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Vol. II No. LII | www.StandardLI.com | News@standardli.com | Ph.# 516-341-0445
MARCH 23-29, 2012
DIST. 15 SEEKS TO CUT 18 JOBS IN PRE-K, NEW GRADS INSTEAD
Cherry Baby Japanese Cherry Trees in full bloom Thursday in Cedarhurst’s Andrew Parise Park as local temperatures hovered in the 60s all week. The trees are blooming several weeks early this year.
By Amanda Mayo Standard Staff
In an effort to cut costs and deal with a sharp decrease in government funding, the Lawrence School District is proposing to replace their universal Pre-Kindergarten program with a University Pre-K program. The move would cut 18 teaching positions at the school and replace them with recent college graduates from a university the district will partner up with. As previously reported in The Standard, federal and state government aid for the next year of over $1 million has been cut from the district’s budget, while the district expects next school year’s expenses to increase by an estimated $2.05 million. The current school year’s budget for Lawrence is roughly $93.1 million. “We are maintaining a free, universal Pre-K,” Lawrence School District Superintendent Gary Schall said at a Town Hall-style meeting on Monday. The meeting took place at the Number Four
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Photo by Scott P. Moore
INWOOD SEVERED FROM FIVE TOWNS CONGRESS DISTRICT By Jonathan Walter
Standard Staff Reporter
A panel of three federal judges severed Inwood from Carolyn McCarthy’s Fourth Congressional District this week after the New York State Legislature could not come to an agreement on a map of their own. Following the Legislature’s inability to come to an agreement on a new
League of Women Voters Advocating Nonpartisan Legislative Redistricting By Jonathan Walter
Standard Staff Reporter
The League of Women Voters (LWV) Southwest Nassau Chapter presented a request for a non-partisan redistricting plan regarding Nassau County’s Legislative Districts to the Nassau County Legislature three weeks ago. LWV’s requests included holding public forums across the county regarding the progress of redistricting plans and
designing districts which are contiguous and fairly representative of reasonable community interests. “It’s not something that will be accomplished next week and then the league will be done with it,” LWV Southwest Nassau Chapter President Nancy Rosenthal said prior to the meeting. “This is a year long process.” The LWV’s request stems from last year’s redistricting plan which was developed by the Republicans of the Nassau County Leg-
islature, headed by majority leader Peter Schmitt. Using an interpretation of redistricting rules in the Nassau County Charter, Schmitt, along with County Attorney John Ciampoli, developed a redistricting map that would have split The Five Towns among three legislative districts instead of the one district, the seventh, that it fits in currently. Their interpretation said that re-
map, the matter was forced into the hands of the federal judges, who issued their own 2012 New York State Congressional Redistricting map on Tuesday. Inwood is being moved into the Fifth District in Queens and with areas of Valley Stream and Elmont. Meanwhile, the Fourth District gained all of Merrick, Wantagh, Long Beach, Lido Beach, and Island Park. The lines allow candidates for the district to pick up campaigning now that they know exactly where they hope to represent. The Fourth District, and The First district in Suffolk, remain the only two congressional districts in the state that are entirely in one county. Congressional redistricting in New York was required after the 2010 U.S. Census indicated that New York had lost over one million residents, requiring the state to give up two of its 29 congressional districts in the 2012 election. “It’s an honor and a privilege to represent my neighbors in Congress, especially as the
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Forecasters Expect Winter’s Warm Trend to Continue Through Spring By Scott P. Moore
Standard Staff Reporter
Bands of offshore fog continued to roll in over Atlantic Beach on Tuesday, causing the summer-time resort-like beach village to look more like a eerie ghost town. Photo by Scott P. Moore.
One of the warmest winters on record officially turned into spring on March 20th, but the great weather has continued throughout the week with temperatures approaching the 70’s. As some Five Towners have broken out the summer gear early, forecasts say to hold on as more seasonal temperatures may come to the area next week.
Temperatures this past winter soared well above normal with averages in Central Park at 40.5 degrees from December through February. The average was the second highest since the Winter of 2001-2002 when the average temperature was 41.6 degrees, keeping much of that year from seeing very little snowfall. Much was the same for this season as Central Park only reported 4.6 inches for the entire season, the ninth least in the 162-years re-
cord have been kept. In Islip, the 4.4 inches of snowfall were the fourth least ever. “Basically, we had a jet stream further north than usual and that’s where the storm track is,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Layer. “To the north is the colder air and south is the warmer air and we were stuck in that southern air flow. We had a very quiet win-
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Driving the Miss Daiseys and Everyone Else in The Five Towns By Jonathan Walter
Standard Staff Reporter
Naftalie Wischenka, the owner of Naf’s Boutique Car Service, will drive you to the ends of the earth and his colorful personality will accentuate rides to the airport or just the supermarket, or even driving your kids to summer camp in New Jersey and Westchester. For some customers, Wischenka has even given tours of California, Florida, and national parks. After growing up in Israel, Wischenka came to the U.S. in 1980 and traveled around the country for four months before returning to The Five Towns where he worked in taxi industry for 16 years before starting his own car service company two years ago. He said the local taxi companies just didn’t meet the needs of locals who need a car service, whether it’s their large families or large amount of luggage, Wischenka says his fleet of Suburbans are much better at handling the task. “I’m a boutique car service,” Wischenka said. “I take little kids to relatives. I’ve taken kids to bah mitzvahs and they want someone
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HAFTR Celebrates the Arts The Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway’s fourth grade chorus sings “Tradition” from the musical Fiddler on the Roof at the school’s “Evening Celebration of the Arts” for the fourth grade. In addition to singing beautiful songs such as “The Circle of Life” from The Lion King and “Toredador” from Carmen, the students displayed multiple works of creative art they made recently.
Photo by Scott P. Moore.
C l a s s i f i e d s B 1 0 • E d i t o r i a l s A 1 0 • F a s h i o n B 1 • G a s T r a c k e r A 6 • M o v i e s B 8 • S p o r t s A 8 • We a t h e r A 7