________________ OYSTER BAY _______________
HERALD A celebration of cultural diversity VOL. 127 NO. 14
APRIL 4 - 10, 2025
1285300
Page 3 $1.00
School leaders address county’s enrollment issue need to pay attention. We need to pay attention to what’s going on. Big time.” Locust Valley has seen a Public school districts across Nassau County are con- steady decline in student poputending with declining enroll- lation over the years. In the ment, a trend that is reshaping 2018-19 school year, the district school operations, staffing, and had 2,034 students. By the 2024financial planning. The North 25 school year, that number had dropped to roughly Shore, Locust Val1,818. Turnow estiley Central, and mates that by 2027O y s t e r B ay - E a s t 28, the district will Norwich Central have around 1,725 school districts are students. responding to this Housing costs challenge with a have played a sigcombination of n i f i c a n t ro l e i n demographic studdecreasing enrollies, program ment in many disenhancements, and tricts, where. a n e m p h a s i s o n KRISTEN TURNOW according to the improving the stu- superintendent, Zillow Home Valdent experience. Locust Valley Central ues Index, the averAccording to School District age home was neardata from Nassau ly $800,000 last year. Board of Coopera“I went on and looked up tive Educational Services, 61 percent of school districts in housing in our school district the county experienced enroll- — there were five houses on the ment declines in the last market for under a million,” decade. Local administrators, Turnow said. “This is a Long such as Locust Valley Superin- Island problem; this is not a tendent Kristen Turnow, have Locust Valley problem.” She cited high proper ty been monitoring this shift taxes, as well as the home pricclosely. “This is a big deal,” Turnow es, and high interest rates as said. “That’s why last year I a d d i t i o n a l d e t e r r e n t s f o r started talking about this. We CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
By WILL SHEELINE
wsheeline@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Robert DiLorenzo
Members of the Bayville American Legion hold ceremonies throughout the year, honoring community members who have died.
A legion fights for its home Bayville’s Robert H. Spittel Post 1285 faces eviction By WILL SHEELINE wsheeline@liherald.com
The men of American Legion Robert H. Spittel Post 1285 have met at their headquarters, at 45 Bayville Ave., to hold ceremonies and honor the memories of their fallen members and veterans from the community since 1961. Now, a legal battle to evict them from the historic property, built by the legion’s original members, has left the veterans feeling betrayed, harassed and, potentially, without a post. The court case began after the legion received an eviction notice last August from 45 Bayville Ave LLC, the entity that holds a 30-year mortgage on the property. It is
unclear who the owners of the company are, because its lawyer, Michael Markowitz, and manager, Michael Gjoni, both refused to name the owners when asked by the Herald. The legion, which has 83 members, asserts that Gjoni is the real operator of the LLC, because he leased the property from the group as the owner of Soundview Caterers from 2014 to 2017. When they were looking to sell the property, the members claim, they gave Gjoni right of first refusal, and he accepted and purchased the building, with the condition that the post would have the right to continue using its meeting room. “In the lease, there was an option to be the first refusal if we ever decided to sell the CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
e need to pay attention to what’s going on. Big time.