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Edward Law

Mount Sinai High School. File photo by Barbara Donlon

As Mount Sinai school district outlines the first part of its budget for the 2018-19 school year, administrators hope to roll out a capital project bond to tackle what board of educations members say are immediate repairs needed across its three buildings.

The proposed $59.6 million budget aims to maintain current programs and stay within the 2 percent tax cap, and includes a transfer of $4.2 million from the district’s unallocated fund balance to pay for emergency repair projects. The transfer — $3.6 million needed for fixes that cannot wait, and extras currently being reviewed to bring the total to $4.2 — will need to be approved by the public.

Mount Sinai school district Superintendent Gordon Brosdal speaks to residents about the proposed budget plans. Photo by Kevin Redding

A bond referendum advisory committee made up of board of education and community members was formed in spring 2017 to prioritize the district’s requested projects list and make recommendations to the board of education based on an architect’s evaluation of the elementary, middle and high school buildings, which began more than three years ago.

Major proposed projects include a partial repair to the high school’s roof, multiple renovations to the building’s auditorium and replacement of its turf. The field hasn’t been improved upon in 15 years, well beyond the average lifespan of turf fields, and the bleachers are currently not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

School board and bond committee member Edward Law said while the district has several dozen projects to tackle — “over $50 million worth of requests” — the group will whittle the priorities down to what it think the community can support at this time.

“The committee is about the district’s facility needs and not just a wish list of everything we might want,” Law said, stressing the repairs in the proposed bond will not go forward without the public’s approval during a referendum vote in May. “At the end of the day, it’s not up to the advisory committee or the board of education. It’s up to the community because it’s theirs and our collective tax dollars we’re talking about.”

Superintendent Gordon Brosdal said using the unallocated fund balance for the repairs will help satisfy directives made by the state’s comptroller during an audit to bring down the balance’s amounts to 4 percent of the annual operating budget. The current fund balance is estimated to $9.9 million, or 16.7 percent of the annual budget.

“Since we have the money, let’s do it and make it happen,” Brosdal said.

District officials said updates on the bond referendum will be presented to the public over the coming months. The next board of education meeting will be held Feb. 28 in the middle school auditorium at 8 p.m.

The current proposed site plan for millennial housing in Mount Sinai features 140 rental units, commercial stores and other amenities. Image from Basser Kaufman

A long-vacant property next to King Kullen in Mount Sinai could be a go-to living destination for young professionals and college graduates in the near future.

According to a real estate investors group’s preliminary proposal made during the recent Mount Sinai Civic Association meeting, they want to give millennials a suburban place to stay and a sense of community.

“A lot of our young people leave Long Island because they can’t afford to stay here,” said Michael Russo, an architect working with the Nassau-based group Basser-Kaufman, to residents at the Heritage Center June 5. “Mount Sinai is a desirable place to live [and] we’ve put a lot of thought into making it work for millennials.”

Architect Michael Russo talks to residents about building millennial housing in Mount Sinai. Photo by Kevin Redding

An expansive, 140-rental unit community is envisioned in the early stages of the concept, gearing toward those in their mid to late 20s, to occupy the rear portion on the nearly 35 acres of unused land along Nesconset Highway.

The proposed site would include potential retail developments such as Trader Joe’s, other commercial buildings, an open green space for public use, a community center with fitness and yoga rooms for residents and several amenities to attract a younger demographic, such as bicycle racks, dog-walk areas and electric car-charging stations. Valet trash services would also be available to eliminate large, noisy trucks.

Rental prices for one-bedroom and two-bedroom units would range between $1,900 and $2,200 a month, according to the group’s legal representative — priced lower than many competitive apartments in the area, such as the New Village apartments in Patchogue, to make it manageable for young people to live in the region.

“Having this for younger people in your district is an advantage,” said Steven Losquadro, a lawyer speaking on behalf of Basser-Kaufman. “It’s a bridge to home ownership, which is ideally what you would want. You don’t want them going out of state, you want to have them here where they grew up.”

The executive board of the civic association, including President Ann Becker and Vice President Brad Arrington, had met previously with the developers to discuss the draft proposal and ensure its concept fit the vision of the community.

“Without risking discrimination, how will you restrict it to millennials?” asked Mount Sinai resident and board of education member Edward Law.

Local residents gathered at the Heritage Center at Heritage Park to listen to a proposal for millenial housing in Mount Sinai. Photo by Kevin Redding

While the speakers said they couldn’t legally limit occupancy to just young people, their intention is to specifically market it to that age group through advertising locations and methods.

“What’s the projected time line?” was another question that was asked.

Russo said the construction would take 18 months to two years, but added it could take years to get the project approved.

Mount Sinai resident Peter Pranzo voiced his concern about the already increasing number of students in the district, he said, as a result of young parents in the housing development. He said he’s afraid of the financial pressure it could put on schools to pay additional costs for more new students.

