By Jeff Lipton
Rhona Leff, the school district's director of pupil personnel for the past 15 years, and Gary Bates, director of music for the last 10 years, announced at the Tuesday, June 6 school board meeting that they will retire effective July 1. The school board accepted their retirements with mixed feelings.
Patrick Pizzarelli, supervisor of physical education and athletics, who has served as president of the Association of Lawrence Administrators, said, "It is sad to see them [leave] but I wish them the best of luck in their retirement."
"We're really going to miss them," said school board president Frank Parise. "I can't think of two people who worked harder than Rhona Leff and Gary Bates and with the terrific results that they put in on behalf of the kids."
Leff said her decision to leave was difficult, but one which had to be made.
"I decided that it was time," said Leff, who has been in charge of special education programs for the district and has worked in the special education field for a total of 32 years. "My job had changed tremendously. My job had become very large and difficult at times."
Leff, who is moving to Florida, said the position has been extremely challenging but rewarding as well. She said she is very proud of the way her department has provided special ed services to meet the needs of the public schools, as well as the private schools.
She said when the decision was made in 1997 to send public-school teachers into the private schools to serve that population better, the department employed about five teachers. Today, that number has grown to 20 staff members. The number of non-public-school students receiving services has also grown from 60 to 350, Leff said. All told, the district provides services for more than 1,000 students in special education, which has more than doubled since Leff first started in 1991.
The Pupil Personnel department also oversees nurses and guidance staff.
About five years ago, under Leff's leadership, the Lawrence Public Schools launched inclusion, mainstreaming more special ed students into general education classrooms, with the proper support.
In addition, when she came on board, of the 450 students with special needs, 17 percent were sent out-of-district to receive services from the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). With more than 1,000 special ed students in the district today, that number has shrunk to about 6 percent. "We have really made sure the school resources have kept the kids in school," Leff said.
"We're very proud to have set up programs to meet the needs of these students," she said, adding that programs geared toward children with autism have greatly expanded. "They [the services] are so good that other districts want to pay tuition to come into our schools."
In addition, new programs have been set up in the district to meet the needs of children with severe disabilities.
Leff said she will miss watching the children progress as they move from kindergarten through the high school. "I will miss watching them gain the most amazing skills," she said. "I will also miss the staff. I have worked with the most amazing people over the years."
Susan Kosser, formerly the pupil personnel director of Half Hollow Hills School District, was named the interim replacement for Leff. Kosser has also served as the interim director of special ed in Garden City. "Hopefully, she will stay for a few years," Leff said of Kosser.
Gary Bates is leaving Lawrence Public Schools to accept a position as executive director of the Art League of Long Island in Dix Hills. The 50-plus-year-old league is the oldest nonprofit group in the visual arts.
Over the last few years, the school district has discussed merging the music and art departments and eliminating the position held by Bates. However, over the last few weeks, after much discussion, the school board recently decided to keep the departments separate. Bates said that despite the discussion about combining the departments, he believes the school board and district officials have strongly supported art programs, even though the district is preparing to operate under austerity for a fourth straight year since the public defeated the district's budget proposals. "I feel it's been a real team effort for the arts," Bates said. "And I thank the school board for its support."
"I've been in education since 1967," said Bates. "I got a lot of years in, and maybe it's time to try something else. "I'm passionate about art. I think it's worth it."
Bates has also taken on a leadership role in the arts, serving as president of the New York State Art Teachers Association and as vice president of the University Council for Art Education at Columbia University. He also has helped form the Art Supervisors Association of Nassau County, having served as its first president.
"Lawrence allowed me to be in a position to be a leader in the county, state and nation, and I thank them for that," he said.
Over the years, Bates said he has much to be proud of, including the creation of the Mazzitelli Art Gallery, which holds about five major exhibitions per year. In addition, he said of the roughly 300 graduating seniors, about 30 have chosen to pursue the study of art as a focus in college. Another plus has been attaining college credit in the field of medical illustration, he said.
He said what he'll miss most is watching the third or fourth-graders improve their artistic skills as they move onto high school and prepare their portfolios for college admission.
"It's a rough time to move on," Bates said. "It's bittersweet. There's a lot of tears and angst leaving people and moving on. I'm very proud of what we've done, which is why it's so bittersweet [to leave]."
The district is searching for a new director of art.
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