Students, educators question lawmakers on a variety of school issues at workshop
Panelists at Saturday's 19th Annual Regional Legislative Workshop in the Longwood school district. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Suffolk County students and educators peppered a dozen of their state lawmakers with questions during a forum Saturday, pinning them down on issues ranging from mask and vaccine mandates to mental health programs to free school meals for all students.
Far from lobbing softball questions at the lawmakers, those gathered at Longwood Middle School in Middle Island for the 19th Annual Regional Legislative Workshop asked the lawmakers to promise to fight for what they wanted — and, in some cases, didn't want.
Laura Rogacki, a member of the Islip school board, said people are concerned about the potential for future mandates to wear masks in schools, and the possibility of the COVID-19 vaccine being added to the required vaccinations in schools.
The lawmakers noted that such measures were not mentioned in Gov. Kathy Hochul's recently proposed budget or State of the State message. They added that they've received numerous letters and emails opposing the moves.
"I can tell you with pretty good certainty that this will not become law," said Assemb. Douglas Smith (R-Holbrook) "It's very controversial."
Centereach High School senior Sadia Huda spurred a robust discussion when she asked the legislators to support funding for free meals for all students. This was not included in Hochul's proposed budget, so it would have to emerge from negotiations between lawmakers and the governor.
Hochul presented her $227 billion Executive Budget on Wednesday for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins April 1.
"Parents are struggling to make ends meet, which often means that either their children go hungry or they accumulate school meal debt — which they can't afford," Huda said.
Assemb. Joseph DeStefano (R-Medford) responded that nutritious meals are needed for a student to succeed, adding, "If any of us said we were against this, you'd throw us out."
But then Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) weighed in with a different opinion.
"Families who can afford to pay for it should," Fitzpatrick said of school meals. "Making everything free makes it difficult to fund other areas."
Part lobbying effort and part schmooze session, the workshop had the air of a post-pandemic event, drawing about 400 people to the school, with attendees sitting shoulder-to-shoulder without masks.
The event, co-sponsored by Eastern Suffolk BOCES and the Suffolk Region PTA, had been held remotely for the past two years.
Longwood High School sophomore Joseph Caliendo noted that the pandemic has worsened student anxiety and depression, and he asked the lawmakers how they planned to support efforts to address these mental health needs.
Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor) said he believes the best solutions come from community members themselves, adding, "Our role is to try and get the funding."
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) emphasized the urgency to address the issue.
"If we don't pay the bill now, the bill will be much bigger later," LaLota said.
State Sen. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) said part of the problem is that students don't know about programs that are out there.
"Perhaps they could share information during morning announcements" at schools, he said.
Sia Minhas, a William Floyd High School senior, questioned the feasibility of the requirement that school buses reach zero emissions by 2035. She said that will be difficult for districts that run their own bus fleet due to the costs of electric buses, and challenging for those districts such as William Floyd that contract with transportation providers.
Murray said he believes the state needs to take action to reduce bus emissions, but there ought to be more flexibility to the deadline.
"Sometimes I think we set deadlines for headlines," said Murray, pointing to the costs of electric buses and charging stations.
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
