I am a long term resident of Long Island, moving here from New York City when I was 8 years old, and attended the Long Island Public School system. I am a single mom raising a son who is an incoming 10th grader in our local high school in Mt Sinai. 

As a former local business woman who serviced her community for years, I have come to know many of our residents as well as the neighboring townspeople. I run the local Facebook page for Mount Sinai Moms and Dads, a page that is dedicated to recognizing our children and students' achievements and triumphs. I am also the president of the Mt. Sinai Booster Club, and a former board member for the school's PTO. I love being involved in our schools and helping out wherever I can. Currently with sports on hold, we are still busy raising funds for our local teams as we know that the student athletes will eventually play again. 

My son and I, as a team, made the decision to choose the hybrid model to return to school as he was very much wanting to be in the school, with many friends, adhering to the rules and getting to work person to person with his teachers. This choice was not easy, but for our family it was what worked best. The decision for all families is a difficult road to travel and wherever they wind up is the "Right " place for their children until all children may return to school once again. I believe as parents we need to be there for each other and respect these decisions. It's not a perfect world and then again no one is perfect so let's just be kind and get through this together. 

I see so many people struggling through this time period, and I want to be there for them. I look forward to hopefully being an Education Ambassador and helping others along this crazy road to travel. 

Sept. 2 - Lisa discusses choosing hybrid learning for her son.

My son is entering 10th grade, his first day as hybrid learning is Sept 10, as he is the second part of the alphabet.  I purchased another laptop for my son to work with as he was always using mine and I never got to my things to do in the early evening during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's an investment, but with him being in the higher grades, every grade counts. I have purchased minimal new items as three days at home does not require a lot of NEW back to school clothing. In regard to school supplies, we wanted to make sure we had enough pencils, reinforced loose leaf paper and plastic folders. I have some small hand sanitizers for him to carry in his backpack as well as plenty of blue surgical masks. Seems like you can never have enough these days. I will be driving him to school until I know more about the bus and route and number of kids on the route. We are a very small district, and the school is approximately three miles from home.