Voters reject bond that would close 3 Mineola schools

Residents voted down a bond proposal that would have closed... — Residents voted down a bond proposal that would have closed Cross Street Elementary in Mineola. Credit: Howard Schnapp

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHERjennifer.kelleher@newsday.comOctober 26, 2010

Residents last night voted to reject the bond proposal that would have closed three schools in the Mineola district: Cross Street in Williston Park, Meadow Drive in Albertson and Hampton Street in Mineola.

Voters cast 2,234 votes against the proposal and 469 votes in favor of it, school officials said.

The issue of closing schools has been a touchy subject in the district, Mineola Superintendent Michael Nagler said, because community members are fiercely protective of their neighborhood schools.

Tuesday, before the polls closed, voter Earl Higgins emerged from Cross Street Elementary, expressing sadness at the prospect of the Williston Park school closing due to declining enrollment.

"I graduated from here and I'm 73 years old," Higgins said, looking up at the brick building. "I don't want to see it close."

Higgins voted no on the $6.7-million bond that the Mineola district proposed to expand classrooms while closing three schools.

Ann Glossza, 80, of Williston Park, voted in favor of the bond, but said it was a tough decision. She said she accepts Nagler's argument that shuttering schools is necessary, even though she would prefer not to see the closing of Cross, where her children attended. "You have to do something," she said.

It's such a sensitive topic that Paul Cusato, a Mineola village trustee, declined to share how he voted after casting his ballot at Jackson Avenue Elementary in Mineola.

"I see the need," for closures, he said. "We have too many schools open."

When Cusato, 62, graduated from Mineola High School in 1996, there were 530 in his class, he said: "Now it's barely 200."

Lisa Sandler, 45, of Mineola, said she voted against the bond. "I think it's extreme closing three schools," she said. Her son is a fourth-grader at Meadow Drive.

Eric Treibman, 44, of Albertson, also voted against the bond. He said he's upset that his son, in third grade at Meadow Drive, came home Monday wearing a sticker that said "Accountability and Affordability."

"My child was used as a billboard to steer a vote," he said.

Nagler said the stickers were merely meant to remind parents to vote.

Now that voters have rejected the bond, the district will still have to close at least two schools. The district proposes splitting grades pre-K to 2 between Meadow Drive and Willis Avenue. Grades 3-4 would be at Jackson Avenue. Hampton Street and Cross Street would close.

That would require voters to approve a $4.4-million bond to build more classrooms at Jackson, Nagler said. If voters want to use Hampton Street for pre-k to 2 instead of Willis Avenue, then they would have to approve a $1.7-million bond, he said.

Mineola isn't the only Long Island district grappling with school closures. In Lindenhurst, district officials are considering closing an elementary school, which would save more than $1 million annually. Parents there have questioned whether the closure would lead to overcrowding. The school board is expected to decide in December.