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Jeff Carlson outlines budget figures. Photo by Andrea Moore Paldy

By Andrea Moore Paldy

The good news continues for the Three Village School District and its projected budget for the upcoming school year.

After whittling away programs because of financial constraints, the school district, for the first time in three years, is on the verge of bringing some back. District Superintendent for Business Services Jeff Carlson outlined this in his report.

Not only will Three Village be able to stay within the 2.93 percent cap on the tax levy increase without cuts, its administration is proposing staffing changes to restore health education in grades four through six, American Sign Language at Ward Melville High School and the Three Village Academy and full-time social workers at all elementary schools.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s official state aid projections, released Tuesday, slated a roughly 4.3 percent increase, which was roughly the same amount Carlson was budgeting for, he said, totalling more than  $1 million as the district anticipated.

Districts have yet to learn whether their aid will include a reduction in the Gap Elimination Act (GEA), a measure that deducts money from aid packages to fund the state’s budget. Carlson said that while Long Island districts pay 21 percent of the GEA, they receive just 12 percent of state aid. Three Village’s share of the GEA is $5.2 million for the current school year.

Three Village will also see some of its expenses drop next year. One example is a $3.6 million decrease in contributions to retirement systems. Since the district is a member of a self-insured consortium of school districts, it has been able to make changes that will reduce health insurance rates by 5 percent, saving more than $1 million, Carlson said.

The district can also count on tuition revenue from non-residents attending the district’s special education programs and Three Village Academy, which brought $1.2 million to the district this year.

With the finances improving, the administration plans to balance classes in all grades and to depend less on the district’s applied fund balance, decreasing the amount used to balance the budget from about $6.5 million to between $2 million and $2.5 million, Carlson said.

Declining enrollment at the elementary level is making it possible to both balance class sizes and restructure some positions. Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said the administration would take three full-time equivalent (FTE) classroom teachers and the two remaining teachers from the Pi enrichment program — which is ending this year — to create math and science enrichment specialists for each elementary school.

“We’ve all come to the conclusion that really enrichment should be a building-wide enrichment,” Pedisich said. “We also feel, with regard to math, that greater intervention needs to be addressed at the elementary level.”

Lower enrollment also means that the district does not have to replace retirements in special education and can increase staffing in health by .9 FTE, instead.  Health, which is now only given to sixth-graders, can again be offered to students in the fourth through sixth grades. Plans also are being made to boost the social worker position by .5 FTE.

Pedisich called having full-time social workers in every elementary school “the clinical piece” that makes possible “the identification and the preventive work” necessary to complement the security and safety upgrades the district has made.

To balance classes, decrease study halls and increase electives at the junior highs and high school, there will be small increases to staffing, Pedisich said. Retirements will pay for the additions.

Departments to benefit include technology, English, foreign language, guidance, health, math, science and social studies.

The ASL class, which had many advocates during the two years it was slated for cuts, will again be offered by the foreign language department.

Due to a new state mandate, the district must also add 1.2 FTEs for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers.

Additional clerical positions will be added and divided among junior high libraries, the Ward Melville High School office, human resources and business. Carlson said that maintenance and operations would gain three FTEs to lower overtime costs and outside contractors. There will also be additional security during the day and for evening activities, he said.

The district will restructure its current administration to create new roles without the need for additional staff, Pedisich said. Some of the positions expected to be restored include the coordinating chair for music, an assistant director for health and physical education, an assistant director for pupil personnel services, coordinating chair for junior high foreign language and district-wide ESL and an assistant director for instructional technology.

Pedisich said that the latter position is particularly important, because the schools will eventually transition to the computer-based Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing.
The board will adopt the budget on April 15. The budget vote is May 19 at the district’s elementary schools.

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Ward Melville senior shortstop Brianna Dade tosses the ball during practice Monday. Photo by Bill Landon

With just two seniors on the Ward Melville softball roster, first year head coach Joseph Burger will lean on the under classman to make a significant contribution, as the Patriots field two juniors, four freshman and three eighth graders, to help make some noise in League I this season.

Burger, who coached at McGann-Mercy last season, knows he’s got his work cut out for him as he looks to build a program with a very young squad in a preseason where all of his practices have been indoors.

