-head with BOE incumbents Jeremy Thode, Mandi Kowalik and Charles Rollins. Voters on May 18 will have the opportunity to vote for Murphy or Kowalik, Savoretti or Rollins and Ricciardi or Thode.

The challengers

Savoretti, Murphy and Ricciardi did not return requests to schedule interviews but created a Facebook page where they share their common goals via posts and a video.

Karen Ricciardi

Murphy said in the video she enjoys helping others.

“I love helping kids, and I love being a voice for their families and helping them navigate a very confusing educational system if you don’t have any role in it,” she said. “And, I want that for this community.”

According to the candidates, they want to raise the bar of the education received in the district and “to ensure that the education our K-12 kids are receiving is void of any one group’s agenda, affiliation, belief system or persuasion; and to encourage and provide every student with the tools to be bold enough to exhibit qualities of compassion, kindness and good citizenship to all.”

In the video, Ricciardi said looking out for students was important.

“What’s that old expression?” she said. “A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Well, this is what’s going on in Smithtown. They’re wasting these amazing resources with these kids.”

The candidates also have stated on their page that being fiscally responsible is a priority and that the needs of the students are part of every budget decision.

“Ensuring the community that every vote in favor of a budget item is an investment in our children by building a trust with the community that we will be board members who do not put our own agendas, beliefs and needs — or the agendas, needs or beliefs of any other organization — above that of the needs of the Smithtown student body.”

John Savoretti

The three newcomers are also looking for more dialogue between the board and the community.

“Our goal is that we will have a school board of seven members who have absolutely no obligation or indebtedness to any group(s) that could jeopardize their ability to unequivocally put the needs of the students at the utmost forefront of each and every decision,” the candidates wrote.

In the video, Savoretti explained why the three decided to run together.

“Having one person change is a start, but when you have all three of us change, that’s a running start,” he said. “And what you’re doing is you’re sending a serious message to the other candidates who are in there, who are going to be coming up for election next year and the years after, that if you don’t wake up and start doing right by the kids and what’s right for the community, you’re not going to be there again.”

The incumbents:

Mandi Kowalik

Mandi Kowalik

Kowalik is seeking her second term. A mother of three, she is a former elementary school teacher, author and community volunteer. In an email, she said she enjoys the challenging work of being a BOE trustee.

“I am extremely passionate, dedicated, professional and hardworking,” she said. “There was a definite learning curve during my first term, and I now feel even more equipped to address the needs of the Smithtown community. I would like to assess the needs of the community and the wants of the students regarding the time that was lost during the pandemic, and then work to ensure that we make up for what children and families feel like they missed out on.”

She said she felt the board made the right decision by not opening up all schools in the district right away for five days of in-person learning, saying they followed state guidance for the safety and health of “our students, their families, our staff and the community.”

Kowalik added that the Smithtown school district was one of a few that were back to full-time, in-person learning.

Jeremy Thode

Jeremy Thode

Thode, an associate high school principal, director of health, physical education, business, fine and applied arts and athletics in Center Moriches, is completing his second term as trustee. He agreed that the board did the right thing regarding opening schools in phases. He said the board has more work to do, especially with getting back to normal after the shutdowns. He added having experience with working through the pandemic is a benefit.

He said there were a myriad of reasons regarding school reopenings, and he agreed the board did the right thing following a hybrid model considering state guidelines and also followed the research that was available about the coronavirus.

“We chose to stay on the conservative side, and ensure that our kids were safe,” he said. “The number one priority was keeping the students safe, and the community as safe as possible.”

Among other concerns in the district, Thode said once school returns to normal it would be beneficial to look at the empty buildings in the district, which he said could potentially be utilized by local businesses or nonprofits and lead to students getting internships.

“It would be nice to use them as a hub for resources for the community that our kids might be able to get intertwined with,” he said.

Charles Rollins

Rollins, was appointed by the board and replaced Frank James, who stepped down in January. Rollins’ three children graduated from Smithtown schools, and he is a retired senior executive. He or Savoretti will complete the last two years of James’ term.

Charles Rollins

Involved in the community, he has served as president of the Smithtown Booster Club in the past and is currently its treasurer. He most recently served as senior vice president of operations for First Industrial Realty Trust until his retirement a few years ago.

With a background in business, he feels he has something to offer the board, and he has been working on a capital improvement plan with administration, which is considering taking out a bond in the next few months. Rollins said now is a good time with low interest rates.

“We will be communicating with our constituency to let them know what the plans are,” he said.

Rollins added that the $120 million capital improvement plan will include infrastructure as well as cosmetic improvements, which will include ventilation system work to respond to COVID concerns. 

While he wasn’t part of the original plan to reopen schools, he believes the board and administration did the right thing by opening schools up slowly and said he has high praise for his colleagues, adding they made decisions based on “the science and the numbers, and the direction and guidance from health providers.”

Rollins said he is the president of the homeowners association where he has a house in Florida for vacations. He said he had to make similar decisions to help keep residents safe. The candidate said while some of those decisions weren’t popular, he had to put everyone’s health first. When he heard the Smithtown board was being criticized, he knew what they were going through.

