The-Leader_2008-07-24

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An open letter from the Baldwin Chamber
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FREEPORT MB'iGtllM LISPARV ick Road & Ocean Avenue N.Y. t1l20
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REASONING TOGETHER after discussing several questions, facilitators present­ed their group's answers to all participants. , v
Seeking answers on security
by Ira Schildkraut
At a community forum held on July 17 at Freeport High School, concerned Freeporters came together to discuss issues arising from violent incidents involving high school students on June 13 and 16.
Residents, parents, community leaders, . students, graduates, and school" district teachers, aides, administrators and board members met to accomplish three goals set for the evening: identify concerns about security and safety in the schools and com­munity, suggest ideas for addressing those concerns, and define the role individuals can play to implement those ideas.
Prior to the meeting, Superintendent of Schools Eric Eversley expressed the hope that everyone in attendance would have . the opportunity to participate in a con­structive conversation, which would not only identify problems but also "generate ideas to resolve an issue that is bigger than • just the schools.".
Dr. Eversley was pleased with the num­ber of people who came forward to work to strengthen the community and hoped that they would "use events that were not so good as a catalyst for good." In his opening remarks to the forum participants, he characterized the session as a "con­structive vvay to move forward."
Some 175 participants were divided into groups of about nine to work on the three goals. A facilitator trained, by Nassau BOCES led each group and
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recorded the comments. Translators were present to assist those whose primary lan­guage was not English. Representative of Freeport's population, the table groups were diverse in gender, age, and ethnicity. Concerns focused on both , school and community issues.
The major school concern was security at the high school. Questions were raised about the hiring, role, responsibility, activ­ities and supervision of the school's secu­rity staff.
Other topics raised at several of the cafeteria tables were racial tension, enforcement of the high school's code of conduct, the need to establish a safe school environment in which learning can take place, the closeness of dismissal times at Dodd Middle School and Freeport High School, and parental'responsibility.
Community concerns raised at the tables included criminal activity in the vil­lage, gang activity, inadequate home-school-community communication, non­resident students, an absence of pride, in Freeport, a lack of student-centered activ­ities in the village, and an inadequate police presence in the vicinity of the high school.
Addressing the issue of the high school security staff, there were sugges­tions that Freeport residents should be hired because they have better knowl­edge of the students and dynamics of the village, that residents .screen the
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has sched­uled a public meeting to discuss the com­pleted remediation of the former contam­ination at the location of the new Roosevelt Middle School.
The Final Engineering Report, Parts A and B, that provides details on the inves­tigation and remediation of the site, will be discussed.
The meeting will be held on Thursday, August 7, at 7 p.m. at the new Roosevelt Middle School Auditorium, 335 Clinton Avenue (1.1 miles west of Nassau Road, 0.2 miles soiith of the Southern State Parkway). '
A fact sheet and responses to public comments received atthe December 2007 public meeting are available electronically in Spanish and English on DEC'S Public Web Site at Environmental Remediation. Project Information for Region 1 under Chemical and Pollution Control,
Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields.
Copies are also available at the Roosevelt School District Central Administration, 240 Denton Place (345-7200) and the Roosevelt Public Library, 27 West.Fulton Avenue (378-0222).
The site is at 335 East Clinton Avenue in Roosevelt. The new Roosevelt Middle School is on a 10.74-acre parcel (lots 35 and 327) of land, that was formerly used by the Former Nassau County Mosquito Control Unit (FNCMCU) from around 1953 until 2005.
The county used the biiildings for vehi­cle maintenance, refueling, and mixing pesticides. , These prior usess resulted in the contamination of the site soils by. chlorinated pesticides consisting mostly of DDT and its associated breakdown products, DDD and DDE.
As DDT was mixed with fuel oil dur­ing use, the site was also contaminated continued on page 5
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A DIAGRAM
of the site.
page 16
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