__________________ SEAFORD _________________
CommUNITY UPDATE Infections as of July 8
2,089
Infections as of July 1 2,084
$1.00
HERALD
District preps for new school year
mulcahy’s regular musical guests
local band goes viral on TikTok
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Vol. 69 No. 29
JUlY 15 - 21, 2021
Seaford High principal is moving on By mAllorY WIlsoN mwilson@liherald.com
Kate Nalepinski/Herald
oUTgoINg sEAforD HIgH School Principal Scott Bersin spoke at the Seaford 9/11 Memorial Committee’s Patriot Awards at Crest Hollow Country Club last month.
Scott Bersin has said goodbye to the Seaford Union Free School District and will say hello to a new role in the Bellmore-Merrick School District. After 12 years at Seaford High School — with nine of them as principal — Bersin will take on the role of assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. Bersin has spent 25 years in education. Before he worked as the assistant principal at Sea-
ford, he was a teacher for nine years and assistant principal for three years at Great Neck North High School. As a teacher, he taught social studies classes and coached boys’ baseball and girls’ basketball. “I think I always enjoyed working with young people, and I always enjoyed teaching,” Bersin said. “I spent a lot of years as a camp counselor in Merrick at Coleman Country Day Camp.” Education wasn’t always his intended career, Bersin said. He studied economics as an undergraduate at Binghamton UniContinued on page 9
County opioid lawsuit: ‘the first signs of real accountability’ By mAllorY WIlsoN mwilson@liherald.com
Nassau County has established a revenue fund to help end opioid abuse, of ficials announced last week. The Special Revenue Fund will bring Nassau County “one step closer to ending the heroin and opioid abuse epidemic,” County Legislator Rose Marie Walker, who chairs the Legislature’s Health Committee, said in a press release. The funds will be directed toward educational programs to help addicts, Walker said. “We want to send a clear message to the residents of Nassau County
that we are committed to doing everything in our power to take on these drugs that have ruined our communities, broken up families, and continue to put our children in harm’s way,” she said. According to Daniel Schrafel, the communications director for the Legislature’s Democratic caucus, the county is set to receive approximately $15.3 million of a $230 million settlement with the state by pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor John & Johnson, which has been accused of helping to fuel the opioid crisis in New York. With the settlement, Johnson & Johnson avoided going to trial with
several other opioid manufacturers. In a statement on its website, Johnson & Johnson said that the settlement was not an admission of guilt, and that “the money given will provide New York, and all involved, funding to help address any and all opioid-related issues.” The company said it had discontinued making prescription pain medications in the U.S. Last month, a class-action lawsuit filed by Nassau and Suffolk counties and state Attorney General Letitia James convened in court in Central Islip for opening statements. The lawsuit accuses pharmaceutical giants
including Teva Pharmaceuticals, Amerisource Bergen, McKesson Corp, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Allegan Finance and Cardinal Health of feeding the opioid epidemic. James referred to it as “the nation’s most extensive lawsuit” to hold manufactures and distributors accountable. “While no amount of money will ever compensate for the
thousands who lost their lives or became addicted to opioids across our state or provide solace to the countless families torn apart by this crisis, these funds will be used to prevent any future devastation,” she said. Opioid deaths on Long Island increased by 77 percent from 2013 to 2017, from 358 to 617, Continued on page 14