“I’m against it,” he said of the proposal. “There’s no way we can sustain 60, 70 or 100 more children in our area.”

Arrington argued the opposite.

“Class sizes are shrinking quite a bit,” he said. “A lot of our enrollment is actually down in younger grades. These aren’t going to be terribly large apartments, so by the time that child enrolls in school it’s pretty likely the parents are going to move out and buy a house.”

Losquadro agreed, insisting the development would be geared toward young professionals and there wouldn’t be a substantial influx of children.

When a resident suggested the possibility of those behind the proposal abandoning it in favor of solely retail space, Becker spoke up.

Millennial housing proposed in Mount Sinai would replace a current wooded lot. Photo by Kevin Redding

“These gentlemen were very open with us and we were open with them,” Becker told the crowd at the end of the meeting. “We don’t want a lot of things — big box stores or gas stations — and they’re trying, and working with the town. They’re completely transparent. This is the first presentation to the community, no plans have been submitted and nothing has gone through any process of change. This is just step one. We’re very interested in hearing your response.”

For more than a decade, the town has worked alongside many developers with plans to build within the empty lot — everything from commercial buildings to retirement communities to community-oriented gathering spaces and clock towers — all of which fizzled out due to inflated visions or conflicting desires of residents.

In the last few months, Steven Kaufman and Marc Kemp of the investors group took control of the project, determined to give the community what they felt it wanted, and ask for input before anything is approved or built.

“Right now, I think I’m for it,” Mount Sinai resident Monica Stone said after the meeting. “I think we need to be open to ideas like this … We don’t want it to become an industrial business area, and it sounds to me like what the developers are proposing is a good balance.”

Mount Sinai parents have been asking to move fifth-graders from the middle school back to the elementary school. File photo by Erika Karp

The Mount Sinai community sent a clear message May 17 — they’re happy with the trajectory of the district. Three incumbents were re-elected to serve on the board of education and the district’s budget passed with 80 percent support.

Although turnout wasn’t quite what the district expected, the voters who did head to the polls overwhelmingly approved the $59,272,525 budget for the 2017-18 school year, with 1,007 for and 251 against.

“I’m very happy that it passed,” Mount Sinai Superintendent Gordon Brosdal said. “We have great programs here. We can maintain those programs. We made the AP Honor Roll two years in a row, almost every team right now is in the playoffs, our music program is better than ever, so to be able to keep those programs is great, but we’re not resting on that. Now we can get to work on bolstering our elementary reading program, we have a new principal coming in who has high expectations. There are programs we want to put in place that a lot of our kids need in the elementary school.”

He commented on the 200 person drop in voter turnout.

“I’m not happy,” he said. “We have 9,000 eligible voters. I’d like to see 500 to another 1,000 approve it so we have everyone together.”

Incumbents Robert Sweeney (1,013), Edward Law (866) and Peter Van Middelem (860) were all re-elected. Challenger Michael McGuire, who ran last year, nearly doubled his 2016 results, with 597 votes.

“I am honored and humbled that the community decided to re-elect me … to try to do my best for the residents and students,” Law said. “I’m looking to bring back the same stability and fiscal discipline while expanding our programs … to bring students more opportunities.”

For Van Middelem, that’s what it’s all about.

“It’s all for the community,” he said. “First and foremost on all our minds is doing what’s best for the people here.”

Law addressed the challenges the district is facing.

“Whether it’s infrastructure and building repairs, our programs, our class sizes are getting smaller,” he said, noting a shrinking student population. “It’s now about how we maintain or keep on enhancing our programs given our fiscal financial constraints. And that’s what I hope to continue to work on.”

The district will maintain its K-12 programs, including the recently established full-day kindergarten, advanced placement offerings in the high school and its recently established Columbia Writing Program for  2017-18.

The spending plan for next school year includes funds for an academic intervention services teacher in reading, a second security guard, an additional nurse and three new courses — virtual enterprise, college accounting and culinary arts.

Sweeney said he is excited about the new offerings.

“It’s going to be huge,” he said. “Maybe we’ll have neighboring districts who will be interested in sending their students and maybe they have programs we would be interested in.”

He said he’s looking for ways to improve the district.

“We need to start looking at how we can innovate,” he said. “We can’t rely on the state to take care of us.”

He said with teachers and staff who are willing to take on the challenges, he’s proud to see how far the district has come.

“You go back in time, this was a feeder district,” he said. “We had two little schools and we weren’t a big deal. This little district, 2,100 students, leads in AP, in colleges we go to, championships in sports. This district has started to really show how to grow.”

Sweeney said the district is hiring a new elementary school principal with a Columbia Writing Program background, to enhance what already exists, and the Socratic method is used to help students talk through challenges in the high school, and he’s hoping to bring the same system to the middle school level.

