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Vol. 73 No. 1
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Students learn responsibilities of child care engage with them, according to Valerie Gompers, the high school’s family and consumer Fo r s t u d e n t s e a g e r t o sciences teacher who runs the explore child development, program. “It’s a whole class discusWantagh High School offers a hands-on program teaching sion where everyone’s like, ‘Oh, them how to work directly with I’ve tried this,’ or ‘I’ve done kids. this,’ and we kind of all talk The school’s about it together, nursery pro g ram and they all help provides students each other out with with a course that that,” Gompers allows them to care said. for around 40 kids Classes also ranging in age from function as a free 4 months to 5 years nursery, where parold. While caring ents throughout the for these children, Wantagh and Seathe high school stuford communities dents learn how to can enroll their preteach young kids schoolers in the skills that will prep l ayg r o u p s. T h e pare them for eleprogram has been mentary school. around “for years,” Students in the according to Gompclass meet with the who added that VAlERiE GompERSS ers, kids in playgroups some students who on Tuesdays and Teacher, Wantagh sign up for the class Thursdays, while High School once attended prethe remaining school in the proschool days are reserved for gram. lectures, where they lear n The nursery prog ram is about child development and made up of three courses: child review their experiences work- development, adolescent develing with the children. They opment and college child develthen discuss areas in which opment. In child development, they struggle and come up with students learn about concepideas about how to better Continued on page 8
By CHARlES SHAW
cshaw@liherald.com
Courtesy Levittown Public Schools
Holiday toy drive is a rousing success Levittown’s General Douglas MacArthur High School and Jonas E. Salk Middle School ran a successful toy drive last month. MacArthur Principal Joseph Sheehan, far right, and Salk Principal John Zampaglione, second from left, delivered the toys to staff at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan.
Opposing the Regionalization Initiative Wantagh, Seaford districts voice concerns over education plan By CHARlES SHAW cshaw@liherald.com
A revision to the New York State Department of Education’s Regionalization Initiative now states that the planning process would be voluntary, not mandatory, but school districts across Long Island, including Wantagh and Seaford, are still concerned about the plan’s scope. The initiative, according to NYSED’s website, is “a collaborative regional planning approach for local districts to communicate what they need in order to address student needs and operational efficiencies.” It was introduced in September as an emergency rule to improve districts throughout New York, the website states,
with the purpose of “expanding opportunities and closing transcript gaps consistent with Board of Regents priorities.” Since the announcement of the initiative, districts and local officials across the state have pushed back, citing concerns over the plan’s lack of clarification and its potential effects on school districts’ autonomy. At a Nov. 21 news conference at the Nassau County Executive building in Mineola, several elected officials decried the impact the plan could have on schools across the state. State Sen. Steve Rhoads said that local and state elected officials should have a voice in how school tax dollars are spent, especially on Long Island, Continued on page 11
T
hey see the progression of what some kids are able to do compared to others and how they grow throughout those years.