Congressman Steve Israel Visits Woodhull School
These are busy days in the U.S. House of Representatives as Congress eyes either a bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit or mandatory cuts in spending to accomplish the same goal. But, when Max Robins wrote a letter inviting Congressman Steve Israel to Woodhull Intermediate School, the six term representative came and spent an hour answering questions posed by students.
A Woodhull sixth grader, Mr. Robins serves as the school's student council president. Mr. Israel is the fifth ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives. Prior to being elected to Congress in November 2000, he had served for seven years on the Huntington Town Board.
On the day of his visit, Mr. Israel spoke briefly to Woodhull's sixth graders in the school gym before taking questions for nearly one hour. The queries ranged from the nature of his job and if it was fun to whether he has met President Barack Obama, which he has on many occasions.
Mr. Israel quizzed the students on their knowledge of congressional apportionment, asking the youngsters if they knew how the amount of U.S. House members for each state were determined and then he went on to explain how the decennial census establishes the number of representatives for all 50 states.
"The students were enthusiastic and were able to keep the congressman occupied with their inquiries," said Mark Helstrom, a Woodhull sixth grade teacher. Mr. Israel sits on the House Committee on Appropriations and subcommittees on energy and water development, state, foreign operations and related programs and military construction, veteran's affairs and related agencies.
"The students were excited and well-behaved for the congressman," said Paul Esposito, a sixth grade teacher at the school. "He was energetic and humorous and explained his job and responsibilities at their level. Some student questions included how he felt to be away from his family so much and what his salary was. He said that he was required to maintain an additional residence in DC, which keeps him away from his wife and daughter 5-6 days a week."
Near the end of his time with Woodhull's students, Mr. Israel asked what students thought of a proposed new law: Woodhull would not close for summer vacation. Instead, classes would continue throughout July and August. "Several students were chosen to explain why they were against it, and as you'd expect, the majority vote was against it," Mr. Esposito said.
"It caused a big stir from the students," said Patricia Nowack, a sixth grade teacher, about the proposed bill. "Some students approached the microphone and made some good points. They said that Mr. Israel's bill was not fair and shouldn't be passed. The students gave some good reasons, such as it is too long for student to maintain focus on subjects all year long. They also said that vacation resorts and businesses would lose money because families would not be able to go away and that it would cost taxpayers money to pay the teachers and to keep the school building running. It was an interesting exercise."
Mr. Robins has not yet announced his future political plans, but if he runs for Congress one day, no one is about to discount his chance of winning. He's a determined young man who aims for the stars and has a way of accomplishing what he sets out to do.