Serving The Willistons, Albertson, Herricks, Mineola, Roslyn Heights, and Searingtown
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Friday, April 27, 2018
Vol. 67, No. 17
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HEALTH & WELLNESS
LUBRANO HITS $1M GOAL IN FUNDRAISING
DEMS TO BACK KAPLAN VS. PHILLIPS FOR SENATE
PAGES 37-52
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Opt-outs low for N. Shore Most students take state tests BY AMELIA CAMURATI, JANELLE CL AUSEN, REBECCA KL AR AND LUKE TORRANCE Thousands of Nassau County students opted out of the state’s English Language Arts test last week, but far fewer students on the North Shore chose not to participate than in the rest of the county. The North Shore in general has lower opt-out rates than average on Long Island, and the Herricks school district has the lowest rate, with only 11.9 percent of the students opting out. According to data accumulated by Newsday, the opt-out rate across Long Island’s school districts – save for nine who did not report – was 49.1 percent overall. A majority of students opted out in 53 of Long Island’s school districts and 62 districts reported numbers of 49 percent or lower. Nassau County’s opt-out rate was 40.7 percent overall with Continued on Page 73
Mineola ‘Grandma’ turns 100
PHOTO COURTESY OF MINEOLA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Mineola community member “Grandma” Edith Kaulbach celebrated her 100th birthday by reading to students at Hampton Street School in the Mineola Union Free School District on April 11. See story on page 87.
Dad needed a kidney. I had 1 to give A Blank Slate Media reporter tells her story of helping her ailing father BY R E B ECC A K L A R
failure I was in Paris spending his money on overpriced espresWhen my dad was first ad- sos and baguettes. He was bed-bound in the mitted to the hospital for kidney New York-Presbyterian intensive care unit. I was at the Louvre pretending to enjoy ancient art while thinking of Instagram captions. Nearly two years later he was back there in a hos-
pital bed. This time I was there, too. Not visiting but in a bed of my own around the corner. I’d like to say I put a lot of thought into deciding to donate my kidney to my dad. But I didn’t. It seemed like an obvious choice from the start; I had an extra and he needed one. Looking back a couple weeks after
the surgery, I think I should have put more thought into it than when I loan a friend an iPhone charger. The truth is the outcome would have been the same. I was determined to donate. It was only a matter of convincing my dad – an art I’ve fine-tuned over the last two decades. Continued on Page 26
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