Residents present at the Feb. 8 Levittown Board of Education meeting at the Levittown Memorial Education Center were treated to a boardroom full of Lee Road students' artwork. Science, however, was the name of the game on this night, as the board honored a remarkable MacArthur High School student, as well as receiving an update on the progress of the Science Research Program in the district.

MacArthur senior Christine Sullivan was recognized for being one of 300 national semi-finalists in the Intel Science competition. Sullivan's project has been in the works since her freshman year and is called "Some Children Left Behind," which captures the troubling effects of middle school reform on the body image concerns of sixth-grade girls.

MacArthur science teacher Jason Van Eron was in awe of what Sullivan has accomplished.

"It's just amazing stuff," he said.

Superintendent Dr. Herman Sirois echoed his sentiment.

This caps off quite a month for the science-oriented Sullivan family. At the Jan. 11 board meeting, Christine's younger sister, sixth-grader Jaclyn, was saluted for her Angels in Action award. It's not much of a surprise that the father of the two girls, Steven, is a science teacher who has coached many Intel semi-finalists before.

Sullivan's project was part of the highly regarded Science Research Program at MacArthur and Division Avenue High School. Science teachers from both schools were on hand to discuss the progress of this program, including MacArthur Science Chair Paul Ryan, Division Avenue Chair Rory Manning, and teachers David Friedman, Trey Joseph and Van Eron.

Each offered a different take on what the program means to the students and its significance.

"This opens up opportunities for the kids going into college and separates them from the pack," Manning said.

Students are involved in several different competitions during the school year and it gives them a chance to win scholarships and recognition, as well as improving learning curves and research skills.

Joseph, a first-year science teacher at Division Avenue, was adamant about the necessity of recruiting for this program and for investigating new findings in the world of science.

"This is a technology-driven world and will continue to be," he said. "We need the kids to start young, so we can stay ahead of the rest of the world in science."

It's looking like other departments will follow science's lead as far as research programs.

"This program began seven to eight years ago at Division, and has moved to MacArthur over the past four years," said Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Bob Davis. "Math and social science research programs are probably coming down the road as well."

The public portion of the evening was marred by some unhappy citizens, with the vote, two weeks earlier, on the Volunteer Firefighters and EMS Tax Exemption. A few Levittown citizens said there should have been more notice of the Jan. 25 special meeting that approved this proposal 4-3.

The board stuck by its decision and Dr. Sirois emphasized that the board was not slipping this vote under table.

"Because of the policies and bylaws of the board, we felt we had to act on this as soon as possible," he said.

Trustee John Garvey added that he had been a volunteer firefighter in the past and stressed, "this is not something the majority was trying to sneak in without anyone knowing."

Cheryl Gucciardo, a mother of three Catholic school students in Levittown voiced concern over her children not getting their textbooks on time each year, as well as the shoddy condition of distributed textbooks. Dr. Sirois was admittedly "surprised" by the condition of the books that Gucciardo brought to the meeting. Both he and Board President James Moran said they will follow up on the situation.

The most awaited segment of the night focused on the MacArthur traffic safety study. Both advocates and opponents were on hand to see who exactly would be doing the investigation and how much money the board would allot to it. Moran jokingly skipped over the vote on the agenda initially, to ease the tension in the room.

After some discussion and a short intermission, members officially authorized a traffic study to be completed by Nelson & Pope for $8,500, with an additional fee not to exceed $5,000, so the board does not have to vote yet again if they go over budget.

The next regular meeting of the board of education will be March 8 at 8 p.m. at LMEC. For more information visit www.levittownschools.com.