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Child-care costs still hammering local families MOL934_VirtualOH_Po
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By TIMOTHY DENTON tdenton@liherald.com
Timothy Denton/Herald-Citizen
Early voting begins It took less than a half-hour for voters to cast their ballots at the polling station in Wantagh last Sunday. Story, more photos, Page 4.
Each year, as candidates do battle in election campaigns, the most common denominator is the near-constant discussion of taxes — too high, what they fund, how to cut them. Yet one of the heaviest burdens for families has nothing to do with taxes, and gets short shrift in the debates that have become a feature of the electoral process. It is the astronomical cost of child care. For a family of four in Seaford and Wantagh, the median household incomes are $127,500 and $145,200, respectively, according to datausa, a census-based database. Day care can average
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as much as $30,000 a year for two small children — generally slightly less for older children, according to a study published earlier this year by Nassau C o u n t y C o m p t ro l l e r Ja ck Schnirman and updated recently. “Many families begin saving for college as soon as their children are born,” Schnirman said as he hosted a virtual panel discussion last week. “But how many have saved for 18 years for child care?” A survey of day-care facilities in Seaford and Wantagh found no private facilities costing less than $200 a week per child, with the exception of parochial schools. Most were more expenCONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Local libraries looking for a ‘community feel’ By J.D. FREDA jfreda@liherald.com
In the seven months since the coronavirus pandemic spread across Long Island, residents have gained a new appreciation for what was once normal. For many in Wantagh and Seaford, “normal” meant visiting the local library, chatting with fellow patrons and librarians and making use of the many programs the neighborhood gathering place offered. After libraries were forced to close, their staffers scrambled to transition to virtual programming, teaching themselves on the fly, with the hope of restor-
ing at least a sliver of their members’ normal lives. “We had no idea what Zoom was,” said Kristen Jording, head of adult services and public relations at the Seaford Public Library. “It was a wakeup call. We had to ask ourselves, how are we still going to offer services to our patrons, to our neighbors? We had to learn these things overnight.” Jording noted that the learning curve was steep, but offering patrons library services even while the building remained closed was the motivation to continue. Once Jording, who works with the community’s seniors, was able to set up Zoom calls and
explain the process of joining them, seeing many of the regular library-goers’ faces was cathartic, she said. “After that, it got better. It’s nice to see their face on the screen, and you think, ‘Oh how I’ve missed you!’” Jording added exuberantly. “They’re so appreciative of everything.” As the pandemic continued, library employees brainstormed ways to bring back as many services as possible while adhering to social-distancing guidelines. The Wantagh Public Library reconfigured its building with tempered glass, floor signs and hand sanitizer stations. It became one of the first libraries
in the county to offer outdoor book pickups and drop-offs, according to Laura Dupkin Memisha, vice president of its board of trustees. Since then, Dupkin Memisha has laid out plans to offer as many safe in-person programs as possible. As the summer ended, the facility started hosting outdoor, socially distanced
events on its lawn for children, teens and adults. The library’s focus is unwavering, Dupkin Memisha said. “We’re trying to get back to some sense of nor malcy for our patrons and some sense of normalcy for our staff,” she said. “That’s what our taxpayers and patrons really deserve. We’re CONTINUED ON PAGE 10