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Friday, August 11, 2023
Vol. 72, No. 32
N E W H Y D E PA R K
LIVING 50+
NORTH SHORE HOSPITALS RANK NATIONALLY
SANDS LAS VEGAS, WELLNESS CENTER PARTNER
PAGES 21-24
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COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF
Anti-LGBTQ+ laws drive gay doc to NHP Jake Kleinmahon leaving La. for Cohen Children’s BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y Dr. Jake Kleinmahon, a New Orleans-based physician who specializes in pediatric heart conditions, said he came back to Louisiana five years ago to help build a specialty program second to none. “We really planted our roots in New Orleans because they needed someone to build a heart transplant program,” Kleinmahon, the medical director at Oschner Hospital for Children’s pediatric heart transplant, heart failure and ventricular assist device programs, told Blank Slate Media. But a growing sentiment in the
state sparked by three bills targeting LGBTQ+ people has led Kleinmahon, his husband and two children to pack their bags for Long Island. Kleinmahon, a Westchester native, said he accepted an offer from Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park to join the hospital in a similar role and plans to move by the end of the month. “When we moved back down, we knew we were moving to a state that historically has been fairly socially conservative,” Kleinmahon said about returning to the South after working in Colorado. “But New Orleans is an area that accepts all people of all walks of life.”
Earlier this year, Louisiana lawmakers approved anti-LGBTQ bills that included a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, outlining pronoun usage for students and their version of a “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which restricts discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Louisiana has a Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, who has served since 2016 and is term-limited to the end of this year. Edwards vetoed each of the bills that passed through the state Legislature, but lawmakers overturned the bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. Continued on Page 34
G.N. South student’s suspension expunged Commish says school decision ‘shocking to the conscience’ BY K A R I N A KO VA C PHOTO COURTESY OF HERRICKS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The first game for the Herricks High School varsity football team will be on Saturday, Sept. 2.
New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa ordered the Great Neck School District to expunge a Great Neck South High School student’s disciplinary record in a sharply critical ruling released last week. Rosa called the suspension of the student, 16, in connection with a security breach last December “shocking to the conscience.” “Nowhere does it suggest that students are responsible for the security of school buildings—and nor should they be,” Rosa said.
The student had been deemed responsible for aiding armed intruders who entered the school in December and faced suspension for the rest of the school year. Superintendent Kenneth Bossert said in a statement to Blank Slate Media that he had received Rosa’s decision, but could not comment “out of respect for our students’ rights and privacy (guided by FERPA).” He said he would comply with the “Commissioner’s directive.” Bossert also said “there have been no administrative changes based on this incident. I remain committed to investigating the matter in
its entirety and reviewing with all parties involved. Appropriate outreach has been made to review the matter.” He added that “any and all security/procedural enhancements that are deemed appropriate have already been implemented or will be for the coming school year.” The suspended student, whose identity was not released, was in the lunchroom when he spotted two of the nine intruders, all teens from Queens. The student assumed the intruders attended Great Neck South, the hearing decision said. Continued on Page 35