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West Hempstead cheer team off to the nationals By MADISoN GUSLER mgusler@liherald.com
Holden Leeds/Herald
Before leaving for nationals, the West Hempstead High School varsity cheerleading team performed for friends and family at a sendoff showcase on Feb. 5.
The West Hempstead High School varsity cheerleading team was invited to the nationals. The team represented the Rams while competing at the United Cheerleaders Association National High School Championship in Orlando, Florida. The competition, hosted by Disney World in ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex, was scheduled from Feb. 7 to 10. “I’m very excited, because at the start we didn’t think that we were going to make it, and we’ve come a long way as a team,” Angie Alfaro, a senior team member, said. To reach the nationals, teams must receive a bid, and West Hempstead had to compete at regional competitions and achieve a score high enough to qualify. West Hempstead has been invited to the national championships since 2017, but this time the girls received bids to compete with two different routines — game day and traContinued on page 16
Local educators react to Trump’s education plans By MADISoN GUSLER mgusler@liherald.com
According to recent reports, President Trump is preparing an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, before completely closing the agency. Staying true to his commitment — one of many headline-grabbing pledges he made during his campaign — the president plans to take action later this month to defund the department. The order is part of Trump’s plan to return education to the control of the states. He and adviser Elon Musk, whom he has tasked with finding ways to
dramatically reduce government spending, re por tedly intend to place department staff on paid leave, encourage others to leave their positions and transfer many of the department’s responsibilities to other agencies in the government. “At this time, I want to clarify that the Department of Education remains intact and continues its operations,” West Hempstead Superintendent of Schools Dan Rehman said in a s t a t e m e n t l a s t T h u r s d ay. “While there has been public discussion about various proposals, no structural changes have been enacted that would
affect our district’s federal funding or obligations.” The Department of Education was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 as a cabinet-level agency, and began operations in May 1980. It helps fund schools nationwide; coordinates federal education programs, which include college financial aid for over 12 million post-secondary students; and ensures equal access to educational opportunities for students across the country. Since its founding, other elected officials have called for disbanding the department, because the majority of educational responsibilities fall to
the states. They oversee curriculum and graduation requirements, as well as the administration of schools and colleges, and much of the funding for public schools comes from state and local sources. B u t b e c a u s e i n d iv i d u a l states having vastly different financial and educational resources, educational oppor-
tunities for pupils have varied widely, and over the years the Department of Education has stepped in to fill in those gaps, providing financial support to states and districts that fall behind. Without the agency, many education experts contend, inequities from state to state, and from school district Continued on page 10