The South Huntington School District was honored to welcome the Chairman of the New York State Assembly’s Education Committee, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, along with our local assemblyman, Steve Stern, for a tour of two of our schools on May 2nd. The Education Committee works to ensure that enough money is included in the state budget each year to give schools the funding they need to provide students with the best possible education. 

Assemblyman Benedetto visited the district five years ago and wanted to return post pandemic to see for himself how our district is recovering, discover how the schools are using education aid from Albany, and hear from board members and administrators why increased state funding is needed in the next several years to maintain what the district offers students now and to offer new programs and classes in the future.

“The chairman’s last visit provided the opportunity to do some of the wonderful things that we're going to celebrate today and also provides an opportunity for us to discuss what comes next,” explained Assemblyman Stern. “We just made it through this [state] budget cycle. This was not an easy one. Everybody's top priority was the funding of the education of our children. And so we were very successful at the end of the day in this budget round of fighting back some of the very draconian cuts that many school districts are facing, not just across the Long Island region, but throughout New York State.” 

The visit started with a stop at a Virtual Enterprise class at Walt Whitman. This popular elective business course taught by Sandy Steuber requires students to create and manage a virtual business, giving them hands-on lessons in how real-world companies operate and what real executives do. They also compete against other Virtual Enterprise classes from around the country and internationally in business plan and marketing competitions. The students explained how the class has helped many of them realize that a Business or Marketing degree is what they’ll pursue in college.

The assemblymen were then welcomed to an Anatomy and Physiology class where students were working with the Anatomage 3D virtual dissection tables. These state-of-the-art, fully interactive, life-sized touch screens - about the size of an operating table - allow students to virtually dissect human cadavers. They are more commonly found in colleges, universities and medical schools but South Huntington is one of only a handful of districts across the country to give students the experience at the high school level.  

The next stop was Whitman’s science research classrooms where several of our award-winning students presented the research projects they’ve been working on this year. Teachers Fred Feraco and John Karavias were happy to explain the classes they teach and show Assemblymen Benedetto and Stern the 600-gallon coral reef aquarium our students use for independent research.

Stimson Middle School proudly welcomed the legislators to the Life Skills classroom. This specially outfitted classroom, equipped with a full working kitchen, dining area, laundry area, living room, and classroom area with a smart board, allows teachers to work seamlessly through the day teaching math, english, and social studies lessons, plus functional life skills for students with mild to severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. This class was of particular interest to Assemblyman Benedetto who was a special education teacher for a good portion of his 35 years as an educator before being elected to the State Assembly in 2004.

After lunch was served to our guests in the Heritage Room at the James Kaden Administration Offices, Walt Whitman Principal John Murphy gave a presentation on the district’s nationally-recognized program that has increased diversity in the population of high school students who sign up for AP courses. Board of Education President Nicholas Ciappetta then explained why South Huntington should get more money from the state in accordance with what similar districts get and what new projects, classes and programs that money would be used for. 

While Assemblyman Benedetto admits he doesn’t get to visit schools as much as he would like to, it’s important to get out of the legislative bubble, talk to teachers and see what will benefit schools. He was happy to be back in our classrooms and was very impressed by what he saw.   “We send an awful lot of money out to school districts from Albany. And then we say to the good people, the good superintendents and principals and so on, make sure you use this money correctly. And here they certainly are,” said Benedetto.

The visit started with a stop at a Virtual Enterprise class at Walt Whitman, where seniors in the class shared their experiences being in VE with the day's guests. 

Assemblyman Steve Stern gets a close look at students in the Anatomy and Physiology class where they were working with the Anatomage 3D virtual dissection tables.

The visit included a quick stop at the high school's new Vicki L. Dollin Art Gallery.

The next stop was Whitman’s science research classrooms where several of our award-winning students presented the research projects they’ve been working on this year.

They Assemblymen appreciated visiting Stimson's Life Skills classroom that is specially equipped with a full working kitchen, dining area, laundry area, living room, and classroom area with a smart board.

After lunch was served to our guests in the Heritage Room at the James Kaden Administration Offices, Walt Whitman Principal John Murphy gave a presentation on the district’s nationally-recognized program that has increased diversity in the population of high school students who sign up for AP courses.