______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD
Back to School, Back to
Natalie Toler
Village holds 9/11 ceremony
Lehrman’s new autobiography
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VOL. 36 NO. 38
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Dever School cuts ribbon on Zen Den By ANGELINA ZINGARIELLO azingariello@liherald.com
Angelina Zingariello/Herald
Students celebrated the grand opening of the Zen Den with a ribbon-cutting to officially welcome a new space for calm, creativity and mindfulness.
James A. Dever Elementary School officially opened its new Zen Den Sept. 12 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking the debut of a space designed for mindfulness, reflection and emotional well-being. The Zen Den grew out of ongoing conversations at the school about creating outdoor learning spaces. “We’re here because we’ve been talking about outdoor classrooms for a long time,” said Principal Darren. “But then the impetus came when some of — when a lot of our teachers started talking about outdoor classrooms. Mr. Mullen (the school librarian) is always looking for an outdoor place for all of our children to read, and then that got to the board, then to the PTA, and ContinueD on page 13
Rallying bipartisan support for feeding kids in V.S. By ANGELINA ZINGARIELLO azingariello@liherald.com
Legislation aimed at protecting free school meals for students was on the menu on Sept. 8 at Forest Road School, where Rep. Laura Gillen discussed the Feed Hungry Kids Act. Roxanne Garcia-F rance, s u p e r i n t e n d e n t o f Va l l e y Stream District 30, and Gregory May, director of government and community relations for Island Harvest Food Bank, joined Gillen at the elementary school. Gillen, a Democrat who represents a large swath of Nassau County, and Rep. David Valad-
ao, a Republican from California, introduced the bipartisan bill. The legislation would protect the Community Eligibility Provision, a federal program that allows underserved schools to offer breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge. “As a mother of four children, it is painful for me to think of any child having to come to school hungry and spend the day hungry, yearning for something to eat,” Gillen said. “Every one of America’s students and children deserves a good education that sets them up for a successful life, regardless of their background or
T
he friendly school believes no child should walk through (the) doors hungry. ROxANNE GARcIA-FRANcE Superintendent, Valley Stream District 30
their zip code. Students cannot, however, reach their full academic potential on an empty stomach.” The provision states that if a certain percentage of students in a school qualify for assistance, then every student would
receive access to meals at no cost. The program also reduces paperwork for families and school districts to ease access to the program. In 2023, the federal government lowered the participation threshold for the program from 40 percent to 25 percent, meaning that if a quarter of the students in a district qualify for
free school meals, then all stud e n t s wo u l d b e n e f i t . T h e change made an additional 17,000 schools across the country eligible. Gillen said that proposals have since emerged in Congress to reverse that change, and even raise the threshold as high as 60 percent, which ContinueD on page 15