Home Times of Smithtown

Kings Park board of ed, budget vote set for May 17

by TBR Staff - May 6, 2022

0 1848

Kings-park-high-school_051519_regan-700x357 — File photo by Rita J. Egan

By Amanda Olsen

Kings Park Central School District residents will vote on the 2022-23 budget and select two school board trustees when they head to the polls Tuesday, May 17.

Trustees Pam DeFord and Dan Tew are not seeking reelection, so two seats are up for election. These seats are at large, meaning voters can select any two candidates.

The budget for next year is $102.24 million, an increase of 1.94% over last year. This will result in a 2.99% tax levy increase, or $23.39 more per year for the average taxpayer. This includes a state aid package of approximately 19%.

The budget allocates additional mental health resources, including an additional high school social worker and a regional behavioral health center for students. It maintains all sports, extracurricular clubs and activities. The funding also ensures each elementary school has a full-time librarian. It increases cybersecurity protections, internet filtering and security cameras, and supports the vehicle fleet, including the purchase of two new large gas buses, one smaller gas bus and one dump truck.

There are also some cuts. From a staffing/teacher perspective, the district is reducing by three elementary teachers and three secondary teaching equivalents. This reduction is to adjust for declining enrollment, according to the district.

Douglas Cerrato

Cerrato became more involved with the school district during remote learning. He is a financial adviser in Huntington village and this is his first time running for the school board. Cerrato is seeking more transparency in how the board is run and interacts with the community. He believes his experience and understanding of budgets will be an asset to the board. The candidate views himself as impartial and unencumbered by relationships with outside organizations.

According to Cerrato, Kings Park has too many administrators when compared to neighboring districts serving more children.

“Enrollment is down 30 percent [over the last 10 years], but [in the same period] the budget is up 30%,” Cerrato said.

He outlined a plan to streamline administration by possibly eliminating positions and redirecting those funds.

“The goal is to reduce the administrative budget by $1 million, and redistribute the funds saved to front-line employees,” he said.

Cerrato also wants to form resident-led and parent-led steering committees that will increase community input and have a net-neutral or net-positive impact on the budget. He hopes to bring the average cost to educate a student [$28,411] down to the county average [$25,638] and reduce reliance on state aid. He plans to follow the desires of the community when it comes to mandates and divisive curriculum decisions.

Jaime Lelle

Lelle is the mother of three boys, a parent and alumnus of Kings Park school district. She has been in an administrative role as the pediatric nurse educator of Stony Brook Children’s for the last two years and was a bedside pediatric nurse for the previous 14 years. She believes this career has made her a strong advocate and an effective listener. Her job often involves performing reviews and revisions of policies and procedures.

“I believe I can provide those same skills to the Kings Park board of education creating a more just and fair representation of the community at large, while providing the appropriate checks and balances in decision making, ” she said.

Lelle believes the biggest issue with the district currently is transparency and representation. Some of her plans to address this need are developing an electronic system to gather feedback from the parents and community, and establishing policies focusing on communication would provide more transparency and address issues in an appropriate timeframe.

When it comes to the budget, Lelle wants to reduce the scope of the administrative costs.

“I believe the budget can be reduced with a smart strategic comprehensive review with either a net-neutral or net-positive impact on the students and community,” she said. “Looking at the budget and district through a lens of the private sector will bring in negotiation and competition by going out to market, therefore reducing the costs and overall budget.”

Patrick Hanley

Hanley has resided in the district for 15 years, has three children attending schools in the district and is section manager in electric operations for Con Edison.

“I welcome the opportunity to help progress the district,” he said. “This would be a meaningful way to serve my community and make a difference.”

In his current position at Con Edison, Hanley has been heavily involved in budgets, personnel and general management, skills he believes will benefit the district going forward.

“There are some communication gaps that need to be addressed,” he said. “The last couple of years have been a real challenge. We need to connect with people on a personal level and get out beyond the board meeting.”

To that end, he said he plans to reach out to and engage with parents and civic organizations in the district for input.

