The St. Catherine of Sienna School in Franklin Square and Sacred Heart Elementary School in North Merrick are among four Catholic schools in Nassau County that will close next June due to dwindling enrollment and funding. Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre announced the news on Dec. 5, in a public letter that is posted on the diocese’s website. more

Things are getting hairy at Plaza Elementary. No, it’s not finals or report card day. It’s just that a 20-member team, including every male staffer, decided to grow mustaches during the month of November. The newly mustachioed Plaza men call themselves Team Plazstashio, and they had raised $1,235 to fight cancer just days shy of the month’s end. more

A number of fronts collided at a contentious Board of Education meeting at Shubert School Oct. 12. One large group of parents was on hand to express their frustration about fiscal shortfalls, and another wanted to ask the board about rumors of school closings. These aggressive clusters of parents were further spurred when a third group emerged to question the district’s response to the discovery of an unloaded shotgun on Plaza Elementary School grounds. The first topic was business, and the general shortage of funds dominated discussion. The primary issue is a projected $3 million-to-$4 million shortfall in the district’s revenue if the financial picture does not change. more

When Merrick’s Robbie Rosen performed live Tuesday night with the top 12 males on “American Idol,” he was living his dream in front of more than 25 million viewers. more

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, Receiver of Taxes Donald Clavin and Councilwoman Angie Cullin joined Ilene Robinson’s third-grade class from Levy-Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick on Wednesday to announce a proposal to designate the town’s 100 parks “smoke-free.” more

Heroin addicts describe their first high as the ultimate escape, a 20-hour fix starting with a pleasure rush that races from the tip of the tongue throughout the body and steadily progresses toward hallucinations that transfix a user in a state of semiconscious euphoria. more

Though raising elementary school class sizes and eliminating late high school buses seemed likely at the March 16 budget workshop session, the Baldwin school board announced that, due to some … more

Brookside School celebrated its Blue Ribbon status on Nov. 6 with current and former administrators and PTA presidents in attendance and special visits by State Senator Dean Skelos and Town of … more