_______ Malverne/West HeMpstead ______
HERALD
Be S.M.A.R.T. for your kids.
(Save Money & Reduce Taxes)
Crossroads hosts farm-fresh dinner
Money available to fight opioids
Page 3
Page 7
Vol. 29 No. 39
SEPTEMBER 22 - 28, 2022
$1.00
THE LEADER IN PROP ERTY TAX REDUCT ION
Apply online at mptrg .com/heraldnote or call 516.715.1266
Maidenbaum Proper ty Tax Reduction Gro 483 Chestnut Street, up, LLC Cedarhurst, NY 11516 | Hablamos Españo l
1186648
Get Results. Sign Up Today.
New secondary school in W.H. The district’s former middle and high schools are now one program By KYlE CHIN kchin@liherald.com
Courtesy West Hempstead School District
INCoMINg SENIoR MICHaEl AbiAoun greeted phys. ed. teacher Rob Gewirtz with unbridled enthusiasm on the first day of classes at the new West Hempstead Secondary School on Sept. 1.
Students in the West Hempstead School District returned to classes on Sept. 1 to a major change, as the district combined the middle and high school students into what is now called the West Hempstead Secondary School. While West Hempstead Middle School, housing seventh and eighth-graders, and West Hempstead High, housing grades nine through 12, have long adjoined each other, they have operated separately, with
different principals. The two schools will now be unified under one administrative team, led by Principeal Joseph Pumo and three assistant principals. The purpose of the restructuring is to streamline students’ learning experience from pre-K to 12th grade, according to district administrators, who added that they hoped the changes would expose high school juniors and seniors to more advanced and specialized, college-level material earlier. “It’s been going on now Continued on page 6
Malverne school supply drives are a suprising smash hit By KYlE CHIN kchin@liherald.com
Community organizations running school-supply collection drives last month expressed concerns that their collection boxes would be relatively empty compared with past years, but they have found some creative ways to collect the items that students need and, as it turns out, gathered more than enough. “The community was, as usual, very generous,” Eliza Tom, president of the Malverne Kiwanis Club, said at Malverne’s monthly village board meeting on Sept. 7. “We were able to drop off supplies, this morning actu-
ally, for Davison, Downing, Herber and Malverne High School.” In addition to donating supplies to schools in the Malverne district, Kiwanis shared its bounty with the Valley Stream 13 School District, which serves parts of western Malverne. “Since we felt we had an abundance of supplies, we also dropped off a box of supplies to Dever,” Tom said, referring to James A. Dever Elementary School. “We thought that would be a good contribution to them. They were very happy and pleased.” Tom added that she hoped the collection drive would be a jumping-off point for further collabo-
ration between the Kiwanis Club and public schools in the future. “I got to meet some of the community members — the social workers, counselors and principals,” she said, “and we hope to strengthen our relationship with them.” Malverne’s American Legion Post 44 was especially concerned about its supply collection efforts as summer came to an end. While Kiwanis and the office of Assemblywoman Judy Griffin had already distributed collection boxes at the Malverne Public Library, at Village Hall and elsewhere, legion members said they feared there would be no good locations for ther boxes.
“Thank you to all the people who generously gave to the school supply effort,” Carol Hassett, of Post 44, said at the village board meeting. “We did have an overabundance of school supply boxes, so we did something different after talking with Carol Lagos from the library.” Rather than set up collection boxes, Hassett and the legion
opted to raise funds for school supplies in a new way. “So I thought about it, and we came up with a lemonade stand,” she said. Enlisting the help of her grandchildren, Hassett set up the stand on Aug. 8 at her son’s house on Franklin Avenue, and since it’s near a railroad crossContinued on page 4