Freeporters Celebrate the Official
Opening of the New Visions School
on Raynor Street
April 30th was a glorious day in
Freeport as the School District officially
dedicated the new building housing the
New Visions Museum School of
Exploration and Discovery. The beautiful
structure provides bright, cheerful class-rooms,
along with a library, a gymnasium,
a cafeteria, and plenty of space for the
first through fourth grade students.
District Superintendent Dr. Eric
Eversley thanked the community for its
support and commitment to ensuring the
best-education in the best setting for the
children. "Your vision and ability to
work together to see this wonderful
dream become a reality is an inspiration
to all our children to dedicate themselves
to learning and achieving," he said.
Village Mayor Bill Glacken praised
the enlightened design of the new build-ing
and the commitment of the commu-nity
leaders who championed the propos-al
and brought it to completion, "On
entering this building, my heart soared
with excitement when I saw the bright
open areas, the creative use of space and
recognized the commitment on the part
of the residents of Freeport to deliver a
positive environment for teaching our
•youngsters. -Many"geTiefafibriS'/3fter -us-will
remember learning and growing in
this setting, and their success.will be a
tribute to the foresight and'dedication of
the people of Freeport."
The dignitaries and children at the New Visions School officially cut the ribbon...several times.Jo dedicate the new building.
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The Freeport Fire Department
and Truck Company No. 1
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END
KIDS
2nd Annual
Carnival
Thursday, May 22-
Monday, May 26
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at the
Freeport Recreation Center
Merrick Road, Freeport
Help support
Dead Ends Kids racing!
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MAY, 2003 www.FreeportNY.com THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS
It was a Beautiful Evening
on the Freeport High School Stage
It was a performance equal to anything
seen on Broadway as the students of Freeport
High School joined veteran musical star Joan
Roberts in a medley of songs written by
Jazz Group, Orchestra, and Sinfonietta
accompanied them. The students were show-ered
with raves from the capacity audiences
who were impressed by the professional
Laura Mercado and the full cost end the first act with a rousing rendition of "Johnny One Note."
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and
Lorenz Hart in celebration of the 60th
Anniversary of Oklahoma!, the musical that
made Ms. Roberts famous.
The production, titled Ohr What
a Beautiful Evening!, and per-formed-
on March 29th and 30th
in the Freeport High School audi-torium,
featured the songs sung
by Ms. Roberts in the hit
Oklahoma!, along with favorites
from other musicals written dur-ing
the collaborations of Richard
Rodgers, first with Lorenz Hart,
and later with Oscar
Hammerstein.
Freeport students, from the
Select Chorale and Mixed Chorus,
either accompanied Ms. Roberts
or performed solos, duets or took
part in several large production
numbers. Members of Freeport's
Concert Band, Wind Ensemble,
quality of the singing, staging, and musical
accompaniment. According to the school dis-trict's
Coordinator of the Arts, Charles
Puricelli, "It was certainly the most unique
show we have ever produced and definitely
the best attended."
The musical numbers alternated with dia-logue
between Ms. Roberts and Freeport
teacher Robert Yarmola, who co-wrote
the program with Music Director Stephen
Pagano. Ms. Roberts and the magnificent
cast of young people brought the house
to its feet with the closing number,
"Oklahoma!".
Among the many outstanding performers
accompanying Ms, Roberts were Laura
Mercado, Corey Gibson, Justine Cotsonas,
Samantha Morrison, Brian Halton, Kate
Weber, Sarah Mahon, Daniel Tetreault,
Stefanie DiCroce, Gregory Williams, Jeffrey
Nunez, Emily Stevens, Danielle Codere,
Samantha Geraci-Yee, Nicole Minor, Raquel
Corona and Kristina Lauricella. As a long
time resident of Rockville Centre, Ms.
Roberts is a frequent visitor to Freeport and
has attended a number of the high school's
previous musical performances.
Veteran musical star Joan Roberts surrounded by the Freeport High School performers and co-producer of the show, Robert Yarmola.
