I was somewhat saddened; yet, amused by our superintendent of schools tirade against me which appeared on the op-ed page of the Tribune's 5/11 edition. Herman's character assassination reminds me of the old adage: "He is a fool who cannot get angry, but he is a wise man who will not."

It is ironic that Herman's "High Performing District" tale was a thinly disguised attempt to discredit those excellent school districts, including our neighbors in the Wantagh School District, whose schools have earned the coveted National Schools of Excellence Award. Not a single Levittown school can claim that title!

Why, I wonder, did Herman and his "Million Dollar" BOCES public relations firm wait two years to concoct their 1999 - 4th grade "High Performing District" tale? If I were Levittown's superintendent of schools, I think I'd be embarrassed by our results on at least one of these tests.

Let's look at the facts. The 4th grade English Language Arts test was administered on Jan. 11-15, 1999. This test, initially piloted in May 1995, was designed to assess a student's ability to listen and interpret short paragraph readings and write several compositions of varying lengths. Something students have been doing for generations!

Unfortunately, only 66 percent of Levittown's 4th graders scored high enough on this test to be considered as having met or exceeded NYS Department of Education standards and were "on track" to successfully pass their high school's Regents examinations. Thirty-two Nassau County School Districts scored higher than Levittown on this examination. Levittown, based on the county average, scored in the bottom 1/3 of the 53 Nassau County elementary school districts tested. By way of contrast, 80 percent of the Island Trees fourth graders met or exceeded these standards.

It is fortunate that Levittown schools do not have swimming pools. Otherwise, Coach Sirois and his "million dollar" public relations corps would hold a press conference to declare that only 1/3 of the districts fourth graders drowned while learning how to swim.

In June 1999, over 90 percent of these same students exceeded Department of Education standards on the new statewide mathematics examination. This feat, in which Levittown can be justifiably proud, placed our 4th graders in the top 1/3 of Nassau County school districts.

Martha Musser, a coordinator of the Commissioners Office of Information Services, on Nov. 23, 1999, sent a tersely worded five line internal memorandum to each of the district superintendents whose students achieved a 64 percent passing rate on both of these examinations. Hardly a notable achievement, in my opinion, since 64 percent was a failing grade when I attended school. Thirty-six Nassau County school districts, including Levittown, were on that list of 218 school districts. Levittown's name did not appear on a similar list of 83 school districts whose 8th grade standardized test results exceeded the 64 percent benchmark. Only 14 Nassau County school districts, including our neighbors in the Bethpage School District, appeared on Ms. Musser's third list of 72 NYS school districts that reached the 64 percent plateau on both sets of tests. It's small wonder that education is under attack when you consider that there are 750 school districts in New York State.

It is sad that Herman Sirois, along with his press corps, used this memorandum as a basis to completely distort its intent and to fabricate a number of totally fictious accolades for the Levittown School District. Herman, a frequent critic of Richard Mills, New York State commissioner of education, was recently quoted in Newsday (05/17/00) as stating: "The commissioner's plan is a sham, and we all know it. What you have, in effect, is people grading themselves." This quote sounds strangely familiar and I can hardly wait for Herman's next whopper.

James P. Ward