“In my heart, I knew they were doing the right thing,” he said.

Recently the district received criticism for its inclusion, diversity and equity education. In a district letter to parents, the administration said such work has been deemed a priority for many educational organizations.

Rollins said the goal of making sure every student feels welcomed and comfortable is an important one. He added he has heard many passionate speeches from community members at board meetings, and he feels the goal can be achieved with conversations between parents and the board and administration.

Budget and vote

According to the district’s website, the 2021-22 budget of $262,319,665 is an increase of 2.79% over last year’s budget, which is a 1.75% tax levy increase.

Budget voting and board of ed trustees elections will be held Tuesday, May 18, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information on voting locations for the four election districts, visit the SCSD website at www.smithtown.k12.ny.us.

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Photo by Brian Miller

This past week, baseball played a huge role in brining the two communities of Mount Sinai and Rocky Point together for a dynamic cause.  

“Home Runs for Easton” was organized between these two baseball teams that played in front of almost 1,000 people at the Town of Brookhaven Diamond in the Pines Park.

The players had a home run derby and a scrimmage in front of fans that also enjoyed a massive raffle, food, refreshments, hat and shirt sales, and plenty of smiles towards a worthy endeavor.  

Long-time Mount Sinai baseball coach Eric Reichenback was proud of the unyielding efforts that were presented to make this fundraiser into a successful function. He wanted to thank his school’s football coach Vinny Amarato, the girl’s basketball coach Mike Popperlotto, Joanne Rentz, and especially his wife for spending so much time to help the family of his middle school baseball coach Dave Clark. 

Easton was treated for this serious spinal cord condition at Stony Brook University Medical Center and at Shriners Hospital for Children.  

Reichenback is no stranger to playing and coaching big games at almost every baseball level, but perhaps this one of the finest moments of his career. He was extremely pleased to help bring some comfort to one of his coaches in one what Reichenback called a “colossal effort” to bring this game together.

Easton’s dad is a physical education teacher and coach at Mount Sinai High School, and he was a talented baseball player that was a catcher at Sachem High School. He later played at New York Tech. 

With family members, friends, baseball players, teachers and parents from both districts, they watched a homerun derby that gained applause from the fans, where they saw Rocky Point Coach Eric Strovink, need only one pitch to hit the ball over the fence at the Diamond at the Pines baseball field.  

Owner of the All-Pro Sports Academy and instructor Scott June tossed batting practice for over 40 players from both teams that tried to take him deep on every swing. He is a good friend and former Sachem teammate of Easton, who delivered many pitches to the young men that dug in at home plate.  

This event that was run by these two teams raised over $25,000, to help this family endure the long and costly road to recovery. 

Rocky Point Assistant Baseball Coach Eric Strovink was elated at the positive response that was demonstrated by fans that traveled from near and far to watch these local boys play for Easton. 

This local baseball hitting figure that once tormented high school and college pitchers, is a “gentle giant” that has helped steer the Rocky Point baseball team towards helping others through numerous visits to a local soup kitchen and homeless shelter. 

One of the numerous people that Strovink identified in helping this event was Eric Fritch.  He is a volunteer at Shriners Hospital, where he has donated money and support in helping families cope with severe medical hardships.  This was no different, as Fritch was a dominant volunteer to help Easton on this day.  

There was no shortage of help, as many members stepped up to the plate to help run this fundraiser. 

Anthony and Eleni Sorice represented one of the many families that gave their time to help make this event possible and they believed that it was a “total team effort between these two towns to bring this event alive.” 

There were gift cards of every kind that were donated by local restaurants, bars, and Tuscany Market from Miller Place. And those that donated money through the massive raffle were able to win sports memorabilia items that were signed by former New York Yankee Greg Nettles, New York Met Todd Zeile, current Yankee Clint Frazier and items from Nascar.  

Rocky Point Senior Nash Thixton, a pitcher, hit one home run in the derby, where he also won a signed jersey of New York Yankee Pitcher Luis Severino. Thixton was pleased to participate in this game and he believed that it was “good for both communities to supremely come together to aid a family in need.”

Over the last several years, these two teams have gained notable experience in working together towards charitable causes to support these North Shore communities. 

They have scrimmaged against each other during the “Live Like Susie” event. 

This baseball tradition remembers the tragic loss of Susie Facini, a graduate of Rocky Point High School, who passed away from a sudden heart attack in 2011. 

The Eagles and Mustang baseball teams established their own “spring classic” to recall the efforts of this kind young lady who positively touched everyone within her school district.  

Whereas both teams always want to do well against each other within the lines of this game, they have exhibited a unique sense of class to bring awareness to local causes that have brought our residents together through the spirit of baseball.

One of the most important aspects, is the experience of goodwill that these young men have learned from their coaches that have partook within this local tradition.

Most importantly, these players someday pass this baseball compassion onto teams that they will coach and to their own children in helping others through athletics.  

