Wantagh
HERALD Citizen
A modern look at classic art
Lee Road students say thank you
County sales tax scenarios are grim
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Page 8
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VOL. 68 NO. 22
MAY 28 - JUNE 3, 2020
South Shore schools stress destressing
Honoring the fallen Nassau County Pipes and Drums member Terry Quinn performed during the annual Memorial Day Ceremony at Eisenhower Park on Monday. Instead of large crowds, this year’s ceremony featured a parade of more than 200 cars, which drove under an arch near the Veterans Memorial.
By J.D. FREDA jfreda@liherald.com
Christina Daly/Herald
“You are not the only one. So many students are in your position. Reach out to us. We are professionals, and we are here to help,” Wantagh High School psychologist Agnes Ramos said when asked what she tells students who acknowledge that they need help coping with the anxieties of social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic. Though clearly important before the shutdown, school psychologists are critical in helping students deal with the isolation from friends and activities that the school closures have created.
“We’ve created a website —https://sites.google.com/ wantaghschools.org/addressyour-stress/home — for all students and their families as a general baseline support,” said Jeanne Love, the Wantagh district’s director of pupil personnel services. Love said her department initially reached out to students it worked with when distance learning was first established. “But we also have students who just need support,” she said, “just students having a hard time with anxiety, or possibly have family members that are sick.” “Every Friday, we review CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Wantagh High’s new principal faces schools’ unclear future By TIMOTHY DENTON tdenton@liherald.com
Dr. Paul Guzzone’s impressive resume contains all the entries to be expected of someone who has been named to succeed longtime Principal Carolyn Breivogel at Wantagh High School. Guzzone has a doctorate in interdisciplinary studies from LIU C.W. Post, and master’s degrees in curriculum development and adolescent secondary education from the University of Albany. He served as associate principal, director of guidance counseling and coordinator of secondary special education at Oceanside High School. And he was a class-
room teacher in the Great Neck and Half Hollow Hills school districts. And somewhat unexpectedly, under “additional experience,” he lists four years as a seasonal custodian in the Half Hollow Hills Central School District. “When I applied for the teaching job at Great Neck, the superintendent said, ‘We don’t normally hire anyone without teaching experience,’” Guzzone told the Herald last week. “‘But when I saw you’d served as a custodian while getting your degrees, you looked like a person who’d do whatever he had to to accomplish his goals.’ He advised me always to keep it on my resume,
and I always have.” A commitment to setting and attaining goals may explain how the Melville native has come so far at age 35. A 2003 graduate of Half Hollow Hills High School, Guzzone was a standout offensive and defensive tackle in football and a goalkeeper in lacrosse. He attended the University of Albany on a lacrosse scholarship, and graduating cum laude in mathematics. Guzzone lives in Seaford with his wife, Christina, and their children — a son, Joseph, 2½, and an infant daughter, Lucia. Their father said he was glad to have found such a good fit professionally that was also close to
home. “Especially as a new parent,” he said, “I’m happy that this new commitment still allows me to be as involved with my family as I want to be.” Guzzone had nothing but praise for the school he is set to help lead, and for his predecessor. “They’ve done an incredible job,” he said. “In terms of core values, of educating the whole
child, of emotional and social intelligence, I’m on the same page with everything that’s being done here. I’m really fortunate and humbled to have this opportunity.” With fewer than 900 students, Wantagh is roughly half the size of Oceanside High School, Guzzone said. “The smaller size has CONTINUED ON PAGE 4