When addressing the budget, Hanley said he planned to be sensitive.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “We need responsible management to make sure we get the most value.”

Shala Pascucci

Shala Pascucci

She has been a resident of Kings Park school district for 22 years and has two children in Kings Park schools. She holds a master’s degree in social work and is both a social worker and a certified secondary education teacher.

Pascucci is a founding member of Kings Park Advocates for Education, a board member of the Smithtown Youth Bureau and sits on the New York State Allies for Public Education and Long Island Opt Out steering committees.

She is also co-president of the Kings Park Robotics Club.

Pascucci was not available for an interview before press time. According to her campaign website, she “started advocating for whole-child learning almost 10 years ago because I hated the idea that education was moving in the direction of treating kids like they were no more than standardized test scores.”

Her website also states, “My goal is to help the community and our district heal, regroup and focus back on our kids and their education.”

Voter information

Cerrato and Lelle are campaigning together, so are Hanley and Pascucci.

Voting takes place on May 17 between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. at Kings Park High School back gymnasium, 200 Route 25A.

Candidates are vying for two seats on the Board of Education. Each seat is for a term of three years, commencing July 1, 2022. Voters registered with the Suffolk County Board of Elections can vote on the budget and candidates.

D. None of the Above: A salute to mothers who maneuver through the unscripted

by Daniel Dunaief - May 6, 2022

0 171

By Daniel Dunaief

Sure, the book “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” could be helpful.

Until you’ve gone through pregnancy and had a child, you don’t really know what’s around the corner. Other parents sometimes expect you to follow their footprints to the promised land, which somehow didn’t always seem like the happiest place on Earth for them or their screaming kids.

You hear about terms like first, second and third trimester, which sound like safe little building blocks you might want to play with on the floor, stacking one on top of another while Mozart plays blissfully in the background.

But, really, so much of life, even during those days before childbirth, when moms are expecting, doesn’t follow a script or textbook cue cards.

My wife and I tried to keep at least a month ahead of the “nesting phase” and the “tired phase” among so many others in the books.

We went to Lamaze classes where, despite being in our mid 30s, we felt remarkably young in New York City compared to so many other first-time parents in their late 30s and early 40s who were sharing pregnancy stories and preparing to “breathe, honey,” and to count the time in between contractions.

Our birth plan went out the window when, after my wife’s three valiant days of pushing, our doctor decided to do a C section. How do you make important decisions when you’re beyond exhausted and when your excitement and anxiety seem to be in an extended foot race for your attention?

Just before the doctor started the procedure, she told me that if I passed out at any time, they were going to leave me on the cold, concrete floor, stepping over me to tend to my wife and daughter.

Fortunately, everything worked out, despite the challenges for my wife of recovering from abdominal surgery that made even the simplest of motions, like rising out of a chair, difficult and painful.

So, here we are, over two decades later, and we and others are still maneuvering around playbooks we’ve had to rewrite. It seemed fitting, given that it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday, to reach out to a few successful scientists — I cover science, so these are my peeps — to ask them a few questions.

IACS Endowed Chair of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University Heather Lynch explained some of the best parenting advice she got was to think of “running the household like running a business, and outsource what can be outsourced with zero guilt.”

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor and HHMI Investigator Leemor Joshua-Tor, meanwhile, said she learned to trust her gut, especially for the timing of discussions with her daughter. As her daughter enters her teenage years, Joshua-Tor has taken more of an advisory role, letting her have more control over her life while offering a calming presence.

Joshua-Tor wrote in an email that she thought “my daughter would have a good role model with a mom that had a fulfilling career and work life.”

Joshua-Tor was pleased to hear her daughter bragging about her mom’s career.

Lynch, who studies penguins that share parenting duties, credits marrying well for her parental success.

She and husband, Matthew Eisaman, who has a joint appointment at Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory, “split things 50-50 and if I had to do even 51% of everything, I think this whole house of cards would collapse,” she explained in an email.

