During the past year, the Levittown School District: LUT (Levittown United Teachers) and administration/board of education have been holding ongoing negotiation sessions in an attempt to settle the teachers' contract. While it is true that we had come to an impasse over the issue of "sick leave abuse," it does not mean either party ever refused to negotiate. Negotiation means both sides coming together to arrive at an amicable agreement. The board of education has held its ground over this issue because in the past we have seen the problems that "sick leave abuse" can cause to the children and the financial burden it causes to the taxpayers. The fact is that the vast majority of teachers do not abuse their sick time, however, we cannot negotiate a separate contract for the abusers. In fact, we are hoping to reward those teachers who have banked their sick time over the years. We are proud of our teaching staff and the wonderful job they do in the classrooms.

There have been many comments made at board meetings and written in the local papers during this past year concerning the negotiations. As your board of education, we must represent this community. It is not an easy task and we can never make everyone happy. We cannot negotiate in public. Each month at our public meetings, the board has listened to the teachers, LUT negotiating team, and members of the community expressing their concerns. On occasion, inappropriate comments have come from both sides of the podium. We have asked those responsible from our side of the table to make their apologies and they have done so at the public meetings. We have and will continue to negotiate until a fair contract is reached. We are cautiously optimistic that a compromise is in sight.

In a recent letter to the editor, a community member wrote: "It's time for parents and community members to start showing up at board meetings." For years, the only time there was an audience at a board meeting was when the students were presenting or individual groups had a problem. The monthly meetings are listed on the school calendar and are also posted in the public library as well as in each school. We welcome your attendance at all of our public meetings. The board of education is comprised of seven individual community members who are elected to represent this community and govern the school district. We are not compensated in any way for the time we put into this very difficult, sometimes frustrating and very time-consuming job. We do not have anything to gain personally and do not hold any individual power. We can only act as "a board." We will continue to do the job we were elected to do and hope that we can all get back to the jobs we want to do ... making sure the children of the Levittown School District get the education they deserve and achieve our mission statement: "Success for Every Student."