______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD Holocaust survivor dies at 94
Dems scramble to rival D’Esposito
A tussle over a spending plan
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Vol. 33 No. 31
JUlY 28 - AUGUST 3, 2022
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Wheeler Ave. welcomes its new principal gramming, supporting onsite counselors, and monitoring the summer school budget. PeetsRuth Peets-Butcher is the Butcher was also responsible for next Wheeler Avenue Elementa- recruiting the summer recrery School principal, ation staff, as well as taking over for John hiring and assignFrias who, after a ment. three-year tenure, But these last will move on to a three years have new role with Eastalso been an unprecern Suffolk BOCES. edented time for Peets-Butcher Wheeler and schools will oversee the dayacross Long Island. to-day operations of Students and teachthe largest of the ers saw major disdistrict’s four eleruptions to their mentary schools learning and social with more than 500 lives caused by the students. It also coronavirus pantrails behind just demic. School safety one school when it and health protocols comes to minority dominated the conenrollment — Howc e r n s o f s ch o o l ell Road School — administrators at according to U.S. rUTH every level. N e w s & Wo r l d But now as the PEETS-BUTcHEr p a n d e m i c ’s g r i p Report. Peets-Butcher is Incoming principal, s e e m s t o w a n e, not a newcomer to Wheeler Ave. administrators like the district, spendPeets-Butcher are ing six years as a Elementary tasked with re-estabclassroom teacher, lishing some sort of and another three as the dis- normalcy, while making up for trict’s summer school principal. any lost learning during the panAt summer school, Peets-Butch- demic. er managed all of the summer “Wheeler already has a track academic and recreational proContinued on page 4
By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
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Courtesy Daniella Scala-Nathan
DANiEllA ScAlA-NATHAN, owNEr of Paw it Forward, first from left, assessed the main pantry drop-off box with volunteers Linda Guckian and Shari Ehrlich. Scala-Nathan is planning a fundraiser Aug. 20 to help build a new storage shed primarily for cat food.
Block party lends a helping paw to keep pet pantry going By lillY MUllANEY Intern
When calamity strikes —a sweeping natural disaster, or even a global pandemic — the most vulnerable populations like the elderly, children and the poor, often bear the brunt of the impact. But what about furrier denizens? You know, pets. “When a disaster happens, people don’t think of the pets,” said Daniella ScalaNathan. “They’re the forgot-
ten ones sometimes.” Scala-Nathan owns Paw it Forward in Valley Stream, the only privately owned pet pantry in Nassau County. In fact, pet owners often grapple with the difficult choice of leaving their pets in an emergency because of limited sheltering options, and the inability to keep their Fido fed in stressful, unstable situations. Scala-Nathan started the pet pantry five years ago with her now-late husband, Rob. The idea was to help pet own-
ers secure essential pet food during severe storms and hurricanes, the most predictive disasters on Long Island. But then families found themselves coping with a much different threat: the coronavirus pandemic. Dozens of financially pinched pet owners abruptly faced the difficult prospects of surrendering and abandoning their beloved pets. Demand for the pantry’s pet food skyrocketed, Continued on page 10
have learned how important it is for a principal to create the conditions under which teachers can teach, and students can learn.