BEACON RECORD The Village
Mount Sinai • Miller Place • Sound Beach • rocky Point • ShorehaM • Wading river • leiSure country october 8, 2015
Volume 31, no. 11
$1.00
631-941-4300
143239
STAC’s Member Artist Showcase opens Also: ‘James and the giant Peach’ at the engeman, gilding the Coasts exhibit at the Long Island Museum
PAge B1
Photo by giselle Barkley
Heritage trust Carnival ends WitH a Bang: the fourth day was a charm for the heritage trust center’s
Lessons after loss
Sarah Anker holds safety forum to raise awareness of sports hazards
PAge A8
carnival. after three days of wet and windy weather, residents of Miller Place, Mount Sinai and neighboring communities finally gathered at heritage Park to enjoy the fourth and final day of the center’s seventh annual carnival on Sunday, oct. 4. those who stayed into the evening hours were treated to fireworks, which were rescheduled from Friday to Sunday. see more photos on page a7.
Miller Place puts end to pep rally Board of education cites poor behavior as reason for cancellation By Victoria Espinoza
Miller Place students and parents alike were very disappointed with the administration’s decision to cancel this year’s high school pep rally. “I am aware some students misbehaved,” Louann Cronin, a Miller Place resident, said, “but they should suffer, not our student athletes. I am here on behalf of the good, hardworking students, and I don’t think it’s fair.” Approximately 30 students
and parents gathered at the Sept. 30 board meeting, all upset with this decision that they felt they were not a part of at all. “This does not feel like a community decision,” Steve Delurey, another Miller Place resident, said. Superintendent Marianne Higuera stood by the decision. “It’s gotten progressively worse in the last three years,” Higuera said. “We added extra chaperones last year in order to reduce peer mistreatment, but many students last year made
poor choices. When I can’t guarantee the health and safety of 1,000 kids at an event, I can’t agree to have that event. That is why this is not a community discussion, because you are not responsible for those kids. But I am.” While members of the board seem divided on their personal feelings regarding the pep rally, they stood behind the executive decision. “I am sorry to see pep rally go,” Johanna Testa, president of PeP RALLY continued on page A8
Photo by Victoria espinoza
Miller Place student Sabrina luisa speaks during the Sept. 30 board of education meeting.