Serving Roslyn, East Hills, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Heights, Greenvale, Old Westbury and North Hills
$1.50
Friday, February 16, 2024
Vol. 12, No. 7
GUIDE TO CAMP
ROSLYN STUDENT RAISES $1.8K IN ART COMPETITION
BLANK SLATE HONORS 40 UNDER 40
PAGES 23-30
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Suozzi beats Mazi easily Democrat regains Santos’ congressional seat in heated race with national implications BY C A M E RY N O A K ES
PHOTO BY CAMERYN OAKES
Democrats Tom Suozzi claims victory over Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip in race for disgraced Rep. George Santos’ 3rd Congressional District.
Democrat Tom Suozzi easily defeated Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip in a hotly contested special election with national implications Tuesday night for the congressional seat vacated by disgraced former Rep. George Santos. With 100% of the precincts reporting, Suozzi had won 91,338 of the votes to Pilip’s 78,229 — nearly 54% to 46% — in a race with unexpectedly high turnout despite snow early Tuesday. Nearly 85% of the vote came from the Nassau County portion of a district that stretches from Massapequa to the south, up across the North Shore and into eastern Queens. “Despite all the attacks. Despite all the lies about Tom Suozzi and the Squad. About Tom Suozzi being the godfather of the migrant crisis. Sanctuary Suozzi,” Suozzi said in claiming victory at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. “Despite the dirty tricks. Despite the vaunted Nassau County Republican machine. We won!” “This race was fought amidst the closely divided electorate, much like
our country,” Suozzi went on to say. “This race was centered on immigration and the economy much like the issues all across our country. We won this race, we, you won this race… and we found a way to bind our divisions.” Suozzi’s win represented the first significant victory in a major race for Nassau Democrats in three years. Jay Jacobs, the Nassau County and New York State Democratic Party chair, called Suozzi the “comeback kid” for reclaiming his congressional seat after stepping down to run in an unsuccessful primary bid for governor in 2022. In a concession speech to her supporters at the Lannin restaurant in East Meadow, Pilip said: “We are fighters. Yes, we lost, but it doesn’t end here.” The race heavily focused on national issues such as abortion and immigration with Suozzi at the end contrasting his support for bipartisan border security legislation developed in the Senate that Pilip opposed. Former President Donald Trump, who is the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination, Continued on Page 42
Roslyn enrollment shows little growth BY C A M E RY N O A K ES School districts on Long Island’s North Shore have seen drops in enrollment in the past decade, nearly amounting to double-digit percentage drops in their student populations at some of the schools, but some are still seeing increases of the opposite
degree. Blank Slate Media analyzed the enrollment of the 13 North Shore schools based on data from the New York State Department of Education. Of the 13 school districts on the North Shore, slightly more than half have seen drops in their enrollment since 2012.
The seven school districts recording decreases in enrollment are Carle Place down 8.9%, East Williston 8.2%, Manhasset 8.1%, Sewanhaka 6.1%, Westbury 2.7%, Glen Cove 2.1% and New Hyde Park-Garden City Park 0.8%. Six school districts, though, experienced growth in their student populations over the decade. North Shore school districts with a growing enrollment are Port Washington up 2.2%, Roslyn 2.8%, Great Neck 3.6%, Mineola 6.1%, Floral Park-Bellerose 8.6% and Herricks with the highest increase of 12.8%. The total enrollment of the
13 North Shore school districts has dropped marginally with a 0.05% decrease, amounting to nearly 25 fewer students over the decade. The decline in enrollment for North Shore schools follows a larger trend in school districts across Long Island and New York State seeing a decrease in their student populations. Newsday reported that 76% of Long Island school districts saw drops in their enrollment from the 20122013 school year to the 2022-2023 school year. Of North Shore school districts, 53.8% had decreases in student enrollment. Overall, Newsday reported that
student enrollment dropped by 7.33% across the Island with Suffolk County recording a decline of 10.5% compared to Nassau County’s smaller decrease of 3.3%. School enrollment has become a key issue in the governor’s proposed budget and subsequent state aid to schools. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2025 budget proposal includes an allocation of $35.3 billion in state school aid. This is an increase of $825 million from the prior budget, or a rise of 2.4%, amounting to the highest proposal for school funding in the state’s history. Continued on Page 43