Long Islander of the week: Students of Uniondale High

STUDENTS OF

UNIONDALE HIGHAll decent people feel sympathy. This weekend's grief is impossible to avoid. But when the earthquake hit near Port-au-Prince, it sent some of its most severe aftershocks to places like Uniondale High School, where 163 students are of Haitian descent. "It's very, very hard," Principal Florence Simmons said. Sophomore Javan Williams couldn't reach his father. Pierre Julie Abraham was still holding out hope for her brother. Senior Aide Jean got a call at school from her mother. Her father, an accounting professor in the Haitian capital, was crushed to death in class. What's a teacher or a principal or a caring community supposed to tell such kids?