Amid the pandemic, which wasn’t in any parenting textbooks (but probably will be in the future), Joshua-Tor said she tried to keep her daughter positive while ensuring her safety.

As a parent, Joshua-Tor added, “nothing was as I expected, but how deep things hit you is a biggy.”

Between You and Me: Hitler, Stalin and now Putin — History replays with a vengeance

by Leah Dunaief - May 6, 2022

0 182

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

The idea that wars would cease if countries were economically tied tightly together seemed to make sense to the world’s leaders immediately following World War II. It sounded like a reasonable premise. After all, why would any nation attack its neighbor if its economy depended on trading with that neighbor, right? In past centuries, wars were started to gain land and the riches they yielded.

Before the Industrial Age, economies were agrarian and depended on land ownership. But by the middle of the 20th century, a huge variety of goods could be exchanged across borders cheaply, especially with advances in transportation. Countries could be locked together by mutual profit rather than by expensive and bloody wars.

For more than 70 years, this theory actually worked in practice. Europe was a prime example. The British had already stopped fighting the French, who stopped fighting the Germans, who stopped attacking Slavic countries, and so on. Instead, they did business together, more or less peacefully, vacationed in each others’ mountains and on each others’ beaches and even formed what they called a European Union. It is not like the United States in that its 27 members must act unanimously or be expelled, but despite infighting, countries want to be in it. Once in, nations can enjoy more cheaply the fruits of economic transactions and a certain amount of financial support.

The Russians were the world’s third largest producer of oil. They got some $123 billion of their export revenue from supplying crude oil to the rest of the globe, plus refined petroleum-like petrol and diesel at $66.2 billion, gas at $26 billion and coal at $18 billion (2019 figures), especially to neighboring European countries, including Ukraine. Russia was the largest exporter of wheat, plus iron and nickel, nitrogen-based fertilizers and a wide variety of raw materials.

If at war, Ukraine would halt its trade with Russia, which could affect Russia’s economy. So why would Russia start a war with its Ukrainian neighbor? It doesn’t make economic sense. There goes the theory that countries who trade together play nicely together. In fact, it is as if a bully in the schoolyard has begun beating up a smaller child who is supplying him with candy.

President Putin says he fears the encroachment of NATO and must have a buffer between Russia and the other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that was organized expressly to defend against a possibly aggressive Russia. Churchill always considered Russia the biggest threat. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, nor of the European Union. Putin further says more that makes no sense about denazifying Ukraine.

One thing seems to be obvious. Putin is not trying to grab Ukraine for its GDP. His army is pursuing a scorched earth attack, destroying apartment buildings, hospitals, industrial plants and whole cities, as it tries to establish a land bridge between the Donbas in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. This would afford Russia uninterrupted access to the Black Sea, a goal of landlocked czars for centuries. But what he is really after is power.

Perhaps, Putin thought that his trade ties with other countries would keep them from interfering in his “special military operation” in Ukraine. No military riposte materialized after he grabbed Crimea. Perhaps he hoped his actions would serve to divide NATO members in their response to him. In fact, only Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, has refused to condemn Putin, straining what has been a Warsaw-Budapest alliance within NATO. On the opposite side of the spectrum, German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that no one could assume Russia would not attack other countries given its violation of international law in Ukraine, and that he would support Finland and Sweden if they decided to join NATO. Scholz made his comments despite Germany’s dependence on Russia for most of its import of gas.

So much for the hope that economic ties peacefully bind.

Editorial: Hold on to your pup

by TBR Staff - May 5, 2022

0 195

The warm weather is here, which means more people will be out walking, many with their furry best friends.

It’s important to remember to keep your dog on a leash, whether when walking down the street, in a park or along the beach. Some may think that their dog is friendly and wouldn’t hurt a fly — and they may be right — but that doesn’t mean that other dogs share the same demeanor.

It’s important to note that dogs are territorial. In the April 28 Ask the Vet column by Dr. Matthew Kearns, the veterinarian explained that the animals are hardwired to protect their territory. If they feel threatened, they will feel the need to defend themselves. Certain movements may also trigger them.

