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Vol. 30 No. 8
FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2023
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Decades-old event revived Lions Club’s Super Bowl pancake breakfast makes big comeback By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
Sue Grieco/Herald photos
Celebrating Black History Month The Malverne school district held its annual Black History Month celebration Feb. 8 in the high school’s Performing Arts Center. The event featured a celebration of African-American resilience with student performances. Kaiden Ulysses, right, sang the national anthem, and Janae Wilson, left, recited ‘No Imperfections.’ April Francis-Taylor, director of diversity, equity and inclusivity for Eastern Suffolk BOCES, was the guest speaker.
The West Hempstead Lions Club’s Super Bowl pancake breakfast made a triumphant return on Sunday after the coronavirus forced the event’s cancellation and rescheduling in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The breakfast has been a tradition for the Lions Club for decades, but that changed in 2021 when the club could not host any Super Bowl events. In 2022, the club hosted a pancake breakfast later in the year, but it was not on Super Bowl Sunday. Nella Verderosa, president of the Lions Club, was ecstatic to mark
the breakfast’s return to its usual place on the calendar. “The energy this year was great, and it felt like everything was back to normal,” Verderosa said. “I am just so happy. Our tradition is back.” According to Verderosa, about 90 people showed up for the event last Sunday. “The breakfast in 2020 was probably the last in-person event that people went to, without realizing it,” Verderosa said. The club celebrated its 75th anniversary last April. According to Verderosa, the breakfast tradition is estimated to be about 60 to 70 years old in the Lions Continued on page 9
Malverne’s first budget plan reflects student priorities By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
Inflation has resulted in a roughly $4 million increase in the proposed Malverne School District budget for the 2023-24 school year, district officials said. The Board of Education met on Feb. 7, when it released its preliminary $68.6 million spending plan. With the cost of living rising, so did the projected school tax levy, by 1.85 percent, just under the state’s 2 percent tax cap. The projected levy — the revenue that districts can raise through property taxes — was
also influenced by other factors, district officials said. “When we put a budget together, it’s a lot of pieces that we have to put together,” Lorna Lewis, superintendent of Malverne schools, said. “We have to look at inflation and unfunded mandates, what our state aid is, maintaining our facilities, looking at contractual obligations, looking at the community’s effort to pay in difficult economic times, and finally, the Malverne education.” Unfunded mandates are another challenge that the district faces, school officials said. One of those mandates is a response to intervention pro-
gram to identify struggling students early on. Another unfunded mandate is academic intervention services, helping students to achieve the learning standards in English, language, arts, and mathematics in grades K-12, along with social studies and science in grades 4-12. Christopher Caputo, assistant superintendent for business, said inflation continues to impact the schools. “Everyone is experiencing inflation,” he said. “There is no difference with your school district in New York state, as everyone is experiencing a rise in health insurance costs, pension costs, as well as utility and ener-
gy costs.” T h e f u n d i n g g e n e r at e d through the tax levy and state aid covers 97 percent of the proposed budget. “We’re grateful for New York State for increasing the aid for the upcoming school year,” Caputo said. This year’s state aid is about $15 million, and next year it is expected to increase by roughly
$4 million, district officials said. Lewis explained some of the ways that this proposed budget will impact the district. “The proposed budget will help us maintain a vibrant program that ensures life-ready graduates,” she said. The proposed budget plan would “maintain staffing while Continued on page 5