Serving Roslyn, Roslyn Heights and Old Westbury
Blank Slate Media Newspapers,
$1
Friday, April 21, 2017
Vol. 5, No. 16
Friday, April 21, 2017
37
&2//(*( ('8&$7,21 guide to
COLLEGE AND HOME PRICES EDUCATION GUIDE JUMP 9%
KAIMAN HIRED BY SUFFOLK COUNTY
PAGES 37-44
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17 ion • april 21, 20 tions special sect ia / litmor publica a blank slate med
Ed board prez and VP seek re-election
ICE CREAM SEASON
Memory of 2004 financial scandal motivates district head Ben-Levy BY M A X Z A H N When a multimillion-dollar financial scandal rocked the Roslyn school district in 2004, Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy, then a parent of two local students, said she faced a choice. “Could I have packed up and moved? Sure,” she said. Instead of running away, BenLevy ran for a seat on the Roslyn Board of Education in 2005. “We needed to clean up the mess that was made,” she said. “We needed school board members that could help marshal the district into a new day.” Twelve years and four terms later, Ben-Levy is running for reelection as president of the Roslyn School District. Her candidacy, along with that of Vice President Clifford Saffron, is unopposed. Voting will take place on May 16 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Roslyn High School. “We have unfinished work and
I made a promise to the community and a pledge to myself that I would do all I could as a volunteer to put Roslyn in a healthy educational and physical posture,” BenLevy said. “I made that promise many years ago and I want to see it through.” Ben-Levy moved to Roslyn in 1998, and later enrolled her son and daughter in Roslyn public schools. In 2004, when Dr. Frank A. Tassone, then Roslyn’s school superintendent, was charged with stealing millions from the district, Ben-Levy said the schools descended into what felt like a bad dream. “It was a nightmare,” she said. Since then, the district has made strides in technology, infrastructure and curriculum offerings, Ben-Levy said. “When I first started it was copper coil power phones that didn’t ring very well,” Ben-Levy said. “You couldn’t communicate Continued on Page 74
PHOTO COURTESY OF TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Children play in the summer program at Trinity Episcopal Church Roslyn Childcare Center, which begins on June 26. See story on page 73.
Old Westbury budget keeps property taxes flat “Other villages complain a 1.14 percent tax limit is not The Old Westbury Board enough to fund them,” Trustee of Trustees on Monday unani- Leslie Fastenberg said, refermously adopted a $14.5 mil- ring to a state mandated cap on lion 2017-18 budget that keeps tax increases. “There’s a way to get it done.” property taxes flat.
BY M A X Z A H N
The budget is projected to yield an $82,412 surplus, which the village will put toward capital projects, Trustee Edward Novick said. The village will transfer Continued on Page 62
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