The TIMES of Huntington • Northport • East Northport
Cold Spring Harbor • lloyd Harbor • lloyd nECK • HalESitE • HUntington bay • grEEnlawn • CEntErport • aSHaroKEn • Eaton’S nECK • Fort Salonga–wESt Volume 12, No. 8
June 4, 2015
$1.00
Culper Spy Day draws near
also, ‘the producers’ at the Engeman, ‘puss in boots’ at theatre three
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Photo by Michael DeCristofaro
It’s showtime: Stuart Zagnit and the company of “The Producers,” which opened at the John W. Engemen Theater in Northport on May 28. The show runs until July 12. For a review, see page B18.
Town board race heats up Parties pick their candidates
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NY native to take top education seat
Elia named state schools commissioner By VIcTorIa ESPINoZa
MaryEllen Elia, a former Florida school superintendent, will succeed John B. King Jr., as New York’s next education commissioner, and local education leaders across the North Shore are anxiously waiting to see if she’ll pass the test. The New York State Board of Regents formed a seven-member search committee in January to find a replacement for King, who announced he was leaving his seat after accepting a federal senior advisor position to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. For a decade, Elia served as the superintendent of Hillsborough County, Florida, and was named state superintendent of the year in 2015. She is credited with much
success in Hillsborough, as her district won $100 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help develop a teacher evaluation system that used student standardized test scores as a key factor. In January, the Hillsborough school board terminated Elia’s contract in a 4-3 vote. According to reports, she was criticized for not doing enough for special education students, while her supporters felt the ousting was a petty move made by the new majority on the school board. The system, Empowering Effective Teachers, received national praise from Duncan and the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who stated in a press release the system Elia continued on page a10
photo from state education department
MaryEllen Elia succeeds John B. King Jr. as the state’s next education commissioner.