________ Franklin square/elmont _______
HERALD $1.00
‘Mitten Trees’ aid residents in need
Sewanhaka drops game to Calhoun
Elmont student part of elite class
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Vol. 24 No. 4
JANUARY 20 - 26, 2022
Virus cases rise in schools More than 400 test positive since September in F.S. district By RoBERT TRAVERSo rtraverso@liherald.com
Courtesy Elmont Union Free School District
IN ElMoNT SChoolS alone, 386 cases of Covid-19 have been reported since the beginning of the school year. Despite the rise in cases among students amid the Omicron wave, many parents remain skeptical of vaccinating their children.
Coronavirus cases are rising among students, teachers and staff at Elmont and Franklin Square schools amid the surge of the Omicron variant. According to state data, the Sewanhaka Central High School District has reported 2,441 cases since September — 752 of them, or 30 percent, between Jan. 3 and 16. Additionally, 345 students, 69 teachers and 17 staff members have tested positive at schools in the Franklin Square school district
since Sept. 8. And Elmont schools have recorded positive cases for 279 students, 86 teachers and 21 staff members. “We will continue to work closely with the Nassau County Department of Health and take all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of o u r s ch o o l c o m m u n i t y, ” Elmont Union Free School District Superintendent Kenneth Rosner said in a statement released on the district’s website. “I am confident our approach to addressing the safety of students and staff Continued on page 9
Giuffré to focus on virus, taxes in 2022 By RoBERT TRAVERSo rtraverso@liherald.com
A few days after Thanksgiving, a man received a Covid-19 vaccination after waiting outside the Rite Aid in F ranklin Square’s Franklin Plaza and asking staff heading home for the night if there were any vaccinations left over from the day’s supply. Today, that man, John Giuffré, of Stewart Manor, the newly sworn-in Republican representative of Nassau County’s 8th Legislative District, is encouraging his constituents, including residents of Franklin Square and
Elmont, to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Although Giuffré, 57, said he hoped to focus on offering constituents “traditional” services, other le gislative goals he detailed, such as tackling the coronavirus pandemic through a push for higher levels of vaccination, are less traditional. Giuffré, who is replacing longtime 8th District legislator and fellow Republican Vincent Muscarella, who vacated the seat to become a District Court judge, listed taxes, infrastructure and public safety as his three major focuses. “I hope to be able to represent
the people of the 8th Legislative District with very traditional, basic things provided by the local elected government,” he said, citing plowing and repairing local roads and providing fair property value assessments as examples of more traditional policies. Joseph Cairo, chairman of the county Republican Party, called Giuffré “a latter-day Vinny Muscarella” in a previous Herald story, hinting that he sees him as a fitting successor to Muscarella, as someone who will focus on issues historically important to conservatives. “He’ll do a good job, we feel, in
representing the 8th District,” Cairo said. Giuffré, now the chair of the Legislature’s Senior Affairs Committee, stressed the need to reduce coronavirus death rates and slow the spread of the Omicron variant. He detailed some of the policies he plans to push for to counContinued on page 14
Courtesy Giuffré Law Offices
JohN GIUFFRÉ, A 57-year-old Stewart Manor Republican, was sworn in as the representative of the 8th Legislative District on Jan. 10.