Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald 03-25-2021

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_______ Lynbrook/east rockaway ______

CoMMuNiTy uPdATe infections as of March 23

5,351

infections as of March 16 5,247

$1.00

HERALD Also serving Bay Park

A successful mask fundraiser

PTA bricks pave path for seniors

owls hope to take flight

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Vol. 28 No. 13

MARCH 25 - 31, 2021

St. Raymond School to close in June could to keep the school open. On March 16, the diocese released a letter announcing the Anne Petraro’s mother paint- planned closures of St. Raymond ed the murals inside St. Ray- and St. Thomas the Apostle mond School in East Rockaway. School, in West Hempstead, citHer grandparents ran an annual ing financial issues and declincarnival there. She attended ing enrollment. The letter noted school there, as did her aunts that enrollment was decreasing and uncles, and her son, Joseph, before the coronavirus pandem7, is in second grade there. ic, but the health crisis exacerFor 42 years, the building has bated the problem. played an integral “We are deeply part in Petraro’s saddened by the life and provided closing of these the backdrop for two elementary many memories schools,” said Sean she still cherishes. Dolan, the diocese’s But the tradition director of commuwill soon end: The nications. “T he Diocese of RockDiocese of Rockville C e n t r e ANNe PeTRARo ville Centre thanks announced that the East Rockaway the dedicated and school will close in resident committed princiJune. pals and teachers . . “I’m devastat. who have taught ed,” Petraro said, noting that she in these schools.” graduated from eighth grade Students from both schools there in 1992. “It was my whole will be welcomed into any Cathochildhood. All my best friends lic elementary school in the diowere from St. Raymond. It’s such cese, but many parents said they a strong foundation.” were not prepared to have their She added that she was upset children switch schools. Accordbecause if members of the ing to the letter, school leaders school community knew how and the team at the State Departdire the situation was before the ment of Education will assist announcement of the closure, they would have done all they Continued on page 3

By Mike SMolliNS msmollins@liherald.com

Courtesy East Rockaway School District

little kids, big dreams East Rockaway elementary schools recently celebrated a weeklong career exploration event. Rhame Avenue students, from left, Robert Horn, Patrick Miller and Lennox Infante took part.

Lighting up the night for seniors

Fundraiser unites community, supports class of 2021 By JuliA SweRdiN lyneditor@liherald.com

The streets of Lynbrook glowed with candlelight and pride on March 11, as residents placed luminaria bags on their front porches to show their support for the Lynbrook High School class of 2021. The bags were sold through the Light the Sky fundraiser, organized by all of the district student councils, from elementa-

ry to high school. Shari Bowes, the Waverly Park Student Council adviser for the past 16 years, came up with the idea for the fundraiser, having recognized a need to bolster the PTA Council’s senior scholarship fund. The council typically raises scholarship money through the Homecoming football game, which was initially canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but was recently rescheduled for April 10. The

fundraiser is the first collaboration among all of the Lynbrook student councils. “I noticed that the community was in need of a unifying force,” Bowes said. “We also needed a way to support our seniors. It wouldn’t be fair for them to receive a smaller scholarship fund than previous classes.” Her first step was to contact LHS Student Government AssociContinued on page 3

y

ou just can’t do that to a community.


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