It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I only wish I had a camera to record our superintendent of schools' facial expression on the evening the Levittown Board of Education defeated its secondary attendance zones proposal. Levittown School Superintendent Herman Sirois, his face ashen gray, appeared to suffer from a sudden apoplexy attack following the vote. It was as though he realized, for the first time, his own mother had mugged him in the alley behind Levittown Memorial Educational Center.

The school board's response to my Letter to the Editor, published on Jan. 22, appears to be the usual "kill the messenger" reply. It is unfortunate that they could not deal with this issue in a more responsible fashion. The board is correct, however, and I must apologize to them for my inappropriate use of the verb "waffled" to describe their bizarre action. The proper verb to use should have been "vacillated." Sorry, guys!

In order to place things in their proper perspective it should be pointed out that this attendance zone issue arose on Feb. 22, 1996 following the board's receipt of the Elementary Attendance Zones Implementation Analyses. Board discussion of this report began on March 4, 1996. The first public hearing on the report was held on March 13, 1996. A planning session, dealing with secondary attendance zones, was first held over two years ago on Sept. 25, 1996. In the interim, Levittown taxpayers "bleeding from excessive school taxes" have suffered through the board's comical attempt to sell the Hunt Road property and their "candy store" designed bond referendum to build classrooms everywhere. Wisdom Lane Middle School will have nine new classrooms and no one to fill them.

It is ironic that, during the height of the depression, the majestic Empire State Building rose along Fifth Avenue in a single year. Robert Moses, under the most adverse conditions, constructed the magnificent Jones Beach State Park and Wantagh State Parkway in less time than it has taken the Levittown School Board to move our high school attendance zones a single block.

I'm convinced that if the Levittown School District, under this board's leadership, were a proprietary or eleemosynary organization, dependent upon public patronage or charitable support rather than the almighty tax dollar, it would have been adjudicated bankrupt several years ago!