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Vol. 37 No. 22
MAY 28 - JUNE 3, 2026
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East School: 1926 to 2026 and still going munity block party — outside, music, things for the kids to run around and be part of the “I went to school here in celebration.” The festivities had a Long 1962,” Long Beach resident Michael Ponte said. “Miss Hen- Beach block party theme, derson was the principal. Lunch including food trucks, face painting, and the was 35 cents, milk band Track 9 playwas 3 cents and an ing hits from across ice cream sandwich the school’s timewas 10 cents.” line. The evening Ponte was one of began with a recordnearly 300 people — er concert and singstudents, parents, ing by the students, alumni, current and before City Council former staff — who President Brendan filled the East EleFinn presented an mentary School official proclamaplayground in the tion to honor the early evening of school’s achieveMay 19. The crowd ment. gathered to celeThe centennial brate a once-in-ahas been a classlifetime occasion, room focus all year the Neptune Boulelong. “One of the vard school’s 100th KAtHlEEN programs we have anniversary. CoNNollY in school is called “We planned it Principal, WINGS — what I for eight months or East Elementary need to grow as a so, since the beginstudent,” Principal ning of the school year,” East Elementary PTA Co- Kathleen Connolly explained. P r e s i d e n t J o a n n e K a p p “Students in grades three recounted. “During one of our t h r o u g h f i v e h a v e b e e n PTA meetings, we formed a researching the decades and committee of 15 to 20 people. what the school looked like Everybody collectively decided long ago, in each decade, and that the vibe here was a comContinued on page 16
By CHRIS ColUCCI
ccolucci@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Erin McPartland
diane, left, and erin Mcpartland pushed each other to academic excellence and graduated from Hofstra university together, both with master’s degrees, on May 17.
L.B. resident and her mother graduate with Hofstra pride By AIDAN WARSHAVSKY awarshavsky@liherald.com
It’s not every day that you get to share the same commencement stage as your mother. But earlier this month, Erin McPartland, of Long Beach, and her mother, Diane McPartland, of Levittown, did just that when they both received master’s degrees from Hofstra University. Erin, 30, who lives in the East End, earned her Master’s of Science in Higher Education in a year and a half. Through the experience, she said, the two motivated each other to keep going, and noted that graduating together showed that accomplishments
have no age limitations. “My mom gave me so much motivation to push through with her determination,” Erin said. “To be from different generations of people, graduating together really showed you can do anything at any point in your life.” Like her mother, who has worked as an administrative assistant in Hofstra’s Allied Health and Kinesiology department since 2016, Erin knows Hofstra well. After graduating from Division Avenue High School in Levittown in 2013, Erin studied communications and media at Hofstra. She graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in mass media Continued on page 7
e are thrilled to celebrate 100 years of East School with the people who have helped shape its history.