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Friday, September 23, 2016
Vol. 76, No. 37
NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALISTS
Photo courtesy of the Syosset School District
Back row, from left, Syosset High School Assistant Principal Christopher Ruffini, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers and Principal Dr. Giovanni Durante congratulate the school’s National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.
Fourteen seniors from Syosset High School have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. Sarina Awatramani, Michelle Gery, Jared Goff, Andrea He, Philip Jang, Eugene Kim, Natalie Lo,
Jessica Page, Janvi Pamnani, Ben Rhee, Yash Samantaray, Sabrina Sussman, Jonah Wu and Michael Ye are among the 16,000 high school students nationwide awarded this distinction by the National Merit Scholar-
ship Corporation. Syosset’s 14 semifinalists qualified by scoring among the highest in the state on the Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in 2015, See page 22
Syosset BOE ponders the lost art of script BY RIKKI N. MASSAND At the Syosset Board of Education’s meeting on Monday, September 19, Board member Rob Gershon cited several pieces appearing over the summer in The New York Times and commented on the teaching of cursive in the schools, which has not been left out entirely from curric-
ulum although it has been “significantly curtailed.” Gerson told the school administration his older child, a daughter who learned script and cursive before the implementation of Common Core standards this decade and his second child, his teenage son who cannot sign his name in script. Gershon asked several
of his son’s friends and they relayed the same: it wasn’t taught to them at school. He stated an educational value at the basic level, saying that studies indicate students are better at retaining subject and lesson information from handwritten notes than notes they’ve typed out. See page 22
Syosset Schools district addresses food allergies
During his report at the Syosset Board of Education meeting on Monday, September 19, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers commented on progress towards helping children in the 10 public schools who may have life-threatening, severe allergies. Last school year after parents came forth at school board meetings, the district created its own Food Allergy Committee which Rogers led. That committee had energetic meetings over the course of the year. I certainly learned a lot more about this issue than I did before. As a result of that the board directed us to really accomplish two goals: first was ensuring that we had as robust a response as possible in the event of an allergy-related
emergency. Second, we needed to try and reduce the potential for accidental exposure to an allergen,” Rogers said on Monday night. Similar to the Syosset Schools’ stationing of AED’s (automated external defibrillators) used to diagnose life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, the very first measure taken was for equipment. New for 2016-2017 Epi-Pen devices are located at every school building in small boxes hung on the walls, Rogers explained at Monday’s school board meeting. He told the audience about the device’s use for those who might experience anaphylaxis, an immediate and serious response to an allergen. This fall the district also began See page 19
Legislator Judy Jacobs passes away at 77 BY GARY SIMEONE One of Nassau County’s long time and most experienced Legislator’s, Judy Jacobs, passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 77. Jacobs died at Manhasset Hospital after falling down and hitting her head on Tuesday morning in her Woodbury home. She had reportedly suffered from a bone marrow disorder which she was diagnosed with in May and also suffered from anemia. Jacobs represented the 16th Legislative District which encompasses the north shore communities of Plainview, Old Bethpage, Jericho,
Syosset, Woodbury, Hicksville, Old Westbury and Roslyn Heights. She was an eleven term County legislator and a twenty year veteran lawmaker who served seven years as the legislature’s first Democratic presiding officer. She served on various committees in her tenure including the Rules Committee and Health and Social Services, as well as Ranking on Planning, Development & Environment and Government Services & Operations. She was a member of many civic organizations including the Lions Club, the Rotary Club, the Sierra See page 22
Berry Hill PTA kindergarten play date PAGE 6 Marathoner runs for a good cause PAGE 3