A MESSA Freeport's own SPLASH Environmental Volunteers
Whether it is attending Respect Day at
the John W. Dodd, Jr. Middle Schobfor
sharing in the pride of accomplishment at
the official opening of the New Visions
School, the cooperation between the
Freeport School District and village com-munity
leaders has always been an inte-gral
part of the plan to promote excel-lence
in education for Freeport school stu-dents.
Freeport community leaders are
among the volunteers who dedicate their
time and talents to programs designed to
improve academic performance, increase
communication between the school dis-trict
and the community, ensure safety and
raise the level of student achievement in
academics, the arts, and athletics. These
concerned citizens serve on the School
District's Board of Trustees and are mem-bers
of the financial committee.
•- Members- -of--Freeport's- —Police
Department volunteer as coaches and
assistants on sports teams sponsored by
the Police Athletic League, spending
countless hours with local youngsters
teaching them the basics in soccer,
lacrosse, basketball, tennis, boxing, and
golf. In addition, police volunteers have
participated in an innovative project since
1995, the Adopt-A-Cop program, aimed at
building trust and developing communica-tion
between the police officers and the
young people in the village. The program
fosters a personal relationship between
fourth grade students in Freeport's
elementary schools and individual police
officers who agree to be "adopted" by the
fourth graders in the district's four
elementary schools. The program provides
youngsters with a role model ancTfrien3
they may confide in when faced with
the difficult decisions and challenges of
adolescence.
Police officers take part in two other
major programs aimed at promoting suc-cess
among the school district's young-sters,
the Middle School Mentoring
Program and the High School Gang
Awareness, Suppression and Prevention
Program. The mentoring program consists
of weekly lunches and after-school activi-ties
between the police officers and stu-dents
who are deemed in need of addi-tional
attention. It encourages communi-cation
between the young people and the
officers, and provides a safe, positive envi-ronment
for the students during the after-school
hours through sports and other
programs conducted at the Freeport
•Recreation'Genterr""-•"••••-•• —•«••- -••>
The Gang Awareness, Suppression and
Prevention (G.A.S.P.) program is directed
at middle and high school students as part
of the overall plan to prevent early
involvement with groups that present a
danger to the safety of our students and
our community. Informative presentations
are delivered to the students, parents, and
school staff to alert them to the indica-tions
of gang activity. Young people are
taught the dangerous nature of gang
involvement. The second phase, suppres-sion,
is achieved either by police visits to
the home of a youngster involved in gang
activity or by direct contact with the stu-dent
at the school. This personal one-to-one
approach, and the enlisting of the
family in addressing the situation, often
provides "an immediate resolution. Finally,
the prevention phase involves the estab-lishment
of a committee that includes rep-resentatives
of the school board, commu-nity
leaders, elected officials, parents,
teachers, members of student government
and police department command staff.
This organized group of concerned citi-zens
has been very effective in identifying
local concerns, targeting problem areas
and offering effective solutions for the
elimination of gang activity.
Freeport's School District can be very
proud of its students, and proud of the
involvement of the community in helping
our young people achieve success.
Together, we have developed a partner-ship
for excellence.
to
Mayor Bill Glacken surrounded by the second grade youngsters in Laura Castellano's doss.
Surrounded by eager second graders,
Mayor Bill Glacken read several sto-ries,
including The Rainbow Fish, as
part of the recent Reading Partners
week at the Leo F. Giblyn School.
Along with the Mayor, several com-munity
leaders and local officials were
II
invited to read to the youngsters,
including Freeport Police Chief
Michael Woodward. The Giblyn school
project was held in cooperation with
National Literacy Week, a program
developed to encourage reading
among school children.
The head of the Department of State of
the State of New York, Secretary Randy
Daniels, came to Freeport this past Earth Day,
April 22, to recognize five volunteer organiza-tions
that are working to save the environ-ment.
The Freeport group known as
Operation SPLASH, for Stop
Polluting, Littering and Save
Harbors, was among the organi-zations
honored for outstand-ing
work in protecting and pre-serving
the local waterways.
