_____________ ROCKVILLE CENTRE ____________
HERALD
SAVE WHE N YOU BUNDLE AUTO & HO ME INSUR ANCE
Miss long Island winners crowned
Page 3
Page 10
Vol. 35 No. 5
4.9
ALEX ANDERSON
516.544.2728 530 MERRICK RD
Across from Pantry Din. er
Aanderson8@allstate.com
JANUARY 25 - 31, 2024
$1.00
The Anderson Agenc
y
123738 123 738 1111 14 028
Kids compete with free throws
New survey weighs school district’s values ty, which ranked high for 54 percent. “It’s clear, if you look at excellence and responsibility, we Rockville Centre School Dis- have a culture of high achievetrict officials conducted a survey ment,” Gaven said. One of the school board’s in the fall, asking parents and teachers what they thought were major focuses this year is strateimportant values, outcomes and gic communication. “The board has expressed the student experiences. desire to explore The results were some new commubased on 936 nication system just responses, 77 perin terms of the way cent of them from infor mation gets parents with stusent out,” board dents in the district, P r e s i d e n t Ke l l y 15 percent from disBarry said, “espetrict employees, and cially if there is 5 percent from comimportant informamunity members tion that we want to with no school-age JANEt GRUNER get out to our comchildren. munity members “We did this sur- trustee, and our parents in vey in the hopes of Board of Education an expedient mangathering useful ner.” information to help Barry said that the district’s us plan the future,” Superintendent Matt Gaven said at the communication currently varies Board of Education meeting on depending on the user, and that some have to take the extra step Jan. 18. The district asked respon- of downloading an attachment, dents to rank the top five values which can interfere with the they want the district to instill in process. To better understand the most its students, and 100 percent of them agreed on the No. 1 value: effective means of interaction, the survey asked parents to list excellence. Responsibility also ranked their preferred method of comhigh with some 66 percent of munication, and the vast majorirespondents, followed by integriContinued on page 9
By DANIEl oFFNER
doffner@liherald.com
BAL, OCE, LB
Daniel Offner/Herald
SteM instructor amanda Fina helps eli Fox, a seventh-grade student at St. agnes Cathedral School, build a working fishing reel.
St. Agnes Cathedral School welcomes its new STEM Lab By DANIEl oFFNER doffner@liherald.com
Administrators at St. Agnes Cathedral School recently gave the Herald a sneak peek at its brand new STEM Lab and Science Center before its official unveiling in February. “It’s exciting,” Cecilia St. John, principal of the St. Agnes school, said. “The kids just love having the space.” Designs for the project were initially proposed in 2018, but as a result of the pandemic, the plans were put on pause until the latter half of 2021. BAL, OCE, LB
“We were totally shut down,” St. John recalled. “When we came back in September 2020, we were half remote and social distancing, so there was no construction going on during the 2020-21 school year.” The new lab is a state-of-the-art classroom that offers students an environment in which to learn and explore new skills in science, technology, engineering and math through hands-on lessons. STEM instructor Amanda Fina said that what she enjoys most about teaching at St. Agnes is the way students are encouraged to Continued on page 16
January 25, 2024
Great Homes the Ultimate Local Home showcase
I
think it’s invaluable that parents have this opportunity.