For the past six years I have been privileged to be able to use this space to talk to the school community of Farmingdale about education from the perspective of the teachers who educate your children. But this is my last column because the open door of retirement beckons.

After 37 years of correcting grammar, assigning reading lists, coaching drama groups, basking in the reflected glow of accomplished thespians and helping to run one of the finest teacher organizations on Long Island, I am eager to start the next chapter of my life.

Before I go, I have some parting thoughts:

Farmingdale kids are great. I've traveled to other Long Island schools and listened to the stories of my colleagues and I've come to the inescapable conclusion that Farmingdale's young people are among the best a teacher could hope for. Bright, enthusiastic, eager, funny, articulate, they deserve all these adjectives, and more. No, it wasn't a total picnic, but most of it was.

Farmingdale teachers are true professionals. Over the years I've gotten to know thousands of them very well, from the old-timers I encountered in my first few years (who, all of a sudden, don't seem so old) to the young teachers fresh out of college. They care about kids; they work hard; they have a sense of adventure about learning and they continually work to maintain professional standards.

Farmingdale parents go the extra mile. I hear ugly stories from other districts where many parents are no-shows at parent-teacher conferences, school concerts, plays, even sporting events. Not so in Farmingdale. With few exceptions, Farmingdale parents are concerned, caring and eager to be partners with teachers in the critical education process of our young people.

All this sounds a bit Pollyanna-ish so indulge me while I briefly rant on some subjects that still make me cranky.

* Education is like a three-legged stool with students, parents and teachers each being a supporting leg. It takes all three legs to make the stool work. This doesn't happen when students don't do homework, when parents pull them out of school for a week to visit Disney World and when they expect teachers to make allowances for it.

* Students who do little or nothing in the way of class participation or homework and wait until the day before an important test to demand extra help from teachers are acting foolishly and irresponsibly. Students who fall asleep in class because they are working too many hours after school so they can buy more "stuff" are forfeiting their education. Teachers can't control what happens after school, but parents can - and should. The lesson that school comes first has to start in the home.

* The tyranny of testing has got to end. Don't get me wrong. Tests are good. Tests are useful tools to measure learning and the accomplishment of goals. But the pendulum has swung too far. Tests have become not one tool, but all-consuming monsters that are affecting the ability of the schools to educate our children. Somehow, the balance needs to be found.

* Finally, school board meetings are supposed to be open forums for the community to express its hopes and desires to board members. Unfortunately, small groups of naysayers often completely dominate these meetings, sometimes talking so frequently and so long - and with such venom - that others give up in disgust and go home without participating. That's not right or productive. Civility is a lesson that children need to learn and the best models are the adults in their lives. Again, a balance needs to be struck before the community becomes even more polarized.

Although I am retiring, I plan to stay in Farmingdale and remain active in civic life, working with you to assure that the spirit of Farmingdale continues. As I close one door in my life, I open another, confident that the best is yet to come.