Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Polls are open until 9 p.m. Tuesday at all 12 elementary schools.
Sachem residents are at the polls Tuesday casting their ballots on a proposed $291.36 million school budget for next year. The polls will remain open until 9 p.m. at all of the district's elementary schools. If you haven't voted yet, be sure to check out our full voters guide here. We want to hear from you. How did/will you vote on the school budget? Let us know by voting in the poll below and more importantly, share your reasons why you voted the way you did in the comments section. Patch will have the results of both the budget vote and the Board of Education races as they come in Tuesday night. Stay tuned.
Monday, May 14, 2012
A final pitch from BOE candidate Douglas Duncan before Tuesday's election.
Editor's note: Patch has offered all three candidates (Douglas Duncan, Jon Siegel and Jeff Vinci) for the one contested Sachem Board of Education seat the opportunity to tell residents in their own words why they are the best choice. The following was submitted by the incumbent Douglas Duncan. A full voters guide to Tuesday's budget vote and board election will appear on Patch Monday evening. Dear Residents, I have had the honor and the privilege of serving on the Sachem Board of Education for the past six years. I first ran my freshman year of college and won, and then was humbled to be voted in by the community for a second term on the board, and I now ask you to send me back for a third term. For the past six years, we have been able to…
A final pitch from BOE candidate Jon Siegel before Tuesday's election.
Editor's note: Patch has offered all three candidates (Douglas Duncan, Jon Siegel and Jeff Vinci) for the one contested Sachem Board of Education seat the opportunity to tell residents in their own words why they are the best choice. The following was submitted by Jon Siegel. A full voters guide to Tuesday's budget vote and board election will appear on Patch Monday evening. Dear Sachem residents, My name is Jon Siegel and I am running for the Sachem Board of Education. I am a lifelong Sachem Resident, class of 1986 graduate, homeowner, and parent of three children who attend our schools. I am also like the majority of you, tired of watching our children’s educational opportunities be reduced and our home values decrease as we struggle to …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Have an opinion? A passion? A hobby? Share it on Sachem Patch!
Calling all those advocates, hand-raisers, soap-box speakers and village meeting attendees. Sachem Patch is seeking a few good bloggers to add to our site. Are you passionate about government? Participate in local politics? Attend Board of Education meetings? Sit on a board, committee or group? Volunteer in town? Have a love of sports, arts or science? Love to write? Then we want you to blog for us! Our Local Voices Bloggers can write daily, weekly or monthly on a topic of choice. Short or long, essay style or a quick how-to. Blogging on Patch is a great way to share your opinions with the community and get your voice out there. Interested? Email Ryan Bonner at ryan@patch.com today and learn more about our Local Voices bloggers.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
U.S. Senate vote last month along party lines doomed proposal for raising taxes on many millionaires.
The Senate voted 51-45 last month for the Paying a Fair Share Act of 2012—endorsing the bill that would make possible the “Buffett Rule” on taxes. But it fell short of the 60 votes needed to make it filibuster-proof. And the proposal failed to advance. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has said the Democrats will bring up the proposal again. Republicans have called the proposal "class warfare." Schumer disputes that. "We have believed as country that higher income people should pay a higher percentage of income" for a 100 years," New York's senior senator told CBS News last month. "There is no class warfare involved, it is simply a question of fairness." Should Schumer and other Democrats give up their drive? Or press ahead despite the odds? Vote…
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Announces pilot program in attempt to curb "rambunctious behavior" on LIRR.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced earlier this week that it would be starting a pilot program that bans the consumption of alcohol on weekend night trains on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) out of Penn Station. The ban comes as an attempt to stop what the MTA has referred to as "rambunctious behavior." The affected trains – also known as "drunk trains" by many who ride them due to drunken, loud and sometimes violent behavior – will run between midnight and 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights starting May 14. "There is rambunctious behavior on these weekend overnight trains, and this is an effort to curb that and set a better tone on those trains," MTA spokesman Sam Zambuto told The Daily News. According to the New…
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Brookhaven Town unemployment rate was 8 percent in February, the same as last year.
The unemployment rate on Long Island was 7.8 percent in February, slightly up from 7.7 percent during the same month last year, according to the state Labor department. In Brookhaven, the figure in February, 8 percent, was exactly the same as it was a year ago. February was the first time in eight months that the unemployment rate, compared to the year prior, has not declined in Brookhaven. In the Town of Islip, unemployment was also static year over year at 8.5 percent in February. Analysts have said the figures could actually be a good sign, meaning that more people who had dropped out of the work force are now looking for a job again, hopeful of a better job market. In Brookhaven, the number of people in the labor force rose from 254,…
Thursday, April 19, 2012
School board discusses scenarios if budget fails. Which do you value more: full-day K or class sizes?
Although the Sachem Board of Education is hoping for the needed 60 percent resident vote on the school budget next month, the board is planning on making it clear to the community what may be cut if the budget fails. Among the possible budget cuts discussed Wednesday night: turning the district's full-day kindergarten program into half-day and increasing class sizes at the elementary level by two students above the target levels. Each of those options would save the district $1.5 million. The board talked a bit Wednesday about which option would be cut first if need be before deciding not to place a "hierarchy" on either at this point. We'd like to hear from you, though. What is more important to the district? Keeping full-day kindergarten…
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A love of Bruce Springsteen brought the author and FDNY Lt. Rich Nappi together.
Editor's note: The following is from a Local Voices post on our Bel Air, Maryland site. A great man died Monday. He never won the Nobel Peace Prize or found the cure for cancer. He didn’t hit monstrous home runs or bring politicians together to solve our nation’s ills. But I’d like to tell you about him anyway. I first met FDNY Lt. Richard A. Nappi in a parking lot at a Bruce Springsteen concert. He wasn’t a lieutenant then… that came a few years later. He was tailgating with a bunch of people I met through a now defunct Bruce Springsteen board called LiveDaily, and was known as FireRich. I considered him a friend, even though we only saw each other at Springsteen concerts in the New York area — which over the last 13 years amounted to …
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Joe Corbisiero
6:03 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
I went to Tamarac to vote, only to find out that my registration to vote hasn't been processed yet? Meanwhile Sachem had all the Seniors register to vote 2 months ago in their history classes.... Looks like a good sign for Sachem.... more ›