Serving Roslyn, East Hills, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Heights, Greenvale, Old Westbury and North Hills
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Friday, April 7, 2023
Vol. 11, No. 14
SANTOS ATTENDS TRUMP RALLY PAGE 6
TOWN OKs PLANDOME RD. SEWER PLAN
BLANK SLATE MEDIA WINS 6 STATE AWARDS
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No Universal Pre-K lottery in Roslyn District received fewer applicants than seats available in new program BY C A M E RY N O A K ES The Roslyn Union Free School District announced it will not be holding a lottery for enrollment in its newly established Universal Pre-Kindergarten program due to a low volume of applications, according to the district’s director of community relations and adult education. The program, which will be run by The Growing Tree Nursery School — the Roslyn Universal Pre-K center — has approximately 86 spots available as under the grant funding. Cynthia Younker, the district’s director of community relations, said the district received about 70 applications, which were due Feb. 27 online or by mail. It was not clear why the number of applications fell short of the projected spots. The district’s pre-K program, which will begin for the first time this fall, was fully funded by a New York State Department of Education grant specifically for the district to establish the program. Under the state’s guidelines for the grant, a random selection through a lottery is required to determine which applicants are admitted into the program.
The program itself will come at no cost to Roslyn taxpayers, the district or the families and students enrolled. The continuation of the program each year is fully dependent on funding from New York State, according to the district. Younker said The Growing Tree Nursery School establishes the curriculum for the pre-K program, which will be age and developmentally-appropriate, address the New York State PreKindergarten Early Learning Standards and be in accordance with education laws and the regulations of the commissioner of education. She said the district issued a Request for Proposals from eligible early childhood agencies, which then submitted proposals if interested. The Growing Tree was the only agency whose proposal met the New York State UPK Program requirements. Class size requirements for stateadministered pre-K establish the maximum class size at 20 children. For classes of up to 18 students, one teacher and one paraprofessional are required for each class. For classes of 19 or 20 students, one teacher and two paraproContinued on Page 40
PHOTO BY KAREN RUBIN/NEWS-PHOTOS-FEATURES.COM
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers his ‘Florida Blueprint’ at the Cradle of Aviation Museumon Saturday. See story on page 12.
Flower Hill approve $4M budget, Port fire contract BY C A M E RY N O A K ES
ing a 7% overall budget decrease from the current fiscal year. Mayor Randall Rosenbaum said The Village of Flower Hill unanimously approved a $4 million bud- the tax increase is due in part to a get with a 1.5% tax increase for rise in the village’s expenses for fire 2023-2024 Monday evening, mark- protection. He said the Roslyn Fire
Department raised its fire budget by 6% due to a reassessment and the department opted not to engage in a five-year phase-in, which the village requested. Because of this RosenContinued on Page 41
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