Dogs can hurt other animals and humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 4.5 million dog bites to people every year in the U.S. Dog bites can lead to a need for medical care and even fatalities.

It’s also possible for a dog off-leash to chase after smaller critters. The chase could lead to danger to wildlife and animals running out into busy streets. It’s also healthier for dogs to be walked with a leash as it lessens the chances of them engaging with other dogs, which can increase the spread of diseases such as distemper, and they are less likely to sniff droppings from other animals.

Plus, if your dog does get away from you, the leash signals that it belongs to someone, and the person who finds the pet knows to first look for a collar and ID.

Walking your dog on a leash also shows courtesy to your neighbors as pet owners have more control over where their dog goes when they have a hold on them. The lawn down the road is not your dog’s bathroom.

Speaking of dogs and bathrooms, remember to bring a bag with you while walking your dog to clean up any mess they may make.

With just a little care, dogs, humans and other animals can enjoy the great outdoors together and lessen the dangers that can occur.

Smithtown Library’s Passport Acceptance Facility executes 1,000th passport application

by Press Release - May 4, 2022

0 182

On Monday, April 11 the Passport Acceptance Facility celebrated the execution of its 1,000th
passport application. Charles and Angela Fisher of Smithtown were the lucky patrons who made
this appointment to apply for a new passport. They received a travel gift basket as a token of
appreciation for utilizing the Library’s Passport Acceptance Facility.

Pictured from left, Smithtown Building Head and Passport Acceptance Agent Eileen Caulfield, Passport Acceptance Agent William Salas, Charles and Angela Fisher, Assistant Director Patricia Thomson, Passport
Acceptance Agent Andrew Salomon and Passport Acceptance Agent Jessicca Newmark.

The Passport Acceptance Facility opened its doors at the Smithtown Building of The Smithtown
Library in November 2018. It is open to all patrons, regardless of library district by appointment
only. For more information or to make an appointment, please call (631) 360-2480 ext. 192 or email
[email protected].

TBR News Media snags seven NYPA awards

by Heidi Sutton - May 4, 2022

0 108

Victory Smithtown West. Bill Landon — Winning sports action photo by Bill Landon

By Heidi Sutton

From news articles and sports stories to photography, ad projects and classifieds, Times Beacon Record News Media raked in seven awards from this year’s New York Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The winners were announced during NYPA’s annual Spring Conference on April 29 and 30.

Participating newspapers competed for awards in 67 categories with 132 newspapers submitting a total of 2,481 entries which were judged by members of the Nebraska Press Association.

Former editor Julianne Mosher won third place in the Coverage of Crime/Police/Courts category. “Good reporting of a difficult story,” said the judge.

Sports writer Steven Zaitz won second place in the Sports Writer of the Year category. “Zaitz’s game coverage is very detailed with multiple sources used for quotes adding perspective. He gets his reader intimately familiar with the teams and athletes he’s writing about,” commented the judge.

Sports photographer Bill Landon also did well, winning third place in the Sports Action Photo category, with the judge commenting, “Great action shots of the game, as well as a reaction shot of the win. The combination shows just what this win meant for the team.”

TBR News Media won second place in the Innovate Ad Project category for its coloring book featuring Long Island artists. “Great marriage of talent and time for the dark times of COVID-19. It can be hard to support the arts, and this is a great way to do it. I think this one will get better and better,” said the judge.

The paper placed second in the Best Advertising Campaign category for its Buttercup Dairy Store ads, an easy decision for the judge. “[This] was such a sweet set of ads. I loved that they decided to focus on a few items for their specials. You can tell exactly who the ad is for. And the anniversary ad with the old photos is what did it for me. That level of personalization included into an ad would make me want to shop there! I’d love to hear their stories. Awesome job!”

The paper also won third place in the Best Advertising Campaign category for its Jolie Powell Realty ads. “I’m amazed on the number of runs this ad had and that each time it was very different. I can tell that this took some time. The use of graphics is excellent. Great job!” said the judge.

