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Vol. 27 No. 32
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Beloved educator Al Harper dies at 65 Parents, community advocates and school staff share words of affection By RENEE DeloRENZo rdelorenzo@liherald.com
Courtesy Elmont School District
Al Harper, 65, a longtime educator and former superintendent of the Elmont School District, died on July 28. He was remembered for his leadership, mentorship and decades of service.
Al Harper, a beloved educator and administrator in the Elmont School District, died on July 28, at age 65. Funeral services were held at Memorial Presbyterian Church, in Roosevelt, on Aug. 2. Harper was buried at St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery, in Farmingdale. Harper served as assistant principal of Elmont Memorial High School from 1995 to 2002, then as principal for the following three years. In 2005 he was promoted to superintendent of the district, a job he held for 15 years before he retired in 2020. “He was just such a special person,” said Jon Johnson, an Elmont parent and president of the Men of Elmont mentorship program. “He could be a very whimsical, funny person at times. But when it came to school, he was very serious.” Harper was born and raised in Queens, and graduated from Howard University in 1981 with a degree in communications. He was a huge basketball fan, and Johnson, who lived in Queens at ContinuED on pAgE 21
Screenwriter’s oddball comedy series aims for spotlight By RENEE DeloRENZo rdelorenzo@liherald.com
F ranklin Square native Jason “Jay” Alvino and his creative team are hoping their personal stories and artistic voice can help their latest animated television project find its place on screen. Alvino, a screenwriter and former visual effects artist, cocreated the animated series Beefy Frank with longtime friend and collaborator Mike Carlo. In July, the pair announced that a third collaborator, Christy Karacas, a producer best known for Superjail! and Ball-
masterz: 9009, has been added to the team as an executive producer. Carlo is an experienced animator currently working as a supervising director at Nickelodeon Animation Studios, and Alvino most recently won Best Unproduced Screenplay at the Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival for his project, Low Life, in 2024. Alvino, H. Frank Carey High School class of 1991 alumnus, be gan working in the film industry shortly after graduating. With absolutely no college experience, he began making connections in the industry and working as a VFX artist. As
a lover of all things horror, Alvino worked on several B-movie horror projects. For Alvino, the journey to this point has been filled with setbacks—health complications, industry shifts, and multiple project rejections—but it’s also been a story of perseverance and passion. Alvino was diagnosed in 1998 with a rare autoimmune disease, pemphigus. The disease causes blistering of the skin and mucous membranes, producing patchy painful, red sores all over the body. “It was just the weirdest thing that, you know, I became this monster in my opinion,”
Alvino recalled. “I looked like something I would make in one of my horror movies.” He has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy at NYU Langone Hospital during flareups. The disease became so prominent that he was in and out of the hospital for nearly two years. Eventually, Alvino began
reentering social circles, and in 2002, he was introduced to Carlo through Alvino’s cousin. The two quickly began bonding over shared creative interests, especially horror films, music, and storytelling. They began collaborating professionally when Carlo contributed concept art and storyboards for ContinuED on pAgE 7