Feature Stories

Five Essential Long Island Beaches

Being that Long Island is surrounded by water, it should come as no surprise that one of our greatest natural assets is our beaches. The ones on the South Shore in particular regularly pop up on “Best of’ lists alongside more exotic locales like Hawaii, California and Florida. The following are a quintet of seaside destinations that we’re fortunate enough to be within driving distance should the mood hit us.

When The Goose Poop Hits The Fan

If you thought the recent school budget and board elections were contentious, you haven’t been paying attention to the geese.

Or more precisely, what can be done about the myriad geese, their feces and more feces that blanket our green spaces and schoolyards.

For years, the area’s Canadian goose population has been growing, with the geese proving better at multiplication than a high school math club. Where once it was charming to see an occasional pair poking around the grass, now, when walking through the park, most of us don’t even bother watching where we step, and long ago gave up cursing the digestive system of the Branta Canadensis.

Schools, Inc.

With school taxes the hot-button issue of local politics, I’m surprised we haven’t heard more about “school reform.” That is, bring a bottom-line-focused, data-obsessed corporate management style to our local public schools. Make taxpayers the “customers,” student achievement the “product” and the district superintendent the CEO (that’s Chief Executive Officer, not Chief Education Officer). “Profit” comes in the form of cutting costs and boosting “production” (i.e., test scores).

But according to some area educators, we are approaching this scenario at an alarming rate.

Climbing For A Cause

While some kids raise money for good causes with bake sales and car washes, Andrew Jacono plans to climb Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro.

“I’d like to get sponsors, but it also would be great for people to pledge, say, a tenth of a cent for every foot of elevation I climb up the 19,341-foot mountain,” the Manhasset High School sophomore said of the adventure, slated for this coming July, hoping for nearly $20 from everyone who makes that pledge.