At the regular meeting of the Garden City School Board on March 18, Mrs. Murphy pointed out that the State report cards of Stewart School and the Stratford School demonstrate a wide divergence of academic accomplishment and expressed concern.

Our superintendent stated generally that in his view there was no problem.

I beg to differ. While the report cards are not a panacea and are not completely accurate, if they show a significant numerical difference, this should sound an alarm. As the former deputy commandant of a United States Army Reserve School, any such academic divergences were immediately investigated. What was usually found was that the leadership of that segment of the school was lacking, further, that the subject matter was not being taught completely; some parts of the syllabus were being omitted.

In any event, a team of administrators should study what is being done in Stewart School, compare it to what is being done in Stratford School, and recommendations made for improvement. Surely the children from the West are no less intelligent than the children from the East.

The principal concern expressed by the parents at the meeting was with respect to the proposed changes in the bus schedules in order to extend the school day.

Some of the parents seemed more concerned with their own work schedules than the benefits to be derived from the extended school day; others took the position that any additional time should be added in the morning because younger children do not learn in the afternoon (what does that view say about extended kindergarten?). It should be noted that the superintendent made it clear that the longer day would be adopted.

To date no parent has expressed concern about pornography on the Internet, nor has the board addressed it, despite the fact that some senior citizens have raised it and suggested that filters be used.