This tradition of giving back was established by former Rocky Point High School coach Andrew Aschettino to his successor Anthony Anzalone, and the mighty presence of Strovink, and Reickenbac.  They have utilized our National Pastime to foster the importance of giving back through major fundraisers like that of “Home Runs for Easton.” 

Anzalone was pleased to be a part of this event and he stated, “It was an honor to be a part of such an amazing day.  

We have a long standing relationship with the coaching staff at Mount Sinai and when asked to join forces, it was a no brainer.”  

Although it is never easy to see a child go through a difficult health condition, the warmth of baseball helped brighten a poor situation for this family.  

Again and again, baseball has proven through every type of crisis, to be a pleasant distraction from negative times, to bring our people together, as was demonstrated at the Diamond in the Pines on Thursday, May, 6.

 Rich Acritelli is a social studies teacher at Rocky Point High School and an adjunct professor of American history at Suffolk County Community College. 

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Comsewogue High School

On May 18, the Comsewogue Board of Education will elect three members to the board for a three-year term — commencing July 1 of this year.

Margaret Mitchell 

Margaret Mitchell worked in the Comsewogue School District for 47 years as a secretary before retiring. 

“I just feel that I can give back to the district now, and I’m hoping to make a difference,” she said. 

Mitchell retired last August, and she said she would still be working if it weren’t for the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The 73-year-old said she was concerned about the virus impacting her or her family so she decided it would be in her best interest to retire. 

“I didn’t want to retire,” she said. “I enjoyed working in this district. I know so many people, teachers, administrators, students. I developed a bond with a lot of people in the district and I just feel I want to give back.”

Mitchell’s late husband was on the board for 27 years, and all three of her children attended district schools from kindergarten through senior year. 

“Our whole life was centered around the district,” she said. “I miss it, I really miss it.” 

As a first-time candidate, she said that between raising a family and working at Comsewogue, she has been in the district for 50 years.  

“I’ve seen a lot of changes,” she said. “I’ve seen the good, I’ve seen the bad, and I think on the upswing, we’re at a good place right now. And I want to help to continue it.”

Mitchell said her main concern right now is the COVID-19 situation. 

“Our seniors missed out on so much last year,” she said. “I felt so sorry for those kids. And I think our administration has handled it beautifully. I think if we spoke to many of the parents in the community, they would agree. They’ve gone above and beyond to make sure that our students get what they need.”

She said she also wants to make sure all Comsewogue graduates have the best support possible to make sure they’re prepared for the real world upon graduation.

“I really think that our district is one of the best around and I want to continue that,” she said.

Margaret Mitchell did not provide a photo.

Corey Prinz

Although Corey Prinz grew up in Wantagh, he has been a resident of the Comsewogue community for over 15 years now. 

“I am still a new person around here,” he said. “Which is a great sign of the community, overall.”

Up for reelection, Prinz said most of his term has been emergency based.

“My whole focus has been, ‘Let’s protect the kids, let’s find a way to get them learning and move forward,’” he said. “This district has done a lot in the last 10 or 15 years, and I think we’ve gotten a little complacent.”

Prinz feels the district can continue to strive for greatness. 

“I’d like to see us continue to remember that we can do better, not because we’re doing badly, but because we can do better,” he said. “My caveat has always been we’re trying to create good humans here. Right? So, let’s make more of them.”

A commercial banker by day and father of two, Prinz has a wife who is a teacher in the district. His main goal is to get kids back to school safely and full time again, as well as providing more social and emotional support for students and staff. 

“COVID has affected a lot of people in different ways,” he said. “We have to help the kids through this, the kids who have lost their college opportunities because of this.”

But that all stems from his No. 1 goal of teaching students at Comsewogue to be of good character. 

“I think the most important thing is I want people to be good people,” he said. “And it starts with our kids. We need to be reminded to focus on our children to be better-rounded people. There’s opportunity here, we just have to decide to use it.”

Richard Rennard

Rick Rennard is seeking reelection for the Comsewogue Board of Education, after finishing his second full term as a trustee.

After being on the board for seven years, he said he wants to continue all the projects he and the board have worked on. 

“I think it’s important to continue the work that we’ve started, that I’ve been involved in over the last seven years,” he said. “From the commitment to our Middle States accreditation, to the creation of our project-based learning programs that are really starting to take off now,  I think that everything we’ve been doing has been really great.”

Rennard has been a resident in Comsewogue for 16 years, and is a married father of three children who all attend schools within the district. He is a social studies teacher in the Middle Country school district by day.

He said that facing the continuous challenges of the coronavirus and the shutdown last year, he wants to make sure the district’s buildings continue to stay safe. 

“I want to continue to serve our community and get us back to a hopefully full reopening this fall,” he said. “I plan on continuing my policy of making decisions that seem rooted in what’s best for the kids in our district, and just to continue to use that as my guideline for when we have to make decisions — what’s best for them and go forward with it.”

Rennard said his favorite thing about being a board member is seeing how much students within the district progress.

“That’s really the most rewarding part about it,” he said. “It’s to see that our kids turn around and give back to the community.”

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