“I feel very strongly about this community,” Sweeney said. “I’m very proud and honored to serve. It’s a great school district. It requires real work and smart decisions. The community needs to realize how important it is … this is our town. I live on the other side of the high school and we pick to live here. We didn’t think about this house versus that one, we picked to live here because of this school district. I dare say if you asked many of out community members, that’s what they did.”

Mount Sinai High School. File photo by Barbara Donlon

In Mount Sinai, four candidates — three incumbents and one newcomer — are vying for three at-large seats on the school board.

Robert Sweeney

President for five of his six overall years on the school board, Sweeney wants to stay on top of the district’s finances and continue to give the community a voice in how their children are educated.

The father of five and lawyer by trade has lived in Mount Sinai for 15 years and serves on the Eastern Suffolk BOCES advisory committee as well as the executive board of the Maritime Explorium children’s museum in Port Jefferson.

Sweeney said he’s running for a second term as a result of his deep commitment to the school district.

“Mount Sinai doesn’t really have a main street, so the community is the three school districts — that’s where my interest is,” Sweeney said. “I want to continue to be community-involved and have a say in where education is directed. I think the state education department in Albany is trying to take away a lot of the local control of school districts that were always meant to be community based.”

Sweeney said he ran for the board six years ago because he was concerned about taxes in the district. Admitting he was still concerned, Sweeney wants to continue to ease the burden on the taxpayers.

“From day one on the board, I’ve advocated for long-term financial planning,” he said. “While I was president, we never pierced the tax cap … I’ve had my own law practice for 30 years and in running a business, you pay attention to money coming in and going out. We have to understand what revenue we receive in the school district and work within our means.”

Edward Law

Law has served the board for the past six years, three of which he served as vice president. A former coach in the district’s intramural youth soccer program, he works as a management consultant who helps organizations transform themselves either by implementing computer systems to be more efficient or cutting costs — which, he said, lines up with what he’s brought to the board.

“My involvement over the past six years has brought a lot of transparency and fiscal discipline for the public,” Law said. “We’ve been able to keep our taxes and costs under control to the best of our ability … although the tax cap puts a lot of pressure on us, we’ve been able to expand in a very fiscally-prudent manner. We’ve added a lot of AP classes, implemented full-day kindergarten and the Columbia writing program. Our music and fine arts program has been growing and sports teams have been extremely successful.”

The father of three said, looking ahead, he and the board want to start vocational training programs, mostly revolving around hospital services and culinary arts, so students don’t have to travel to outside schools for college credit.

“I want to stay part of it,” he added about maintaining his seat. “I’d love to continue to be part of helping improve the district. We’ve been pretty darn effective over the past six years.”

Peter Van Middelem

A product of the Mount Sinai school district, Van Middelem, who serves as commissioner in the fire district and president of the youth lacrosse program, has lived in the community his entire life. He’s seeking a second term on the board because, he said, he “lives and breathes helping people.”

Van Middelem said he’s proud of the work the board’s done in the last three years — implementing full-day kindergarten, adding components to the music program without piercing the cap — and looks forward to making things even better for students in the district.

“Like anything else, you always want to leave something better than you first found it — we’ve identified different areas we need to improve and I want to continue with that,” he said. “You might see me at a school board meeting, might see me on the back of a fire truck, or at a fire district meeting … I’m just trying to make the community a better place.”

After graduating from Dowling College with an accounting degree in 1996, Van Middelem worked as an accountant for many years before becoming a New York City firefighter in 1999 — where he served for 12 years. He has experience auditing neighboring districts and values communication with others. He has three children, two currently in the district, and his mother and brothers still live in the area, too.

“Mount Sinai is home,” he said. “I love the water, love the people, and love helping to create an environment where kids can excel.”

Michael McGuire

The father of two moved to the community three years ago because of the school district’s reputation. The Port Jefferson native serves as an accountant in his family’s CPA firm, is a former Marine, and served as a police officer in New York City from 2001 to 2008. He recently completed his first year of classes at Touro Law Center in Central Islip.

McGuire decided to run for the board because he believes his professional experiences with auditing and examining financial statements for governments and nonprofits within the CPA firm will provide valuable, and what he sees as much-needed insight into solving the district’s financial problems.

“I’ve gone to the meetings and the district is projected to be broke in two years,” said McGuire, whose one-year-old child will become part of the district in three years. “We have a great district … but there’s a lot of wasteful spending. We need to stop blaming the governor or tax cap and everyone else and look internally on how to save money now to prevent cuts in the future.”

McGuire said it’s unacceptable that the board is presenting a budget with a $1.8 million deficit this year, and said there are plenty of ways to generate revenue.

“A lot of schools have BOCES programs they run at schools and other schools pay tuition to be part of it … the school cut BOCES a few years ago and I’d like to bring it back,” he said. “The school could also rent out fields to PAL or flag football leagues to increase revenue. I want to make sure the school can keep being amazing without worrying about having to cut things to keep it running.”