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The Manhasset Times, Friday, March 17, 2017
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Superintendent issues Emergency drug ‘17-’18 budget at tax cap can stop overdose Increases schools spending by $1.9M, 2.07%
County seeks to prevent heroin deaths
BY M A X Z A H N
BY M A X Z A H N
Manhasset schools Superintendent Charles Cardillo has issued a preliminary budget totaling $93,914,011 at the New York State tax levy cap of 2.02 percent that expands high school class offerings and provides Chromebooks for third, fourth and fifth graders, among other initiatives, the school district said in a statement emailed on Monday. “The goal of the superintendent’s preliminary budget is to maintain and enhance the ‘4 A’s’ — Academics, Arts, Athletics and Activities,” the statement added. Attempts to reach Cardillo about the preliminary budget were unavailing. The budget calls for an increase in spending from 2016-17 of $1,905,184, or 2.07 percent. It achieves a nine-year average tax levy increase of 1.81 percent, and a nine-year average budgeted expense increase of 1.75 percent, the statement said. The 2016-17 budget allowed for $92,008,827 in spending, though the Manhasset School Board announced last week an expected surplus of almost $2 million by the end of the fiscal year. The preliminary 2017-18 budget ensures the offering of all elementary sections within class size guidelines, and maintains current class sizes in secondary school core instructional programs, the statement said. According to the statement, the preliminary budget expands the district’s middle school Project Lead the Way-STEM Initiative to the high school and the elementary schools. The Project Lead the WaySTEM Initiative “requires students to adopt a design-thinking mindset through hands-on proj-
Rosemarie Sherry said she will never forget the morning, in 2015, when her son nearly died of a heroin overdose. “It haunts me to this day” Sherry said. “Every second I relive that morning.” After a shoulder surgery in 2011, her son grew addicted to painkillers and began using heroin, she said. Years and several rehab stays later, Sherry’s son was still using the drug in her home. That morning “I heard the bathroom door click shut and the hair stood up in the back of my neck,” she said. “I ran upstairs and knew something was up. On the other side of the door, that I kicked open, my son was on the floor dying.” Sherry saved her son’s life by administering a nasal emergency medication called Narcan, also known as naloxone, which blocks the effects of opioids and halts an overdose. Sherry spoke last Wednesday at the Manhasset Public Library, where Nassau County drug pre-
Manhasset schools Superintendent Charles Cardillo ects in science, technology, engineering, and math,” the statement said. “It fosters creative, collaborative problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, and perseverance.” The preliminary budget calls for the high school to add courses, including Anatomy and Physiology, Marine Biology, Science of Natural Disasters, Criminalistics and advances classes on animation and digital photography. The district statement said the preliminary budget calls for the puchasing 525 Chromebooks for the third, fourth, and fifth grades at Munsey Park and Shelter Rock. Meanwhile, current fifth will take their Chromebooks to sixth grade and current sixth graders will take their Chromebooks to seventh grade. The preliminary budget includes the implementation of
kidOYO, an online platform that supports students’ learning of computer programming and engineering, the district statement said. The preliminary budget also adds professional development to provide for training in curriculum initiatives like Project Lead the Way-STEM and kidOYO, among others. It includes funding for three additional clubs at the secondary school and continuing the current level of club opportunities at the elementary schools. The preliminary budget also provides additional assistant coaches where necessary to manage team size and continuing the current level of team offerings for the middle school, junior varsity and varsity, the statement said. The school board will hold Continued on Page 46
vention officials held a training on the administration of Narcan for approximately 50 attendees. “The majority of heroin overdoses are witnessed, thus there is an opportunity for an intervention,” said David Hymowitz, an educator with the county’s Office of Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services. The county has trained about 8,000 people in the administration of Narcan since it began the program, said Eden Laikin, the liaison to drug abuse prevention efforts for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. She said the county knows of 50 everyday people in Nassau who, like Sherry, have saved friends or family found overdosing. “Heroin and opioid addiction is an epidemic in Nassau and throughout the country,” said Richard Nicolello, a Nassau County legislator who represents parts of Manhasset, Roslyn, East Williston, Williston Park and New Hyde Park. “It’s a scourge.” Nicolello said Nassau County Continued on Page 47
Rosemarie Sherry, who in 2015 rescued her son from a heroin overdose by administering an emergency medication called Narcan. Nassau County held a Narcan training at the Manhasset Public Library last Wednesday.
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