Farmingdale Board Of Ed Adopts Tax Levy

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Farmingdale Board Of Ed Adopts Tax Levy

Written by Rick Karas Friday, 26 October 2012 00:00

State approves district’s APPR plan

Farmingdale residents had a couple of questions for the Farmingdale Board of Education at this month’s regular meeting at Howitt Middle School on Oct. 10, concerning student assessment and how the district evaluates reading skills.

Also on the agenda, the board adopted the 2012-13 tax levy of $118,703,113, of which $114,539,602 is a school tax levy, with the rest going towards the library and youth council levies.

The Farmingdale School District’s board of education members discuss curriculum focus. Photos by Rick Karas Assistant Superintendent Paul Defendini says residents’ tax bills will vary, depending on their property class, such as residential or commercial. Residential owners will get a slight break, as their levy increase will be 1.96 percent, slightly under the average levy increase of two percent. Also factoring into tax bill amounts is Nassau County’s decision to settle tax grievances, where one resident settling could mean an increase in the tax bill of another.

The district’s Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) was discussed, with Superintendent John Lorentz saying the district’s evaluation plan has been approved by the state. All teachers will now be accountable, with the state measuring growth in students’ performance. This means even music, art, and physical education instructors will be part of the assessments.

One parent was concerned that much of the focus is on math and English, and not enough on social studies and science. The board said new standards for the latter subjects will be posted, emphasizing a narrow but deeper focus on subject matter. Fourth-graders are the only ones to receive a science assessment at this time. The district stresses they want to administer assessments without interrupting the education process.

Another parent wondered why the district requires students to log their reading, for example, a sixth-grader being required to read 100 pages at both home and school per week. The parent believes this process prevents students from becoming thoughtful readers, or as she put it, she wants a child “who thinks, not an accountant.”

The board says the logging is so teachers can monitor students, important especially in larger classes. The district is looking for students to be persistent in their reading, especially with longer passages like the ones they’ll see in assessments. The board stresses that the teacher makes the call in terms of what reading level a child is on, and quality, along with quantity, is important.

The issue of charter schools came up, as Trustee Tina Diamond recently attended a state school board resolution dinner. The School Board Association wants charter schools to fall in line with state rules and regulations, especially since they get public education funds from their respective districts. The general board said they have no interest in dealing with the charter schools.

Closer to home, there is a movement by the district’s safety committee to have one universal plan for emergencies at all schools, and Dottie Fisher was officially approved as acting assistant principal at Saltzman East. The next regular meeting of the Board of Ed will be Wednesday, Nov. 7 at Howitt Middle School at 8 p.m.

News

Rebuilding Together Long Island

Thursday, 16 May 2013 00:00

After Massapequa resident Sol Goldstein and several friends helped finish building a house for a family 20 years ago for Habitat for Humanity, they had a question: “What do we do now?” They were all retired, had enjoyed working together and accomplishing something for a family in need, and wanted to do more.

“I was looking for something [to do] hands-on,” said Joe Botkin, of Williston Park, a retired principal, who had worked with Goldstein in building the home.

Soon, Goldstein, a retired technician and technical manager for ABC television, learned of a national volunteer organization based in Washington, D.C., that offered free home repairs for low-income seniors, persons with physical handicaps, veterans, and families with small children.

After sending $12 for a handbook, Goldstein and his friends began “Rebuilding Together Long Island,” now one of the 189 affiliates of “Rebuilding Together” around the country.

“It exploded,” Botkin said, attracting both people who needed home repairs and volunteers eager to do the work — everything from fixing a faucet to installing wheelchair access ramps to undertaking major repairs on homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

The group, based in Massapequa, is working on opening an office in Farmingdale. They will celebrate their 21st anniversary at their annual dinner, May 22, at Stuart Thomas Manor, Farmingdale. For information, call 516-541-7322.

“There has been a greater demand for our services since Superstorm Sandy,” noted Bob Ellis, director of Rebuilding Together Long Island, their only paid staff member. The organization has made major repairs on seven houses devastated by the hurricane, including three in Massapequa.

“We average about 100 homes a year,” Goldstein, president of Rebuilding Together Long Island, said. “We have about 300 volunteers” working on houses around Long Island, especially in Western Suffolk and Nassau.

“The experience of helping people is fantastic,” said Botkin. “We’ve all had good lives and we’re happy to give back. Besides, it beats sitting inside the house and watching the boob tube.”

“Our volunteers are mostly retired and they get a lot of joy in the good they do and in working with each other,” Ellis said.

Rebuilding Together relies on financial donations as well as donations of materials, supplies, equipment, and time from contractors and craftsmen, and others.

“We wish we could do more,” Botkin said.

Organizations like The Long Island Board of Realtors and the Nassau County Bar Association work with Rebuilding Together, offering donations as well as recruiting volunteers to work alongside them.

Rebuilding Together receives referrals from social services agencies, churches and other houses of worship, and veterans’ organizations.

Their projects vary. The organization does light carpentry, plumbing and some electrical work, but for any new electrical work, they hire an electrician. “We also do sheet rock and spackling. We paint only what we repair.”

Their biggest projects have been hurricane repairs. “That might take us two weeks,” Goldstein said. “On one of those homes, we had to put in 50 sheets of sheet rock.”

Others have noted the organization’s accomplishments.

“We are engaged in a joint endeavor with them to help people who can’t afford home repairs,” said Elaine Leventhal, director of We Care, the charitable arm of the Nassau County Bar Association. “Our members, especially our Young Lawyers Committee, receive a lot of satisfaction working with them.”

Rebuilding Together also receives appreciation from those they have helped.

Cindy Johnson noted that Rebuilding Together built a ramp for her 93-year-old mother’s Massapequa Park home.

“It is a fantastic organization,” said Johnson.

Having the ramp has helped immensely for them to get their mother in and out of the house for medical treatment and even socially and recreationally.

“We took her outside for Mother’s Day and she said: ‘How wonderful it is to be in the sun,’” Johnson said.

“We also receive a lot of letters,” Goldstein said. “Many of them are heartwarming.”

“I’m very grateful for those wonderful people coming into my home and giving me the help that I needed very badly,” one Levittown woman wrote.

“Without your help, sometimes I think I would go under,” an Old Bethpage resident noted.

An 89-year-old Massapequa resident and her 92-year-old husband appreciated the work on their home, including a wheelchair ramp, which has helped her get safely in and out of their home for a doctor’s appointment, and also the installation of pull bars, which have helped him take showers without assistance.

“They did a magnificent job,” she wrote. “I cannot say enough to express my gratitude.”