The Levittown Board of Education and School Superintendent, Dr. Herman Sirois, have announced an agreement in which the annual compensation of the superintendent will be reduced by over 18 percent and then frozen for a three year period.

Dr. Sirois brought the idea of freezing his salary to the board two years ago because he saw that his salary was not in keeping with the salaries of other superintendents in Nassau County. He says, "It seemed appropriate to have my salary within the range of my colleagues and not be allowed to run higher." According to Sirois, it was because of the history of his employment and the fact that the district was in the middle of the bond issue that made the situation more complicated, thus making it so the board did not have time to evaluate the situation until recently. In those two years Sirois's salary has increased to a point where freezing his salary would not be enough to make it proportional to the other superintendents so they had to instate a pay reduction. Sirois states that, "If we had been able to resolve this two years ago, when I first brought it up with the board, we could have handled it through a freeze." He adds, "At that point my salary wasn't particularly out of line. It happened in the last couple of years. We saw it coming, which is why we started renegotiating it, but it didn't happen until this year." A new contract had to be drawn up for Sirois with these salary alterations. This reduction will be an all at once cut rather than being phased in.

In announcing the agreement to reduce the superintendent's salary, the Levittown School Board noted that the school district has benefited from the longevity of service which Dr. Sirois has given to the district, but as a more senior superintendent, his salary has risen to the top among his colleagues in the county. Sirois has been the superintendent of Levittown schools for 12 years and presently has the highest superintendent's salary on Long Island. His annual salary is over twice the average Long Island school superintendent's salary. Sirois says that neither he nor the school board ever anticipated that his salary would get to this point. His previous contract granted him a substantial pay increase each year. Over the past 12 years his salary has more than quadrupled. While the board recognizes the positive contributions that Dr. Sirois has made to the district, both the board and Dr. Sirois agreed that the superintendent's compensation should reflect the community's financial position relative to the county. Levittown ranks very low in the property wealth per student ratio on Long Island which highlights how inconsistent Sirois' salary is, not only with his peers but with Levittown itself. Sirois says "It is the right thing to do. Levittown, while we have to pay for goods and services like any other district, we always try to be as economical as possible so I think it is in line with our philosophy." He adds that this decision was "more a matter of principle rather than the specific dollars involved." He said that the dollars on his end are fairly significant but will most likely not affect the district too much, that money just won't be included in the budget. He adds that, "You can't pay people enough to do this job."

Board President, Ken Auer, said, "The district is lucky to have someone with Dr. Sirois' abilities and dedication at the helm. His willingness to cooperate with the board of education in substantially reducing the compensation that would otherwise be due him is another example of his ongoing commitment to the Levittown community and its schools."