“We haven’t been outside yet, so we’ve only been able to hit in the net — you don’t get the same kind of grounders that you get outside,” senior shortstop Brianna Dade said. “It’s not the same feel and it’s a lot harder; you’re in a closed area you’ve got the [overhead] lights so it’s totally different.”

Burger said that his team will fundraise in the off-season to travel to Disney for spring training, which will become part of the Patriots preseason preparation.

“We’ve made changes already,” Burger said. “We have new dugouts, new uniforms, new helmets; which is all part of our new direction [we’re headed in]. I coached a travel team for 10 years where I took my team to Disney several years and it’s a way to show the team how this is a year-round program. It adds value and it’s a good way to recruit players.”

Although Burger said softball isn’t as big at Ward Melville as other sports, his girls put in a lot of effort and are ready to win.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t be successful with softball,” Burger said of the sports lower popularity. “These girls work hard, they’re fast, they aim to please, they don’t take anything personal and they listen to direction and act on it.”

Ward Melville senior left fielder Mary Garr winds up to throw the ball across the gym during practice Monday. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior left fielder Mary Garr winds up to throw the ball across the gym during practice Monday. Photo by Bill Landon

Dade said that although there are a lot of younger girls on the team, she thinks its small stature and speed will be an advantage as the Patriots play a lot of small ball.

Kristina Maggiacomo, an eighth-grader, will be tested right from the season opener as a starting pitcher and infielder. Despite starting two eighth graders, senior left fielder Mary Garr was optimistic about her teams’ chances of success this season.

“Every team we’ll face this year will be a challenge, but our pitching is definitely better and we try our hardest,” Garr said. “You have to play at 100 percent with every pitch, with every catch and with every throw if you want to win.”

According to Burger, the team’s leaders are Garr, junior first baseman Natalie Rodgers and junior pitcher Lauren Vivenzio, who will also be counted on to anchor a young pitching staff.

Burger said that if his team plays strong defense, and doesn’t hurt itself with errors, the Patriots can expect to win every time they take the field. Rodgers agreed, adding that she sees every girl giving each practice 100 percent.

“I think we have a lot of potential,” she said, although concerned about the lack of outdoor practice. “The ball’s slower on the dirt, but in here [on the gym floor] it really rolls, so it’s faster and it’s hard on the outfielders. You really can’t practice catching fly balls because of the ceiling.”

The young squad will be tested in its home opener on Thursday, when the patriots host Commack at 4:15 p.m.

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Human remains were found along the Greenway Trail in Setauket. Photo by Phil Corso

Skeletal remains were spotted in Setauket on Sunday, prompting a police investigation, officials said.

Suffolk County police were seen investigating the human remains soon after they were found, around 4 p.m. on Sunday near at a stretch of the hiking and biking Greenway Trail off of Gnarled Hollow Road, police said. The cause of death was unknown, and it was still unclear whether the remains belonged to a male or female, cops said.

The medical examiner’s office is still determining the cause of death, police said.

The Greenway Trail runs 3.5 miles between Setauket and Port Jefferson Station. It starts at Limroy Lane on the western end and goes to the state department of transportation’s Park and Ride lot near Route 112.

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Jimmy Kickel looks up the field to make a play. File photo by Kevin Freiheit

With 17 seniors returning to this year’s Ward Melville boys’ lacrosse squad, the team said it is confident that it can once again achieve the state championship-like caliber it had in the 2012-13 season, when the Patriots went 21-0-1 and won the school’s first state title since 2000.

“We have a ton of senior leadership, which is important and what all of the great teams have,” senior midfielder Jake McCulloch said. “Our chemistry is something that really stands out.”

A significant amount of this season’s returning players were also on that state championship-winning team, which should be a boost even despite 13 seniors graduating at the end of last season. Despite the small hiccup last season, the Patriots still said they are ready, and hungry.

“I think we underachieved a little bit last season, quite honestly, but we also had a significant amount of injuries,” head coach Jay Negus said. “In terms of looking forward, I’m very optimistic with this group. We have a great group of senior leaders and the initiatives that this group has taken thus far, in terms of shoveling the field by themselves, the way they warm up, the way that they’re practicing; they’re all business.”

