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Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Taking the time to enjoy nature
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Vol. 37 No. 17
APRIl 23 - 29, 2026
C: 516-313-2700
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g Beach NY, 11561 | 0:5
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lido wind turbine is 15 years old
Odyssey of Mind team seeks to rule world again By CHRIS ColUCCI ccolucci@liherald.com
Chris Colucci/Herald
The Long Beach Middle School team tackled a problem that took them from Aruba to a ghost realm.
Ask some 12-year-olds to tell you an epic story, and you might hear a loosely paraphrased plot of a recent movie. Ask a 12-year-old member of the Long Beach Odyssey of the Mind team, and you might hear about a bachelorette party whose trip to Aruba goes awry, leading them to a supernatural ghost realm where they rely on the power of friendship, otherworldly “soul sisters” and a robot dog to find their way home. That’s the type of creative thinking that is once again taking Long Beach Middle School and elementary school students to the world stage of one of the most unique competitions in international education. At the end of May, the local team will head to Iowa State University to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind world finals. In past years, the Long Beach team — known as Team Believe — has competed, and won, against teams from France, India, Korea, Mexico and Poland, among ConTinued on pAge 15
Long Beach announces school budget for 2026-27 By AIDAN WARSHAVSKY awarshavsky@liherald.com
Long Beach School District Board of Education trustees voted unanimously last week to adopt a proposed budget of $162.5 million for the 2026-27 school year, a 2.5 percent increase over the current spending plan. The public vote on the proposed school district and Long Beach Public Library budgets, as well as the election of two school board trustees and one library board trustee, is scheduled for May 19. Voting will take place at Lindell and East Elementary School and the
middle school. The spending plan includes a 2.2 percent increase in the tax levy, the total amount the district needs to collect in taxes to fund its planned spending. The increase is below the state cap, and is down from this year’s 2.4 percent tax levy hike. “We always try to balance appropriate fund balance with the tax levy at the level that the board wants and is comfortable asking the community for,” Michael DeVito, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance and operations, said. “Next year’s budget was created to maintain strong programs and preserve quality education
for all of our students.” The spending plan will add Academic Intervention Services teachers and physical education programs at the elementary schools. The middle school will also have its own wellness room. The district will add a varsity game-day cheer coach, an assistant coach for the girls’ wrestling team at the high school and a field hockey coach at the middle school. In the new Bloomberg Lab at Long Beach High School, students will use the Bloomberg terminals that investment bankers, hedge funds and corporations use worldwide. They will also see live movement on
the stock market, global currencies and other commodities. In secondary programs, the district approved funding for participation in a new BOCES co-enrollment program for high school students, including a barbering program. The district will also add rock band, guitar, fishing and water polo clubs.
Next year’s budget includes $1.7 million for facility and capital projects — upgrading the high school pool and bleachers, an additional custodian at the high school and enhanced security staffs at the elementary schools. Funding for central data processing will increase by $1.53 ConTinued on pAge 11