Rounding out the awards, the paper received an honorable mention in the Classified Advertising category with the judge commenting, “Clean layout, easy finding the section you want.”

“We are, of course, thrilled to continue our winning ways in the annual New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest,” said TBR News Media Publisher Leah Dunaief. “As I like to say each year, blessings on all our clearly talented staff members, without whose Herculean efforts we could not prevail.”

Smithtown East Bulls blast Blue Waves

by Bill Landon - May 4, 2022

0 123

1 of 13

Riverhead rattled off three unanswered goals to tie the game five all to end the first half against the Bulls of Smithtown East in a home game April 30, but it was Smithtown East midfielder Ava Arceri’s stick that made the difference when the sophomore scored her eighth goal of the game to win the Division I matchup, 13-10.

Arceri had an assist to go along with it, with teammates Jenna Soto scoring her hat-trick with two assists, and Nina DeNicola scored twice with one assist in the victory. Grace McDonald had eight saves in net. The win lifts the Bulls to 7-3 with four games remaining in regular season play before the playoffs begin.

Tackan second graders get Earth Day lesson from high schoolers

by Press Release - May 3, 2022

0 197

1 of 4

Smithtown High School East Leadership students visited Tackan Elementary second graders to share a belated Earth Day lesson on April 25.

In each second grade classroom, a pair of high school students began their lesson with an overview about Earth Day and the importance of keeping the planet clean. Classes then read aloud from the book “I Am Earth” by Donald James McCarty and Rebecca McDonald.

The visit ended with second graders participating in a craft project. Students had paint applied to their hands and then left a handprint on a wooden pallet that had the planet painted on it.

Earth Day officially was recognized internationally on April 22, while students were enjoying spring break.

Mills Pond Elementary Schools holds Fun Run

by Press Release - May 3, 2022

0 242

1 of 4

Mills Pond Elementary School in St. James sprinted into the spring on April 11 with its Fun Run. After marching out by class holding banners, the third grade kicked off the festivities on the course, with other grades following throughout the school day. Photos courtesy of SCSD

Editorial: Write to your local paper… it’s common sense

by TBR Staff - May 2, 2022

0 94

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed.” — William Faulkner

The founding of this nation would have been impossible without letters to the press.

In 1776, Thomas Paine had captured the spirit of his times and wrote the most influential pamphlet of the American Revolution, “Common Sense.” Paine was not writing to the powers that be. Rather, he addressed his essay “to the inhabitants of America.”

The Revolution was fought and won because ordinary Americans — people like Paine — had ideas they believed were worth reading. They wrote down their grievances of British rule and shared them with their countrymen. Through these revolutionary writings, a common folk resurrected an ancient principle: unearthing democracy from the ashes of antiquity.

So what happened? Why have we lost touch with this uniquely American tradition?

In this Information Age, we find that access to information has become, paradoxically, severely limited. With the introduction of the internet, we were sold the hope that new technologies would educate the masses, that instant messaging and social media would create a wider forum for democratic participation. While this has happened, our era also is marked by censorship and misinformation.

Americans no longer trust their institutions. Everywhere we look, we find politicians who disregard our interests and tech executives who monitor and monetize our activity online. Globally, powerful interests invest billions every year to restrict access to information and keep the people in the dark. Our technologies have become the instruments of autocrats, used to subvert democracy rather than promote it.

To the readers of TBR News Media and the people throughout this community, do not put your faith in tech moguls to represent you fairly. Regular people are left not knowing what to believe and what are the facts. This is why letters to the editor in newspapers are so crucial.

Democracy depends on ordinary Americans speaking truth to power. We must remember the example of Paine and be unafraid to let our opinions be heard. We must present our own unique ideas to our fellow Americans, reopening the robust political exchanges of the past. The staff of TBR News Media welcomes letters. Write to us because our democracy requires it.

Prev 1...129130131...433 Next

Page 130 of 433