By:Andrew Coen
Private-school students in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District, whose day at local yeshivas don't end until the early evening, will now have a way to get home this school year, thanks to a state grant.
Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) has given District 14 a $35,000 special legislative appropriation to fund the late transportation, after 5:30 p.m., that had been cut in the initial budget.
The late transportation for the yeshivas will begin in early October, according to district officials, and affects students who attend four local yeshivas, including the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) in Woodmere, Rambam Mesivta High School for Boys in Lawrence, Yeshiva of Far Rockaway and Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway. The high school yeshivas of the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway in Cedarhurst and Stella K. Abraham for Girls in Hewlett Bay Park were not affected since they have dismissal times before 5:30 p.m., according to school officials.
According to Tom Dunham, a spokesman for Skelos, the senator, who represents the Five Towns, was informed of the funding problem from District 14 residents who would have been impacted by the cut.
Other Five Towns officials also became involved. Rabbi Hershel Billet of Young Israel in Woodmere and District 15 school board member Dr. Asher Mansdorf first met about the problem, according to Cedarhurst Deputy Mayor Ben Weinstock. Mansdorf decided to contact Weinstock, a close friend of Skelos, to set up a meeting with the senator. Weinstock said that they discussed issues affecting District 15 and the District 14 bus situation came up, and Skelos decided to address it.
The senator then called Hewlett-Woodmere Schools Superintendent Dr. Les Omotani to find out how much money the district would need to fund the late bus transportation and a request was then mailed in and accepted by the senator's office, according to Weinstock.
The grant, which comes from discretionary funds that legislators are able to allocate to local groups, covers the late transportation for the current 2004-05 school year and the board will now have the year to study whether to maintain it in future years.
"This provides the board an opportunity to study the issue further for the next year," Peter Weber, assistant superintendent for business, said during a Sept. 22 school board meeting, where the grant was announced.
"Hopefully there is budgetary flexibility for the school district next year and they won't have to make this cut, but if they have to, I'm sure the senator will do all he can to help out," said Dunham.
"I think it's a happy ending to what could have been a real ugly problem," said Weinstock. "This allows them to resolve it for now and try to find a long-term solution."
The grant means Woodmere resident Miriam Kugelman, whose two sons attend Rambam Mesivta, will not have to worry about arranging rides starting in October.
"Because of the Jewish holidays, we don't have that many school days in the month of September, but beginning in October we would have had to organize car pools each day which would have been very tough," said Kugelman.
Kugelman received one of the 19 letters sent to families whose children attend yeshivas that have dismissal times after 5:30 p.m.
According to Hewlett-Woodmere attorney Jerome Ehrlich, the district projects that the number of students in yeshivas at 5 p.m. is 80 but by 5:30 the number drops to just 18 students. Hewlett-Woodmere Director of Transportation Joseph DiBartola explained in the letter that the basis for the decision was the considerable expense would be avoided and that the number of students who would be affected would be very small. The late transportation cut was going to save the district about $34,000 in the $74.7 million 2004-05 budget, according to district officials.
After receiving the letter informing them of the transportation change, some parents of the students affected showed up at the July 6 school board meeting to mention the possibility of a lawsuit if the board did not provide the transportation they have received in the past. The district had planned to provide the necessary money for the students to take the public bus that travels on West Broadway between Far Rockaway and Lynbrook in order for the students to travel home.
"We're pleased that through Sen. Skelos's office we were able to get the necessary funds for the late transportation," said Dr. Omotani in a phone interview. "It allows us to address the immediate situation in a positive way, but also to study a long-term solution."
"Accepting the offer helps the affected families, gives us additional time to look for a win-win solution and has a positive effect on local property taxes," said Hewlett-Woodmere School Board President Howard Weinick in a prepared statement. "We look forward to future discussions with Sen. Skelos regarding the ongoing needs of all students in Hewlett-Woodmere public schools."
The board approved the resolution unanimously, but trustee Teena Ditchek Korman expressed concerns about the grant preventing the district from getting other state funding in the future.
"I find [it to be very generous] to offer these funds to our district so that students in our district can be served, but my hope is that for the future when other allocations are needed to serve students in this district that approving this [grant] doesn't deny us an opportunity to get other [state funds]," said Korman. "In accepting this I just do hope that the opportunity will continue to get other kinds of allocations and appropriations and special legislative grants."
Hewlett resident Cliff Breyer said during the Sept. 22 meeting that he was upset at the behavior of the private-school parents who had confronted the board after learning of the cut. "I was disgusted by the show of reverse discrimination at the previous meeting that took place," said Breyer, referring to the July 6 meeting. "The overt threats to the community of schism cannot be tolerated. There is not one person here tonight from that evening who's a representative of that sector of our community. If they want to feel a part of the school process, even though they choose to send their children to private school, they should come and attend board meetings, get involved as other members of our district do."
Kugelman said she and the other families in the district who use the late transportation will make sure to follow the budget proceedings more closely when the 2005-06 budget is pieced together early next year. "We're not going to take anything for granted anymore," she said.
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