Serving New Hyde Park, North New Hyde Park, Herricks, Garden City Park, Manhasset Hills, North Hills
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Friday, december 26, 2014
vol. 63, no. 52
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NEW YEAR’S HAYES BIdS FAREWELL dINING GUIdE TO HERRICKS pAGEs 23-34 • dece mber ial secti on medi a spec a blan k slate
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26, 2014
NHp native freed from Cuba Schechter students celebrate the release of Alan Gross after exchanging letters one year ago BY B R YA N A H R E N S
PHOTO / BRYAN AHRENS
Students at Schechter School of Long Island’s Jericho campus sing in celebration of the release of Alan Gross from Cuban prison
When the Schechter School of Long Island heard on Wednesday about the release of Alan Gross, a Jewish businessman who has been detained in Cuba for the past five years, they said it was their first Chanukah gift of the year. The school held a celebration at its Jericho campus Thursday morning in celebration of Gross’ release from Cuba, after exchanging letters with him last year while he was detained in Cuba. “I couldn’t imagine a miracle would happen like what happened yesterday,” said Schechter head of school Cindy Dolgan, who oversees the school’s Williston Park and Jericho campuses. Cantor Marcey Wagner, principal of the Schechter K-5 lower school in Jericho, read a letter to a gymnasium full of students received Wednesday evening from Gross’ lawyer, Richard Shore in Washington D.C. “Your students should be very
proud of themselves and they have every reason to share in the joy of Alan’s release,” Shore said in the letter. “I hope that you know it has meant a lot.” Gross, who lived in New Hyde Park for the first 10 years of his life, was released on “humanitarian grounds” on Wednesday around the same time President Obama announced the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and the opening of an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than 50 years, according to published reports. Obama Administration officials, according to the New York Times, maintained that Gross was not part of a prisoner swap in which three imprisoned Cuban spies were exchanged for a Cuban who had worked as an agent for American intelligence for years and had been in prison for nearly 20 years - a distinction disputed by critics of Obama’s restoration of ties with Cuba. Gross later received a call from Continued on Page 42
Supers build new state ed. commish BY B I LL S A N A N TONIO
want the next state education commissioner to focus on the “nuts and bolts” of preparing North Shore school super- students for college and the intendents said this week they work force, rather than what
one called a “one-size-fits-all” approach that was instituted under former state Education Commissioner John B. King. “Someone says we want to have a brand new car that is really stylish and has these features and gets 55 miles-per-gallon, the next question is what do you do to make that happen?” said
John Bierwirth, Herricks’ superintendent of schools. “We as a state set some goals but we don’t have the steps in place to realize those goals.” Bierwirth was among the most critical school administrators on Long Island of King, who earlier this month accepted an advisory position within the U.S. Department of Education, for
his acquisition of a $700 million federal “Race to the Top” grant and subsequent implementation of the Common Core benchmark standards that educators have said focuses more on test scores than learning. “If you want to bring in a brand new math program, teachers need to know what the Continued on Page 41
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