School district ranked 11 in U.S. Five

from Nassau County in top 20

BY KARINA KOVAC

Five Nassau school districts are among the seven from New York that secured spots in the top 20 of Niche’s 2023 “districts with the best teachers in America” report.

Compiled by the community and school ranking website, the report evaluates various critical criteria such as academics, diversity, college preparedness and sports, assigning distinct letter grades to each of these facets.

The New York school districts that achieved an A+ rating in both the “teachers” and “academics” categories have been ranked within the nation’s top 20.

Syosset Central School District took the 7th position, followed by Great Neck Public Schools at 11th,

Roslyn Union Free School District at 12th, Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District in Woodmere at 13th, and East Williston Union Free School District in Old Westbury at 19th.

One notable aspect across these districts is the substantially higher teacher salaries, averaging at least $117,000. This far surpasses the national average of $56,397.

Moreover, these districts show a trend of maintaining lower studentto-teacher ratios compared to the national average of 17-to-1. The best district on the list in this category is the East Williston school district, where the ratio is 9-to-1.

Additionally, all seven of these districts have outperformed the state averages in terms of reading and math scores on standardized tests, according to the report.

BY KARINA KOVAC

After a two-year hiatus, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency has deliberated and unanimously voted at its July 27 meeting to grant tax breaks to Gesher Center LLC, which is proposing a 60-unit apartment building at 733-741 Middle Neck Road in Great Neck.

Village ofcials approved the architectural review of the structure in May 2021, despite then IDA Chairman Richard Kessel saying at the meeting that he had received dozens of letters from residents stating their opposition to the project.

Gesher Center LLC, owned by Yosef Shemtov, plans to redevelop the property into a four-story apartment building. Among the units, nine will be considered afordable house and available for rent below the market rate. The breakdown of the 60-units includes 56 two-bedroom spaces and four one-bedroom apartments. The project includes 93 underground parking spaces, a public art gallery on the frst foor, a library and storage space, according to the application.

Demolition of the existing buildings on the now vacant property has been completed and confrmed by IDA spokesperson Greg Gordon. The project is in the Apartment E/Middle Neck Road Multifamily Incentive Overlay District and Residence C zoning districts in the Village of Great Neck. Previously, fve buildings often described as dilapidated occupied the space that the plans encompasses.

The application for fnancial assistance said if fnancing is not received, “the applicant will not be able to proceed with the project and

Nassau County will continue to suffer from a shortage of multi-family housing.”

To achieve the vote, Gesher Center had to overcome hurdles from the Great Neck School District about lost revenue for the district and residents involving tax breaks and the development’s size. Finally, the IDA approved a sales tax exemption of $1,207,500 and a mortgage tax beneft of $198,750, according to records.

Additionally, the IDA agreed to a 23-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes arrangement with a tax freeze for the frst three years, followed by a 5% annual increase for the next 20 years.

Nassau IDA Chairman William Rockensies shared positive reactions to the project in the meeting and said the IDA is always looking for ways to expand the county’s capacity to provide more housing options.

Great Neck Public Schools ranked 11th in the top 20 of Niche’s 2023 “Districts with the best teachers in America” report.

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Deborah Flynn 516-307-1045 x218 dflynn@theisland360.com