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East Meadow Herald 09-29-2022

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HERALD your HEALTH body / mind / fitness

September 29, 2022

Saving trees in communities

Your Health Wellness

Inside

Page 3 VOL. 22 NO. 40

E.M. has some smarty pants Page 5

SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 5, 2022

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With a focus on

Playing ball for Dino Komis Community comes together to raise money in his memory By MALLORY WILSON mwilson@liherald.com

Courtesy Rose Komis

DINO KOMIS, SECOND from left, died in June. Dino, his wife, Rose, far right, and their children, Teddy, 14, and Nina, 12, visited Disney World last November.

Dino Komis and the East Meadow baseball and softball complex were synonymous with one another. Komis, a longtime coach and board member of the Baseball and Softball Association, died in June. He was 49. Community members gathered at the baseball and softball complex last Friday and Saturday to play softball in his memory, and to raise money for

Komis’s family. “When Dino did something, he put his all into it,” Rose Komis said of her husband. “He put everything he had into it, especially his children.” Dino was part of the Baseball and Softball Association for years, since his two children, Teddy, 14, and Nina, just shy of 13, played there growing up. He was a board member of the East Meadow Little League, served as vice president of the mini league and managed sevContinued on page 4

Schools decide: snow days, or virtual learning? By MALLORY WILSON mwilson@liherald.com

A

fter New York City Public schools made the decision earlier this month to no longer have snow days — and instead decided to opt for virtual learning — parents, teachers and students on Long Island wondered whether they faced the same fate. Chancellor David Banks of the New York City Department of Education told anchors on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” on Sept. 6 that city schools no longer have snow days built into their calendars. “With the new technology that we have, it’s one of the good things that came out of Covid,” Banks said. “We want to make sure our kids are continuing to learn, so, sorry kids,

no more snow days, but it’s going to be good for you.” Dominick Palma, the superintendent of schools in the Merrick Union Free School District and president of the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents, said the decision to have emergency days is up to each school district. “Each district will consider if having snow days versus virtual days is in that district’s interest,” he said. In a statement for the Herald, Kenneth Card, superintendent of the East Meadow School District, wrote that the district would maintain its snow days. “Our Board has always maintained that we will use traditional snow days first,” Card wrote. “Once we have exhausted available snow

days, we will then pivot to remote to ensure we are able to meet the 180 day requirement.” Parents in East Meadow were quick to say that virtual days are not what they want for their children. Melissa Ann VanAlstine-Parris, an East Meadow mother of two, wrote to the Herald that as a college professor, with a husband who is a high school teacher, she’s glad that East Meadow — and the schools at which both of them work — are keeping snow days. “I hope no child ever has to do a school day remote again,” she wrote. “It is not good for them to stare at a screen all day (even if there are breaks) and they don’t learn the same.” VanAlstine-Parris added that sometimes on snow days, or emer-

gency days — as in cases of hurricanes — there could be extensive power outages throughout communities. “This becomes an equity issue if kids can’t get online because they don’t have power,” she wrote. “There is also an equity issue due to internet access. Homes with multiple children/adults needing to be online at the same time can cause issues, with internets slowing down. “A good snow storm is not that often here, so they are kind of special. Let’s keep them special and let the kids go out and play.” Other parents agreed, citing a lack of affordable and convenient child care, safety, and limited learning through virtual education, as Continued on page 2


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