Regarding last week's letter from Helen Lafferty, Carole Lawson and Thomas Walsh: It is obvious that we do not agree on issues of public education and probably never will. However, I would like to set the record straight regarding several statements they have made.

The idea that not taping board committee meetings disenfranchises the public is ludicrous. With perhaps four exceptions, the only members of the "public" who requested tapes of meetings over the past two years are Lafferty, Lawson and Walsh - who apparently expect the district to run a free taping service for the convenience of three people so they don't have to come to meetings. However, they have no problem with suggesting that parents of more than 1,000 students pay a rental fee for the district's own instruments if their children want to participate in the instrumental music curriculum and they also object to expenses for the 20 to 30 students who, in past years, made up the Winterguard team.

Lafferty, Lawson and Walsh state that they never opposed tax increases that "could be justified by sound educational programs and responsible fiscal management," but they haven't approved of any budget since Ms. Lafferty's term as board president years ago, when teachers were given a zero percent pay raise and the fund balance was depleted for the sole purpose of minimizing taxes. Despite the fact that they continue to compare Hicksville's test scores to other districts which spend 20 to 50 percent more per pupil, I can't remember when they ever proposed increasing a budget to expand student programs, rather than cutting programs to cut taxes. Lafferty, Lawson and Walsh object to my use of the word "tax-pac" in describing their opinions, but clearly, our students and education are not their primary focus.

Over the past years we have seen entire boards removed from office for fiscal mismanagement, auditoriums full of parents unhappy with board members' educational decisions demanding their resignations, hotly contested elections with three candidates vying for the same board seat and trustees who did not represent the will of the public thrown out of office. The residents of Hicksville are certainly not reticent about expressing their displeasure with board members who exhibit poor educational leadership and bad financial decisions. The fact that this is not happening now indicates that the majority of Hicksville residents do not agree with the opinions of Lafferty, Lawson and Walsh. Helen Lafferty and Thomas Walsh presented themselves to the Hicksville voters as candidates for school board trustee. Ms. Lafferty failed to be re-elected to the board and Mr. Walsh, despite running multiple times, also failed to be elected. If they were truly the "voice of the silent Hicksville taxpayers" as they claim, wouldn't they now be sitting on the board of education?

Carol Koegl