I am truly disgusted with the Hicksville "gripe" committee's major "influence" over those residents who always look for the bad things about our schools, teachers, students, etc. Those people such as Helen Lafferty, Tom Walsh, et al, have once again turned off the voters to a worthwhile voting opportunity - the bond issue of March 2002.

Mrs. Lafferty has a very short memory, especially of when her children attended school and she wanted the budget passed. But now that she is a senior citizen, she will not vote to pass a school budget, nor a much needed bond. My mother is a senior citizen who still resides in Hicksville, also on a fixed income, and she, too, believes we should do the best and the right thing for the children of the district.

When was the last time any of the readers and/or residents of Hicksville went to any of the concerts or plays at the high school or middle school? Have you attended football, baseball/softball or basketball games? The quality of the performances put forth by our children and grandchildren, or just your neighbors is amazing. Here is where your tax dollars go. Check out the next concert offered and listen with an open heart and mind to these children. (F.Y.I. - there are three district concerts coming up in the next few weeks, with spring concerts in all of our schools in May.)

It is such a shame for all of the residents of Hicksville retired or not, that the school administration and teaching staff must have such a negative group to battle for every little and large thing. Maybe if some of the senior citizens who have an hour or two a week would offer their time to an elementary class or help a child with reading or math, they might find it very rewarding.

I have taught in East Meadow for the last 10 years. East Meadow has floated three bond issues in that time and we have finally gotten new windows, new boilers and many necessary improvements. Sure, even the teachers gripe a bit about the timing of some of the projects, and I am as guilty of that as the next person. But the schools are 50 years old and were very drafty, as witnessed by the shades hitting the fixed pencil sharpener on my window sill when the windows were closed. Now we are having our school bathrooms remodeled so that they meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, a necessity for those who are physically challenged. Yes, it takes a while to have this work completed, but I sure do wish that the administrators did not have to take the lowest bidders because it takes forever and a day to have the work completed. If the law allowed their districts to accept the next to the lowest bidder for these projects we might have the projects completed in a more timely manner.

It is amazing that many people forget that the fixtures and boilers are so old that it may be difficult to get replacement parts or that they are just plain worn out and need total replacement.

It is useless to blame the members of any school board for the test scores for the district's children. These people aren't taking the tests; the children are taking the tests. The only thing the school board can do is to help provide the district's teachers and students with the resources necessary to educate the children. The teachers and administrators can only help the students to reach these goals. There has been a lot of discussion - statewide - about the necessity of "teaching to the test," which is what ultimately happens as the teachers teach the children strategies for test taking. But the school board is not ultimately responsible for these results, the children and parents are. Without the support of the parents and community, the children will not perform well on any test.

I sincerely hope that the school board places the bond issue before the voters again and that more residents of all ages will get out to vote. If the bond issue was presented in a stepwise program we might not have such a large tax burden at one time, but our children and residents would benefit in the long run.

Remember, we all must get out to exercise our right to vote.

JoAnn T. Hulver