_______ Malverne/West HeMpstead ______
HERALD $1.00
Annual lakeview Day festivities
A celebration of Irish culture
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Vol. 28 No. 35
AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
Goal is a safe return to school Malverne, West Hempstead districts prepare for a new academic year By NAkEEM GRANT ngrant@liherald.com
Courtesy West Hempstead School District
SChool DISTRICTS IN Malverne and West Hempstead plan to resume in-person learning this fall. In February, West Hempstead Middle School Counselor Angela Sigmon led a self-esteem program with, from left, students Jade Brown, MiElla Nesbitt, Hadassah Batista and Yeris Alvarado.
After a year of virtual learning combined with periods of inperson instruction, school district leaders in Malverne and West Hempstead are eager to see all of their students return to their buildings when the academic year begins next month. The West Hempstead School District is preparing to welcome students back on Sept. 1. District officials agreed that based on what they learned over the past year, students benefit most from in-person interaction with edu-
cators and classmates. “Their safe return has been our top priority,” district Superintendent Daniel Rehman said. There will be no hybrid or fully remote option implemented at this point, Redman added. Masks will be mandatory indoors for all students, staff, teachers and visitors, regardless of vaccination status. All occupants of school buses will be required to wear masks as well. Whenever possible, students, faculty and staff will maintain three feet of space between one another, and those in music and Continued on page 12
Rotary leads effort to replace Rescuing Families’ tools By RoBERT TRAVERSo rtraverso@liherald.com
Gina and Vinny Centauro, cofounders of the Franklin Squarebased charity Rescuing Families, which rebuilds houses for families in need, aren’t used to being on the receiving end of help. But on Aug. 5, the Central Nassau County Rotary Club, which is based in West Hempstead, delivered three boxes of tools donated by community members to Rescuing Families. On the night of June 10, $25,000 worth of the charity’s power tools were stolen from a Hempstead home Rescuing Families was renovating. “It was a
generation of tools,” Vinny Centauro previously told the Herald (“Rescuing Families holds charity yard sale amid devastating robbery in Hempstead,” June 17). “We’re contractors for 15 years . . . grandparents, dad’s tools; everything was totally wiped out. We lost everything.” “We’re not used to being rescued,” Centauro said of the donation facilitated by the Rotarians. “The Rotary Club has always supported our cause.” Rescuing Families, he said, was grateful for the donation. The club placed a collection box for tool donations at the West Hempstead Public Library last month. “The community
T
he Rotary club has always supported our cause.
VINNy CENTAURo Co-founder, Rescuing Families
always responds to people’s needs,” Rotary Co-President Bill Youngfert said. “They are sympathetic and supportive . . .” “We thought it would be great to assist them in a time of need,” Youngfert added of Rescuing Families. He said he thought of the connection between the club
and the charity as a “partnership,” and that Rotary’s goal is to boost local organizations like Rescuing Families, whose events it has supported in the past. Gina Centauro previously told the Herald that people have been especially supportive since the robbery. “The people in the community are very generous,” she said, “but they’re even step-
ping up more than they previously have because of the hardship, and hearing that it affected us.” Earlier this month, Rescuing Families completed and presented the latest house it renovated to the Helfenbein family of Hempstead (“Franklin Squarebased nonprofit presents HempContinued on page 12