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Friday, September 21, 2018
Vol. 78, No. 38
30 Berry Hill
Road, Syosset
Visit Us At The Syosset Woodbur y
STREET FAIR September 23rd
Offering free home
market analysis &
Call for an ap complimentar y services pointmen MARA NAVA RETTA Broke t r / Owner
516-551-3347
School Board hears environmental issues at Syosset Park
MINDFULNESS AMBASSADORS
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
The Jericho Mindfulness Ambassadors share information and rocks at High School Back to School Night. The rocks contain motivational quotes as part of the Kindness Rocks Project.
Documentary features Jericho students BY GARY SIMEONE
It has been quite a whirlwind for Jericho High School Science Research Coordinator, Serena McCalla, and a group of students who were recently featured in a television documentary called Science Fair. The documentary was a 2018 Sundance Film Festival winner and also won the Festival Favorite Award, which is voted on by audiences. “This all happened last year
when I was contacted by movie producer, Christina Constantini and co-producer, Darren Foster, to do a feature on nine of our students who were invited to the Intel ISEF,” said McCalla. “I think they thought we were unique in that we had nine students from our district invited to the competition, which is pretty unusual.” She explained that ISEF stands for International Science & Engineering Fair, and that it is a com-
petition that invites only the top young scientific minds in the world. “I’ve been in the district for ten years and this is the first time we had nine of our students invited to participate in the fair.” McCalla just returned home last week from Los Angeles, where she was involved with the movie’s premiere and the press See page 14
At a special meeting of the Syosset Board of Education held August 28, the members of the board listened to concerns and questions over the 800-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the 93-acre mixed use residential and retail proposal for 150 Miller Place, Syosset Park, from two consulting firms: J.C. Broderick & Associates, Inc. of Saint James and Walden Environmental Engineering PLLC. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers explained the process as the week of the board meeting was the same week for comments to be accepted on the DEIS (with a deadline on Friday, August 31). “We (the school district) cannot approve the construction of the project or the zoning that it requires. As part of our exploration into the DEIS and Syosset Park proposal the district administration explored everything within our realm of expertise, from enrollment to our facilities and how district revenue is generated, etc. Obviously there’s many things outside of our expertise, particularly for a project of this size. The firms have evaluated potential contaminations and other environmental conditions that we ought to be aware of for the administration to best advise the school board, and for the board, if it chooses, to prepare the best possible comments to the Town of Oyster Bay on the DEIS that was proposed,” Dr. Rogers said. J.C, Broderick was the firm performing testing for environmental factors while Walden is the consulting environmental engineers. Among the many environmental issues consultants spoke of with the potential construction of Syosset Park is stormwater runoff, as they stated the massive development’s plans and layout noted in the DEIS will greatly reduce the ability of stormwater to infiltrate naturally into the ground. Joseph M. Heaney III, principal of Walden Environmental Engineering PLLC was joined by project manager Nora Brew at the school board’s August 28 meeting. Walden Environmental Engineering asked the following as part of its PowerPoint to the community on August 28: “How will the developer manage the volume of stormwaSee page 14
Jericho HS students send support PAGE 6 Town to collect for hurricane relief PAGE 3