Valley Stream
HERALD
Sunblock stations in the village
Summer program at District 30
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university presidents & faculty onDog the la Cops: attack test on going back to school
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Vol. 31 No. 33
Higher Education & COVID-19 Hear from college &
Start of school now in focus Cuomo’s announcement clears V.S. district buildings to reopen members and students, and with last-minute input by the NYSED on July 16. All four of Valley Parents and teachers now Stream’s school districts are opthave a clearer, albeit still tenta- ing to move ahead with what tive, idea of what the fall will they call a “hybrid” reopening, bring for schoolchilin which half of the d r e n a f t e r G o v. student body will Andrew Cuomo rotate between days announced last Friof in-person and day that New York’s remote instruction. public schools will Although the disbe allowed to open tricts had prepared for in-person for three possibiliinstruction. ties — full in-person, On July 31, Valley f u l l re m o t e a n d Stream’s central hybrid instruction high school and — “a hybrid model three elementary is likely, based on school districts subthe guidance we mitted reopening have received from plans to the New state agencies,” CenYork State Educatral High School Distion Department, trict Schools Superw h i c h o u t l i n e d GloriSBel intendent Dr. Bill social-distancing, Heidenreich said. i n s t r u c t i o n a n d romAN Space constraints health protocols, District 30 parent are necessitating the among many other hybrid model. “With aspects of school six-foot social disoperations altered by the corona- tancing and all of the desks virus pandemic. Until Cuomo’s required to face in the same announcement, however, wheth- direction, the physical layout of er children would be able to the rooms won’t allow for a full return was in question. classroom” of students, District The plans were assembled 24 Schools Superintendent Dr. over weeks, with input by parents, teachers, school board Continued on page 11
By PeTer Belfiore pbelfiore@liherald.com
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Christina Daly/Herald
fun in the sun Noah Sealy, 3, recently splashed around at the Hendrickson Park kiddie pool. With a late opening this year because of coronavirus concerns, the pool is now open every day at a reduced capacity and with social-distancing restrictions. Story, more photos, Page 3.
Questions linger in wake of Isaias Damage, outages remain a week after the storm By PeTer Belfiore pbelfiore@Liherald.com
When Tropical Storm Isaias blew through Valley Stream last Tuesday, the pain was relatively short-lived for most people. For about two hours that afternoon, winds gusting to 70 mph pummeled the area, bringing down trees large and small. Village officials estimated that more than a hundred trees and large branches had fallen during
the storm, taking with them a number of power lines. At its peak, PSEG-Long Island reported that 420,000 customers across the Island had been affected. While the exact number of outages in Valley Stream was unclear, on Friday, three days after the stor m, 375 Valley Stream homes and businesses remained without power. By M o n d ay, p owe r h a d b e e n restored to all but 38 homes in the area, according to the utili-
ty’s outage map, but the long wait for repairs and a breakdown in PSEG’s outage reporting system prompted inquiries by lawmakers, and for some, the damage from Isaias will linger for some time. On Rockaway Avenue, a small strip of eateries suffered a partial outage that lasted into Monday, causing a harsh economic impact on top of the fiscal damContinued on page 10
’m expecting some changes in the coming weeks after reopening. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a scare.