Lawmaker focuses educators, execs on jobs

A former NYPD cop-turned-state assemblyman took the reins Tuesday on a key issue facing Long Island: what kind of courses high schools and colleges should teach to help graduates find positions in this highly competitive job market.

Assemb. Alfred Graf (R-Holbrook), a member of the Assembly's education committee, put together a forum at the Oakdale campus of St. John's University "to get a conversation started."

Educators from Stony Brook University, St. Joseph's College in Patchogue, Eastern Suffolk BOCES and St. John's were on hand, with representatives from LIPA, Suffolk County, small businesses and Long Island MacArthur Airport.

Graf, a police officer in Manhattan and Brooklyn for a decade before getting a law degree and running successfully last year for an Assembly seat, offered some suggestions of his own at what he called a "Learn to Work" forum.

Why don't schools teach grant writing? he asked. Why don't they establish clinics so students can practice writing grant applications for nonprofits, many of which have lost funding? How about courses in writing Medicare and Medicaid applications?

The audience picked up on his lead.

Paul Trapani, co-founder of XT Group, an information-technology company in East Meadow, said he hoped schools would teach tech-savvy students how to create business start-ups.

Brian Browne, an assistant vice president at St John's, said he agreed with the broad outline of Graf's proposal.

"We have got to do more between colleges and business," Browne said. "I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but when we have colleges and businesses getting together it's a good start."

Teresa Rizzuto, commissioner of Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, said students need skills in communicating better with customers. "Students come out lacking those skills," Rizzuto said.

Graf said the forum was just a beginning, and he asked those assembled to exchange business cards and to engage in a continuing dialogue.

When it comes to education and business needs, he said, "there seems to be a disconnect."