On Friday, May 12, another of Mr. James Ward's many poisoned and bitter attacks against the Levittown Schools appeared in your Letters to the Editor section.

Again, his letter is full of unverified statements, the selective and biased selection of statistics and his personal vendetta against our Superintendent of Schools. However, Mr. Ward breaks new ground with his insults of Levittown's young people.

With the small investment of 30 minutes on the Internet, I located statistics which demonstrate Mr. Ward's inaccuracies. According to the New York State School District Report Card for the Levittown Union Free School District (February 2000), 99 percent of Levittown's fourth graders in 1999 scored above the benchmark (Level 2 or higher) in English Language Arts. This compares to 89 percent statewide. In Math, 99 percent of these same students also scored above the benchmark. This compares to 90 percent statewide. While Levittown's Level 2 numbers are higher than we would like, we must consider that this is a new test which assesses new higher standards.

Mr. Ward also states that students of nearby parochial schools would know where Suffolk County is while he does not believe Levittown's kids would. This is outrageous and insulting! A quick glance at national statistics comparing parochial schools with public schools demonstrate little difference in the achievement of parochial school students and public. This is despite the advantages the parochial schools have over public schools. Statistics show parochial school students are faced with fewer societal problems and parochial schools often refuse to educate the most difficult students sending them back to the public schools.

In this latest letter, Mr. Ward accuses Dr. Sirois of obfuscation because Cold Spring Harbor was used to compare our taxes to. However, Mr. Ward then uses the exact same technique to mislead his readers by comparing Levittown's performance to Cold Spring Harbor, Wheatley (East Williston) and other schools which spend much more per pupil.

Here are the facts:

Levittown - $11,212 per pupil

Cold Spring Harbor - $13,639 per pupil

Great Neck - $17,086 per pupil

Bellmore - $11,984 per pupil

East Williston - $15,047 per pupil

Nassau County Average - $12,018 per pupil

Based on the facts, Mr. Ward makes a compelling argument for supporting our school budget and increasing it. If we want our children to make Newsweek's top 100 high schools as Mr. Ward suggests, then we must invest more in our schools and invest more in our children.

Mr. Ward controlled this school district as a member of the board of education. In 1978, he denied me two months of my education while he refused to negotiate a teachers' contract and forced the LUT (Levittown United Teachers) into a two month strike. Now, he regularly attacks the district in the paper. His inaccuracies and distortions are designed to weaken our support for our schools and sustain his personal vendetta against our superintendent. Mr. Ward, if things are so bad in the Levittown schools, it is you who should be looking in the mirror. You ran the schools and served as president of the board of education. Fortunately, Levittown's schools survived Mr. Ward's control of the school board and continue to improve. Board members like Martha Martin, Peggy Hannon, Janet Welch, Diane Shapiro and Mary Orth succeeded you. They rebuilt the damage you did.

I suggest to Mr. Ward, it is time he looks at the facts. We have a good school system with outstanding teachers. We expect them to help our children compete with schools with many more resourdes. yet thwn they do, Mr. Ward writes bitter, angry and untrue letters attacking them.

I am a 1983 graduate of Division Avenue High School. I had many excellent teachers, some of whom still work their magic for Levittown's children. Partly because of the excellent education I received, I chose Levittown as home for my own family. My son currently attends Abbey Lane. He has had some of the most dedicated teachers I have met.

In sharp contrast to Mr. Ward, I wish to thank Levittown for its school system. I wish to thank my former teachers for their dedication and professionalism. Most of all, I wish to thank my son's teachers for giving to him all of what the Levittown schools gave to me and more.