By ARIELLA MONTI
After moving up to West Hempstead High School for the past four decades, this year, for the first time, Island Park middle school students - who have no high school of their own - were given the chance to choose between WHHS and Long Beach High. Michael, a nervous but excited freshman, joined his classmates from Island Park and Long Beach for a program called Beach Buddies on the first day of school at LBHS. Upperclassmen led tours of the building and answered questions about lockers, classes, teachers and any of the new students' other concerns.
LBHS senior Kelly Lester - whose father, Roy, is a Long Beach school board trustee - volunteered for the Beach Buddies program, and took a special interest in the Island Park students. Her mother, Nancy, a teacher in the Island Park school district, was worried that some students might not be welcomed at their new school, Kelly said. "I wanted to do my part to make sure that didn't happen," she explained. "I don't think school is an environment where anyone should feel uncomfortable."
Change seemed to be the major reason for the Island Park students who decided to head to LBHS instead of West Hempstead High, which Island Park freshmen have attended since 1967. "My whole family went to West Hempstead," said Samantha Giordano. "I wanted to take a chance and try something new for once."
Forty-one Island Park ninth-graders chose WHHS, and 12 opted for private schools.
Samantha said that her parents were wary about her decision to attend LBHS, and she had to beg them to let her go. They told her that as long as she did well academically, she could stay, she said.
Robert Mead decided to try something different after his brothers and sisters attended West Hempstead High. "They didn't really like it," said Robert, adding that he was happy to start the new school year, and planned to try out for baseball and basketball.
"It would be a big change, and it's also bigger," said Victoria Stewart of her decision to head to LBHS, whose student body is about 1,400, some 400 more than WHHS. Victoria, a junior varsity volleyball player, said she was nervous about her first days at the new school, but she had the support of her mother, who used to work in the building.
Every five years since the 1967-68 school year, Island Park district officials signed an agreement to send their students to West Hempstead. Before each five-year contract was set to expire, Island Park sent letters to about a dozen neighboring districts to see which might be interested in adding Island Park students to its high school. Usually only Long Beach and West Hempstead showed interest, as they did last year. But before the latest contract was set to expire, more Island Park parents expressed an interest in sending their children to Long Beach than in previous decades.
In the ensuing months, pro-Long Beach and pro-West Hempstead parents attended a series of sometimes heated board and committee meetings on the issue, and a solid split between the two sides prompted the Island Park Board of Education to seek a compromise. In December, after the Long Beach school board approved the addition of Island Park students to LBHS, the Island Park board voted unanimously to give parents a choice of schools. In March, Island Park residents voted 495 to 137 to approve a proposition that called for a five-year contract with both districts, and Island Park became the only school district in Nassau County to offer such an option.
Last week, Victoria Stewart said the Beach Buddies program has helped her get acclimated to her new surroundings. "You get to go around the school and see where your classes are," she said.
Long Beach High runs the program every year for new students, which cuts the first day of school in half. Upperclassmen come in during the morning to receive their schedules and see their teachers, and then leave for the day. Freshmen arrive in the afternoon for an assembly and tours, and both groups start classes the next day.
For the Island Park students, it was a chance to become familiar with a new building and to get to know some new classmates. Coordinators of the Beach Buddies program kept a few Island Park students together in each group so they would feel more comfortable. "I think it might be a little overwhelming, just as it would be for any new high school student," said Kelly Lester, adding that she was confident that the new students would be accepted into her school community. "In the end, they're all students that are starting new, and they're all scared."
Michelle Leonetti of Long Beach said she believes the program does wonders for incoming students. "If you get a responsible person, it helps you get a better idea about what high school is all about," said Leonetti, a junior at LBHS and a volunteer with the Beach Buddies program who recalled having a tough time as a freshman. "It does help to have an inside look at things."
Joseph Kellard contributed to this story. Comments about it? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