The Patriots finished last season with a 13-6 overall record and 10-4 mark in League I play, losing in the quarterfinals of the Suffolk County Class A playoffs to West Islip, 7-5.

The boys said they are using the disappointment as motivation this season, and Negus said he has taken notice.

Jake McCulloch maintains possession in a game last season. File photo by Desirée Keegan
Jake McCulloch maintains possession in a game last season. File photo by Desirée Keegan

“They look really good, they’re whipping the ball around, they’re focused and they’re really absorbing all the stuff we’re throwing at them this early on,” he said. “Right now we’re hitting the ground running and we’re very excited about the season.”

Senior attack Danny Bucaro said the team has been going over the offensive plays and positioning in practice, and working on the simple things like ground balls, endurance, catching, throwing and shooting. The team only has two weeks to prepare for the start of the season, because of the weather, which Bucaro said differs from years past, where the team normally had three weeks to practice.

“We have to work hard all the time and give 110 percent effort,” he said. “The only thing that will bring you success is working hard. The young guys have a lot of talent and it’s really nice that we click in all aspects both on and off the field.”

As a result of this, McCulloch said he thinks the offense is going to improve because of the depth, which leads to more options to score.

Negus said Bucaro and McCulloch would be leading the way on that front.

“They are the two focal points of the offense that also lead by experience and get the rest of the guys on board,” he said, also noting other strong senior returners like midfielders Jimmy Kickel, Mike Cusmano and John Burgdoerfer, who he’s hoping will also contribute on offense.

On the other side of the field, senior Tommy Reilly is returning from back surgery, according to the coach, and will join forces with senior Michael Cirrone, junior John Day and sophomore Andrew McKenna to solidify the defensive end.

John Burgdoerfer makes a pass. File photo by Desirée Keegan
John Burgdoerfer makes a pass. File photo by Desirée Keegan

“We’re really focusing on the conditioning aspect, especially early on, to get the guys ready so that they’re in shape and that the injuries don’t happen,” Negus said. “The athleticism and the speed that this group has from offense to defense is something that is really going to help us separate from the competition.”What will also distinguish the team is the stiff competition the boys will be up against. Negus said he is following his pattern from last season and scheduled nonleague games against top teams Chaminade, West Islip, Ridgefield and Yorktown.”It’ll allow it to be the sort of litmus test for us to see what our strengths and weaknesses are,” he said. “When you go against a powerhouse like Chaminade, those things stand out right from the start.”After a scrimmage against Miller Place, the team’s first test will come in the form of Chaminade, on March 21 on the Patriots’ home turf.

Negus also kept these scheduled games as a result of the league realignment, which removed games against some top teams like Suffolk County champion Smithtown East.

“We scheduled a really difficult nonleague schedule to prepare us for that playoff push against some of the teams we’re not going to see during the year,” Negus said.

McCulloch said he is excited for the challenges ahead and is looking forward to going against high caliber teams that will show the Patriots what they need to do in order to achieve their goal.

“Even if we do come out ahead, they expose our weaknesses, and it’s better to get them out against good teams like that, and then we can work on them in practice, but playing the best competition brings out the best in us,” he said. “I think just playing as a team and the friendships that we build this year will be important, but a state championship is obviously the biggest goal.”

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Residents make their way through a Culper Spy Ring tour in East Setauket. File photo

In 1954, at the age of 15, I read “The Man Who Never Was” by Ewen Montagu. I loved this 160-page book about a successful intelligence operation, called Operation Mincemeat, that used a dead body as a fictitious British Marine Officer to convince Hitler and the German generals that the invasion of southern Europe would take place in either Sardinia or Greece instead of in Sicily, where the actual amphibious landing took place in 1943.

This year, I just completed the book “Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured and Allied Victory.” Published in 2010 and written by Ben Macintyre, this 400-page book brought to life the declassified details that were still secret until very recently.

Along the way, Macintyre enumerates the many intelligence operations that were conducted during World War II. He details the German spies who were turned to work for the British and provide false information back to Germany. He also elaborates about the spies in Spain, Germany, Italy and France who worked for the Allies, as well as the spies and intelligence leaders who worked for the Axis.

