Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Oceanside schools will soon get $291,485 from the Federal Emergency Management Administration as part of a $1.3 billion public assistance grant to reimburse local and state governments, as well as eligible non-profits to pay for some of the costs of rebuilding damaged public buildings in the wake of Hurricane Sandy late last year.
While the money will be welcome, and will be used both for future expenses, some of it will be used “to pay ourselves back for out-of-pocket money we already spent,” says Lou Frontario, the district’s deputy superintendent for business.
“It’s hard to tie a specific amount of money to any one request,” Frontario said. “We have already received $625,334 from FEMA, which is 75 percent of what we claimed after our insurance reimbursements are deducted Our gross claim [to FEMA] was just over $976,000.
Frontario said that the majority of the money, $416,738 went to the reconstruction of School #4, the South Oceanside Road Elementary School, which was ravaged by the floodwaters from the storm.
“We received $131,00 from our insurers,” he said. That left $285,366, of which FEMA provided 75 percent reimbursement, or $214,000.
The remainder of the FEMA money was used for other schools, district-wide repairs and power generators.
A lot of the original expenditures came from the district’s bank account.
“We had to keep our contractors working and get the schools open,” he said.
When asked about the recent announcement by Sen. Charles Schumer that New York State has hit a reimbursement threshold and that the reimbursement level would move to 90 percent from 75 percent, Frontario said that the district hasn’t heard anything official yet, but he believes that money will only be used by those who are still going forward with their repairs.
Donna Kraus, the district’s public information officer, put it succinctly.
“As you know, most of the work related to recovery from the storm has already been completed since we could not wait for FEMA or insurance money. The FEMA money is not a windfall, but money that has already largely been spent.”
