Federal stimulus money allowed Bellmore-Merrick school districts to patch holes in their budgets caused by state aid cuts last spring, but that may not be the case entirely this year. In December, the cash-strapped state used part of its 2010-11 federal stimulus money to prevent midyear reductions in state aid for education in the current school year, said Matt Anderson, a state Budget Office spokesman. more

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Sean Gluck, a serial purse-snatcher with two prior theft convictions, has pleaded guilty to burglary and grand larceny charges after going on his third crime spree in as many years. Gluck will receive three to six years in prison in exchange for his plea. more

Following two public suicides by students in the past year, residents expressed concern at the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District last week and asked school officials to consider measures the district could take to educate students about the issues surrounding suicide. more

All five local school districts –– including the Bellmore-Merrick Central, and Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick elementary districts –– had part of their state allotments for December held back after Gov. David Paterson ordered the payments halted so the state could stay solvent. more

The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District Special Education PTA and the Community Parent Center will present the third annual Fair for Transitioning Students with Disabilities on Tuesday, Jan. 19, from 7 to 9:30p.m. in the Calhoun High School cafeteria. For more information, call Cheryl Gitlitz at (516) 992-1349. To register, e-mail MartineTyson at mmtys@optonline.net. The event will feature a panel presentation for parents and students about life after high school. more

Tzvi Lewisohn, a Calhoun High School senior, loves to win. Basketball, bowling, you name it, Lewisohn is a competitor. But, he is quick to note, more important than winning is sportsmanship. “We always congratulate the other teams,” Lewisohn, a member of Calhoun's Challenger bowling and basketball teams, says with a smile. “We don't want them to think we're out to win; we're just trying to have fun.” Of course, it doesn't hurt that both teams are undefeated for the past two years. They have not lost since the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District started the Challenger basketball league for special-education students with a handful of other Nassau County school districts in 2008. more

Craig Papach, Kennedy High School's athletic coordinator and a 19-year phys. ed. teacher, had long heard the stories of poverty and loneliness, and he wanted to help. So, on Thanksgiving morning, he and his family piled into their car and made the trek from their suburban home in a quiet Wantagh neighborhood to a tiny church on Beach 94th Street in Queens. They went to lend their hands and, equally important, their ears to a day-long effort to aid the homeless. Papach was one of 10 Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District teachers who joined roughly 100 volunteers from Rock and Wrap It Up, a Five Towns-based nonprofit group founded by Syd Mandelbaum, to feed hundreds of impoverished street denizens, some of whom had not eaten for days. more

Throughout the long, at times agonizing health reform debate, conservatives and insurance-industry lobbyists have argued that we don’t need a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers. more

I've recently written a series of articles chronicling what it's like to be arrested for drunk driving in Nassau County. Though I've had the participation of the district attorney's office, Nassau County police and a number of defense attorneys, as well as input from many readers, one voice has been noticeably absent. Until now. more

Saul Lerner, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District athletic director, recently resigned his post as coordinator of the Nassau County Boys' Basketball Committee because, he said, the Section VIII Athletic Council rejected a proposal of his to fine-tune the seeding process that ultimately determines teams' playing schedules. In 2006, Lerner was the architect of an ability-grouping system that determined a team's conference by its record. Previously, teams were assigned to conferences without much regard to their records. Rather, officials used what they called the "snake," in which teams were seeded and then laid out on a grid that wound back and forth in serpentine fashion. more