School's out and Levittown has become a prime example of what happens when children who have been cooped up for 10 months have suddenly been set free.

Children are being injured because teenagers are having parties and are throwing bottles over the fence into the pools, causing them to shatter and scatter across the pool deck, playground, and in the pool itself. Unsuspecting children are going to Wolcott and Acorn Pools, expecting to have some fun on a hot summer day and are instead nursing cuts they got either while playing outside the pool or swimming in the pool.

Unfortunately the pools are not the only victims of the summertime chaos. As you drive down Levittown streets you might notice that there are stop signs, replaced only weeks ago, that are once again missing.

Driving down Hempstead Turnpike on Tuesday morning I noticed that a kiosk along the side of the road, for real estate listings, was overturned and I couldn't help but wonder what other destruction has taken place in just the short time that school has been out.

Never a fan of the idea of year-round schools, I suddenly became aware of why this is an idea that some people favor. The question is what will cost more, school all year long or the destruction caused by kids who are out of school for the long days of summer?

While looking at this problem, one must consider possible solutions. Where are the parents of these children as they are running around drinking, pulling down signs, and breaking beer bottles at the pool?

Island Trees has worked very hard to provide students with an opportunity to have fun in an educational environment through their Summer YES program, which is great and helps keep the kids occupied but that program only serves children in grades 1-8 and only during the daylight hours.

Levittown North and Levittown South Lanes are providing students in the Levittown School District with one free game of bowling and a free shoe rental. This is good because older kids can take advantage of this in the evenings but it seems as though the two pools that are being affected are the two pools that are adjacent to the bowling alleys. This may be a coincidence or not but no matter what something has to be done to curb the impetuousness of these kids, for the safety of others if not for themselves.

It seems as though the children in the Levittown community either do not have enough to keep them occupied all day long or they are not taking advantage of it.

The younger children appear to be taking advantage of the summer opportunities available to them but what happens to the teenagers who have nowhere to go all day long, every day for eight weeks?

If you look around Levittown lately it would appear that the answer to that question is that those teenagers, not all of them, but some, run riot, causing the destruction of property and in some cases injuries.

As parents read this we can only hope that they question where their teenagers go every night and what they are doing. Throughout the fall, winter and spring the children are the responsibility of the schools for eight hours a day but now for eight weeks they are their parents' responsibility all day and all night long. This may be a daunting task for some but that is the way it must be.

Parents and the community should be encouraged to provide some sort of employment or supervised activities to keep the children out of the trouble they got into so quickly after the end of school. It is only the beginning of July, what will Levittown look like by the end of August if this situation is not remedied quickly?