As a youth, I loved the stories that came out of World War II including “Reach for the Sky” by Paul Brickhill, published in 1954, a true story about Douglas Bader, a fighter pilot who lost his legs but continued to fly with artificial legs. I also loved the “Hornblower” series, novels by C. S. Forester, the historical novels of France in the 17th and 19th centuries by Alexandre Dumas and the American novels of the period from the Revolutionary War through the War of 1812 by Kenneth Roberts, especially the novel “Rabble in Arms.”

One of the books that really got my attention was “The Spy” by James Fenimore Cooper, written in 1821. In the introduction, Cooper noted that the man in charge of a secret committee for Congress, later determined to be John Jay, employed a spy, a common man of no great wealth, “but cool, shrewd, and fearless by nature,” who penetrated the center of British military activity in America and kept a steady stream of intelligence flowing to General Washington. I always had an idealistic idea that this spy was a member of the Setauket-based Culper Spy Ring if not its leader. The novel, “The Spy,” however, transfers the location of activity to Westchester County, Cooper’s home territory and the no-man’s land between British and American lines. This was exactly where Dragoon Major Benjamin Tallmadge, who ran the operations of the Culper Spy Ring, operated for much of the war.

If you have not visited the exhibit SPIES! at the Three Village Historical Society, this might be a good time to see the exhibit and learn the true story of the Culper Spy Ring. The story will be dramatized, sometimes wildly, for the second year on the AMC cable network beginning on Monday, April 13, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The television series is called “Turn.”

Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian.

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By now, many people have heard of the Setauket Spy Ring and its leader, Benjamin Tallmadge that operated valuably during the Revolutionary War. For that and for putting Setauket “on the map,” so to speak, we can thank AMC’s “Turn,” the cable television program soon to begin Season 2. That these adventure stories have made our village famous I can vouch for personally. Many times, when I have been asked where I am from and have

answered, “Setauket,” I have then had to explain, even to Long Islanders, my hometown’s location as being between our better-known neighbors, Stony Brook and Port Jefferson. Now people will sometimes respond, “Oh, the Setauket spies.” They may still not have a geographic grasp, but at least they are impressed.

“Turn,” however, is just that, a series of adventure stories whose goal is to entertain and only accidentally teach. Unlike the popular series, “Downton Abbey” on PBS, where there is a full-time historian employed to assure accuracy of even the smallest details concerning the table settings, “Turn” makes up the narrative when the historic details aren’t convenient for the plot.

That is not to say that all characterizations and facts are not correct in the TV series. We learned of some that are and some that are not at a panel Sunday afternoon in the Emma Clark library in “famous” Setauket. The event, directed and moderated by reference librarian, Carolyn Emerson, featured five distinguished historians who answered questions from the moderator about the lives of citizens, soldiers and spies at the gathering titled, “Setauket During the Revolution.”

The five were town historian Barbara Russell; Three Village Historical Society’s Beverly Tyler; Suffolk Cooperative Library System’s Mark Rothenberg; Third Regiment, New York historian Bob Winowitch; and Elizabeth Kahn Kaplan, lecturer and curator of the “Spies” exhibit at the historical society. Each panelist spoke for a few minutes, then answered questions from the standing-room-only crowd. For fun and instruction, most of the panel came dressed in clothes reminiscent of the Revolutionary War era.

Tallmadge, founder and head of the network, was a major, active in the Revolutionary battles in the north, even as he organized and oversaw the spy ring they called Culper. Abraham Woodhull was the resident spy, later replaced by Robert Townsend, and Caleb Brewster served as a courier, ferrying messages across the Long Island Sound to Washington in Connecticut. Others were deeply involved, including Austin Roe and Anna Smith Strong. The spy work was stressful and dangerous and involved the use of “invisible ink,” messages written between the lines of legitimate bills of sale whose words could be read only with the application of a special reagent. Much of the intelligence garnered came from mingling with the British in New York City, and so those spies had to have apparent reason to travel back and forth.

