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Friday, April 28, 2023
Vol. 98, No. 17
WOMEN TODAY
HOCHUL HOUSING TOP BUSINESS LEADERS NUMBERS QUESTIONED OF NASSAU HONORED
PAGES 29-36
PAGE 2
Multi-family units could fuel enrollment spike
PAGES 19-22
SELF PORTRAITS
Analysis anticipates more than 300 additional G.N. students in 2032 BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Proposed multi-family dwelling units could fuel an increase of more than 300 students in the Great Neck School District over the next decade, according to a presentation made during a Wednesday night school board meeting. District enrollment figures reported 6,608 students in the nine schools for the 2022-23 school year, a figure projected to increase to 6,976 in 2032, according to the analysis. Urbanomics, an urban planning consultancy, was tasked with finding out how proposed and future real estate projects would impact the school district. The analysis took into account district enrollment since 2014-15, births per school district, retention rates per grade and eight projects that are either planned, proposed or under construction for the analysis. Projects include a 60-unit mixeduse building at 733-41 Middle Neck Road, a 38-unit mixed-use building at 777 Middle Neck Road and the 20-unit structure that is planned to be built at the site of the former Playhouse in Great Neck Estates. Tina Lund, president of Urbanomics, said the five-year enrollment trends, birth rates and retention rates yielded a
result of 20 school-age children per 100 units. Urbanomics tested their model with four multi-family structures, 437 total units, in Great Neck, which yielded a projected 86 students. The actual enrollment between all four structures was 92, which produced more accurate results than other methods used in demographic analysis, such as the Rutgers Multipliers. The eight projects analyzed by Urbanomics, as of Wednesday, include a total of 264 units, which would yield more than 40 school-age children, according to the presentation. Roughly 23% of school-age children, on average, attend private schools, Lund said. Spreading those projections out across the district over the next decade, Lund said, would result in sharper increases in both middle schools and high schools. The district reported a total of 745 students enrolled at North Middle School for the 2022-23 school year, a number which would increase to 840, according to the presentation. South Middle School’s enrollment would increase from 863 to 864, Lund said. Great Neck North High School’s enrollment is projected to decrease from 1,183 students to 1,156 over the next decade, while Great Neck South High School is projected to grow from 1,269 Continued on Page 53
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GREAT NECK SCHOOL DISTRICT
North Middle School students work on their large-scale portraits.
G.N. residents provide input on supe search BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Great Neck School District residents and stakeholders said the successor to outgoing Superintendent Teresa Prendergast should be trans-
parent, collaborate with parents and promote athletics during a public meeting Monday evening. Comments from the dozen or so individuals present online and via Zoom centered around prioritizing
the students and continuing to have stellar statewide and national recognition, but some had other thoughts on what they would like to see Great Neck’s next superintendent accomContinued on Page 52
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