Down-ballot in Seaford on November 8th

Usually at this time of the year, the League of Women Voters of Nassau County distributes on newsprint a voters' guide showing the ballot on election day.  For some reason, I have not seen a copy of it, nor is it available on the LWV website.  Below will be an attempt to list the options "down-ballot," particularly the choices that may suddenly present themselves when we enter the firehouse or other polling place on General Election Day.
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Judging from yard signs, there seems to be a contest for a Judge of the Family Court, involving Eileen Daly-Sapraicone , incumbent Judge Conrad Singer, and six others.  Apparently, voters are asked to choose four of the eight. A list appears far down on this page of Ballotpedia. Scroll down to Nassau Family Court for the list of eight contestants.
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On the same link, look to the next group, Nassau District Court. There are two incumbents and two not yet on that court. Voters are asked to choose two of the four.  An explanation of what District Court does is given on this page.
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For the 14th Assembly District, incumbent David McDonough's opponent is Mike Reid.
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For the 8th State Senate District, it is incumbent Michael Venditto (who makes superfluous, annoying robot telephone calls at taxpayer expense) vs. challenger John Brooks.
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For the United States House of Representatives, incumbent Peter King has DuWayne Gregory as opponent.
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For the United States Senate, Charles Schumer is opposed by Wendy Long.
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Fortunately, Google's Blogger or Blogpost allows editing, so I will add more information as I find it.  The gaps are in minor party candidates or the judgeship races.
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There seems to be no referendum on the ballot. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Natalie Naylor described one-room school houses

The Seaford Historical Society must be commended for inviting Natalie Naylor, professor emeritus from Hofstra University, to present her well-prepared slide program on “One-Room School Houses on Long Island” Thursday evening, October 6, 2016.

In 1657, the Town of Huntington designated its first school teacher, but he had no building.  As for a school building, the first seems to be the Voorlezer’s House in Staten Island, a one-room school house in the Richmondtown Museum site. From 1787, we have the Clinton School in East Hampton.  An 1826 school house from Manhasset Valley has been moved to the Old Bethpage Village Restoration.

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That Manhasset Valley school house raised a question which Professor Naylor answered.  I wondered when school districts received numbers, as both Seaford and Manhasset bear #6.  She explained that the numbering by towns began in 1821. In the Town of Hempstead, the Hempstead village schools are District 1, Uniondale District 2, Westbury District 3, Seaford District 6.  In the Town of North Hempstead, Manhasset is District 6.

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Members of the audience pointed out that we were meeting in a room that had been built for two classrooms, grades 1-4 and 5-8. The museum is the third school house in Seaford, the first being on Merrick Road.

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For most of the 1800’s, schools for grades 1-8 were called Common Schools. In New York State, they charged fees until about 1857.  The 1860’s saw the change from male to female staffing, and the salaries dropped.

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Some of us recall the statement the students had to sign when finishing a Regents examination in the 1950’s, to the effect that we had at least five recitations were week.  That expression was a hold-over from multi-grade rooms, where students often had to memorize their work and then recite it to the teacher at her desk.

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Professor Naylor distributed a very helpful description of each slide in her presentation, together with the addresses of Long Island schoolhouses, and an extensive bibliography.  Many thanks!

Temporary detour at Jones Beach

The regular entrance to Field 6 is being widened. During this construction, drivers are instructed to use a detour through an employees' parking lot. Fees are collected only on weekends, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Eight talking arrows, for safety's sake

The New York State Department of Transportation must be commended for installing loudspeakers in the button boxes of the eight pedestrian signals at Sunrise Highway and Washington Avenue, Seaford. Each emits softer beeps to help direct visually handicapped people to the button. When the large button is pressed, a loud speaker commands "Wait" and identifies which street one has requested to cross. When the visual walk signal appears (a white figure), the loudspeaker announces the street name ("Route 27" or "Washington Avenue" and declares "Walk sign is on the cross." Immediately, loud count-down beeps begin, which soften when the pedestrian signal reaches zero. 

Because there are four corners and a walker may cross in two directions from each corner, there are a total of eight buttons at this intersection.

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In my experience, in Seaford it is safer to cross Sunrise Highway (at signals maintained by the N.Y. D. of T.) than at the pedestrian signals along Merrick Road (maintained by Nassau County).  For some reason, drivers have more flagrantly cut in front of me, a pedestrian, at the Merrick Road crosswalks than along Sunrise.