One significant accomplishment of the spies was to alert Washington that the British were sailing with a superior force to greet the French, who had entered the war and were due to disembark in Newport, R.I. Washington was then able to plant a fake set of plans for the invasion of New York City where the British would discover it. Intent on keeping control of New York City, which they viewed as key to their success, the British fleet turned around in the Sound to rush back for the anticipated battle. As a result, the French landed without opposition.

Life on Long Island under eight years of British occupation was hard. Residents were routinely subjected to forays by British troops for food and valuables. The population at the time was agrarian, with hard farm labor the order of the day, and the British viewed Long Island as their breadbasket. No one was safe, and as a result many who started the war as Loyalists became Patriots — hence the title “Turn.”

To judge the difference a TV series makes, in 2013 there were up to three visitors a week to the spy exhibit at the historical society, sometimes none; in 2014, there were 30. If you watch the AMC series, as I will on DVD, be sure to check the facts on any number of relevant websites.

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Mackenzie Wardrope with baby Addy and husband Gregory. Photo from Mackenzie Wardrope

By Jenni Culkin

Her struggle has become one that is shared with the entire community.

Residents have been giving comfort, hope and encouragement to 1-year-old Adelaide “Addy” Marie Wardrope and her family as she battles a rare genetic disorder rarely seen by area doctors. It was recently discovered that Addy, the granddaughter of Three Village resident Bridget McCormick, has a mutated SCN8A genome and is one of only a handful to ever be diagnosed with such a condition.

“She gets horrible seizures where she will hold her breath for two minutes and turn purple,” said Mackenzie Wardrope, Addy’s mother, “It’s been the hardest experience of my life.”

Wardrope now lives in Maryland with baby Addy and her husband Gregory but grew up in the Three Village community and still checks in with her mother, McCormick, who works in the soup kitchen at St. James Roman Catholic Church.

According to the Frontiers in Genetics academic journal, “the mutation causes seizures, developmental delays, and other neurological complications.” But even through the struggle of conditions, Wardrope remains extremely optimistic.

“She’s an amazing fighter,” Wardrope said about her daughter, mentioning countless hospital visits where Addy would try to lift her head up even under sedation.

Wardrope said she credits much of her early support to a Facebook page dedicated to Addy, where other families going through similar situations as Addy find inspiration to be courageous and fight through the disease.

The family’s tie to the community has given them a strong support system, Wardrope said. Approximately 3,000 families attend the St. James Roman Catholic parish and many of them are involved with helping with or donating to Addy’s fund.

One of Addy’s supporters, Tony Casale of St. James Roman Catholic Church’s and the Kiwanis Club of the Three Village-Brookhaven Township, has been acting as Addy’s Long Island advocate. Casale works with McCormick at the church.

“A lot of people from the church have been very generous since they started the fund,” Casale said.

The fund, which is contributed to by the GoFundMe.com website, has raised $9,835 as of Wednesday.

“Hugs and kisses to the Wardrope family. You’re in my thoughts and prayers,” Pamela Oelerich posted on GoFundMe with her $50 donation.

In addition to Oelerich’s kind donation, 93 other people left money with the fund within four months. Some left sweet messages while others made their donations anonymously. No matter what the intention of the donor, each donation is just one more step toward peace of mind and ease for Addy’s parents in Maryland, her family said.

The Kiwanis Club and Ward Melville High School’s Key Club have also been a tremendous source of leadership and advocacy for Addy’s situation.

Kyra Durko, president of the Ward Melville Key Club and a Village Times Herald person of the year for 2014, has also put forth a huge effort toward helping Addy and her family through their times of trouble.  She created a website for the events for Addy and has reached out to the Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts in her area, providing the young people with the opportunity to help lead a charitable cause.

“This is what the Key Club is all about,” Durko said about the time she spent planning events for Addy.

The Kiwanis Club also plans on raising approximately $1,000 during their family game night fundraiser, Casale said.

“Thank God for the Key Club and the Kiwanis,” Casale said about the events that are being orchestrated in Addy’s honor. “Even if we don’t solve the problem, there’s an idea of giving a little bit of hope to this family.”

To contribute to Addy’s medical fund, visit www.gofundme.com/addysmedical. Or, attend the talent show in Addy’s honor at Ward Melville High School on Feb. 26 or the family game night on Feb. 28 at the Setauket Neighborhood House.

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