Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
$1.50
Friday, May 17, 2024
Vol. 73, No. 20
LIVING 50+
ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN DEMS CLAIM SECRET LESSON DRAWS OUTRAGE MILITIA MEETINGS
PAGES 23-26
PAGE 9
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Herricks OKs up to $35M for abuse claims
P E P R A L LY
Bond would cover settlement of 17 remaining Child Victims Act suits The Herricks Board of Education approved payment of up to $35 million in bonds to settle 17 child sex abuse claims against the district at a meeting Thursday night. The district has paid more than $1 million thus far to settle four of the 21 total sex abuse claims against the district. One case against the district is still on trial, Assistant Superintendent for Business Lisa Rutkoske said. Herricks won one case in March when the district was found not negligible in the first Child Victims Act case against a Long Island school district to go to trial. With the pending $35 million settlement of the 17 remaining claims, all cases against the district except one will be closed, Rutkoske said. The 2019 Child Victims Act extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sex abuse. The temporary law, which was in effect through 2021, allowed survivors more time to press criminal charges against offenders and more time to file a claim for money damages. Prior to the act, child sex abuse survivors had between one and five years to bring a civil lawsuit against their abuser, with that one- to five-year period starting once the victim turned 18. The 21 lawsuits against Herricks were filed by former students who
claimed they were abused between 1973 and 1991 by then-school psychologist Vincent Festa. In the cases that went to trial, plaintiffs alleged that the district ignored initial reports of abuse in the 1980s, thus permitting the abuse to ensue. In the case that Herricks won, attorney Jeffrey Herman, who represented anonymous plaintiff J.G., said knowledge of Festa’s alleged abuse was so rampant that he was widely referred to in school as “Festa the Molester.” During the trial, the district conceded that Festa did sexually abuse the plaintiff, but denied that school officials permitted his actions. Festa was arrested in 1993 after he was accused of sexually abusing six teenage boys in his Ronkonkoma neighborhood. He was sentenced to five years of probation and required to register as a sex offender. He was later charged with a registered sex offender violation after failing to register his email addresses and service providers. He died in 2011 at 82. The Herricks board adopted a 20242025 budget in April of $141,710,364 with a tax levy increase of 2.38%, which is within the state tax cap. Sinanis said the average tax levy increase over the past seven years was 1.78%. Continued on Page 37
PHOTO COURTESY OF EAST WILLISTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Wheatley School students compete in a barrel race at the final pep rally of the school year.
Schechter School adds planters for protection B Y T A Y L O R H E R Z L I C H a driver decides to smash their car by a grant that the school applied for
into the building, Associate Head of The Schechter School of Long Is- School Ofra Hiltzik said. She said the planters are not a reland has added large planters around the perimeter of the building as a action to the current political climate. The empty planters were funded preventative safety measure in case
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through its security company, Global Operations Security Services Inc., in response to the firm’s recommendation, she said. Continued on Page 38
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