Friday, December 14, 2018
Vol. 95, No.12
FOUNDED 1923
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GC Schools to keep current starting times
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Tree lighting PAGES 48-49 n Library security PAGE 6
A NEW SEASON
NYU Winthrop ambulances to serve GC starting January 7
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
During the Tuesday, December 11 Board of Education meeting, the subject of a possible later high school starting time was revisited by schools’ administration and for the first time under the leadership of new Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kusum Sinha. The decision for now remains “to hold off” on any change schools’ start time in Garden City. In June 2017, when Dr. Robert Feirsen was still in the superintendent role, the board of education had decided to forego any change to set back the high school starting time as it would be a multi-tiered decision impacting operating (and mostly transportation) costs for the district and the timing of other Garden City school buildings starts. The work of a (GCHS site-based) High School Starting Time Steering Committee and then a collective district Starting Time committee involving administrators, faculty, students and parents was presented during meetings in the 2016-2017 school year. Once Dr. Feirsen retired from the district that following summer and interim Superintendent Dr. Alan Groveman took over, any further deliberations on a later high school start time were deferred until a permanent replacement for Dr. Feirsen could begin. “The district-wide Committee looked into the benefits and viability of moving our high school start time to later. There were a number of parameters and the following school year (2017-2018) we had the search for a new superintendent.
At their December 6 meeting, the Village Board approved a transfer of funds and purchase of $20,189 for ambulance radio equipment as part of the new two-year village agreement with NYU Winthrop for ambulance service, two ambulances serving Garden City 24/7, approved at its September 20 meeting. Village Trustee Mark Hyer met with NYU-Winthrop officials in early December to iron out some logistical issues. Last Thursday he announced that the first day of service will be on January 7. Hyer spoke about the plan Garden City has for two staffed ambulances to cover the village. Garden City Police will still respond to such “aid cases” in the village but they will not be occupied for as long as before. The two ambulances have “Garden City” printed on their sides and made an initial presence serving the village at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. He also explained for the public that the operations of emergency response involves several steps, and agencies: “When someone calls for an ambulance the Garden City Police respond. The county will provide an ambulance or if they're not available we'll get a volunteer ambulance. When we get a volunteer ambulance service they have one EMT on board. What inevitably happens is that the EMT will stay in the back of the ambulance with the patient and the police that arrived at the scene will drive the ambulance to the hospital. That process usually takes one of our officers for a long period of time, and a second police car to bring them back to the village. For each case needing an ambulance we’d lose two police officers at that time. Having the NYU-Winthrop ambulance with an EMT and a paramedic will pretty much stop that from happening….. Our police will not drive the ambulance to the hospital any longer as their staff will do that, and their staff will stay with the patient in the back of the ambulance,” he said. The Village’s “News and Information” Update published in late September summarized the new situation the agreement allows for: “Currently, the Village has an agreement with Nassau County to provide ambulance service, with one ambulance stationed at the Garden City Water Works
See page 43
The GC Boys Varsity Basketball team opened its 2018-2019 season with eight players returning from last year’s Nassau County Championship team. See page 62.
See page 43
Farm and city Christmas Family Traditions PAGE 24 CPOA nominates Theresa Trouvé as next mayor PAGE 14