The organization, original-ly
founded by Freeporter Al
Grover, and later guided by the
late Tony Tarantino, is a grass-roots
organization which began
when Mr. Grover, who has made
boating his business and hobby,
became alarmed by the amount
of debris found floating in local
waterways.
SPLASH volunteers travel
the canals and waterways of
Freeport, Baldwin and other nearby South
Shore communities, collecting and disposing
of garbage, including tires, old boats, metal
debris, and other items destined to foul the
bay and destroy fishing and pleasure boating.
Mayor Bill Glacken praised SPLASH for its
Freeport Village Trustee and SPLASH member Don Miller, Trustee William White; in front of Trustee White is Hempstead Town
Councitwoman Angle Cullin, Sarah Meylond, Citizen's Campaign for the Environment,
Mayor Bill Glacken, Paul Rabinowitz, the Nature Conservancy on Long Island, NYS Secretary of State,
Randy Daniels, Thomas B. Williams of the Post Morrow Foundation,
Craig Kessler, Ducks Unlimited, Trustee Donald Mauersberger and Assemblyman Dave McDonough.
outstanding work and added, "We are partic-ularly
proud that this grassroots organization
began in Freeport. It exemplifies the true spir-it
of the village, where members of the com-munity
work together to preserve and protect
the quality of life for everyone."
The current president, Rob
Weltner, who was not able to
attend the presentation event,
thanked the many volunteers,
explaining, "This award is in
recognition of your commitment
to creating and preserving an
environment which is hospitable
both to man and to nature."
Freeport Village Trustee, Don
Miller, a long time member
of SPLASH, accepted the award
from Secretary Daniels, and
thanked the members of the
group who were able to attend
the presentation.
Anyone wishing to join
SPLASH may call (516) 378-4770.
There will be food, entertainment and fun
for all ages on Saturday, June 7th, from 1 p.m.
to 3 p.m., at Martin Luther King Park on
Stevens Street. The party will officially kick off
NeighborWorks Week, a national program
aimed at focusing attention on a variety of
activities to strengthen, communities, -with
"neighbors helping neighbors."
Freeport's northeast neighbor-hood
is participating in a coopera-tive
program designed to upgrade
and improve housing stock nation-wide
and provide energy-conserv-ing
home improvements. Freeport,
as one of only four communities
nationwide, was chosen to take
part in a pilot program, underwrit-ten
with $280,000 in federal, state,
county and village funds, and a
$300,000 grant over three years
from the Ford Foundation. The
program will seek to document
that property values will rise
throughout a neighborhood when
rehabilitation efforts are targeted
and joined with volunteer efforts.
Mayor Bill Glacken, who will be on hand for
the festivities on June 7th, along with other
local elected officials, explained the project.
"The selection of Freeport for this assistance
and volunteer effort has a two-fold benefit for
the village. It brings national attention'to.our
The staff of the Community Development Corporation of Long Island at the CDC Freeport Office:
Marianne Garvin,V.P. of CDC of LI; resident leader Andrew Coward; CDC of LI staff, Alicia Rgueras; CEO of CDC of LI
Bill Klatsky; CDA Program Coordinator and resident team leader Annette Wright and resident leader Leslie Jackson.
ongoing rehabilitation work and heightens
the awareness of other communities of what
can be done to preserve and protect local
neighborhoods", he said.
Freeport's Community Development
Agency is working closely with the
.Community.-Development Corporation of
Long Island (CDCLI), a member of
the NeighborWorks network.
CDCLI is administering the.
Weatherization, Rehabilitation,
and Asset Preservation project
(WRAP) from its Homeownership
Center at 54 West Merrick Road.
The program targets seniors and
low-income homeowners, particu-larly
single parent families with
homes that are in need of energy-conservation
repairs and improve-ments.
Ultimately, these upgrades
help'homeowners to save money,
protect their most valuable
investment and preserve the
property values in the entire
neighborhood.
