The Levittown Board of Education introduced all new Levittown School District employees at its Oct. 11 meeting.

There are over 100 new faces to the district this school year, including teachers, teacher aides and assistants, custodians and maintenance staff. Division Avenue High School has the most new employees with 31, followed by MacArthur High School with 15. Following the recognition of new staff, they were all treated to a reception with food and refreshments.

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Victor Longaro then addressed the Summer Curriculum Projects. New courses in the high schools include women in literature, monsters in literature, fashion and interior design, creative crafts and new physical education courses such as CPR/first aid and introduction to sports medicine. Most of these are semester-long courses.

"Without a nine period day, the addition of these new courses would not have been possible," Longaro said.

The elementary school curriculum has also been altered to include social skills programs for kindergarteners through second graders, and third graders through fifth graders.

During the public-be-heard portion of the meeting there was a great deal of angst between the BOE and residents. One Wantagh resident pleaded with the board to work harder by talking to politicians up in Albany to get school and property taxes under control, citing citizens here are currently under one of the nation's highest tax burdens. As it is, New York State is the fifth lowest in paying percentage of school education, according to Superintendent Dr. Herman Sirois.

Trustee Diane Shapiro and Vice President John Garvey were adamant in saying Levittown has done its fair share in trying to get taxes down.

"We are always talking to people upstate," Shapiro said. "The reality is that we send more money to Albany than we get back, but we are always trying to get more."

"There is clearly an anti-Long Island attitude upstate," Garvey continued.

"There is a feeling up there that people in more suburban school districts can handle the higher tax," Dr. Sirois added. He then referred to the fact that the average value of a home in Nassau County is nearly $500,000.

Despite the negative perception on the school board's behalf, Dr. Sirois emphasized that by a great deal of "finagling" they were able to obtain $2.5 million and $4.8 million respectively, over the past two years in state aid.

Board President Gina Interdonato also stressed that when the board goes to Albany in a couple of weeks, taxes and aid will be priorities as they always are.

The seemingly never-ending Salk/MacArthur Traffic Study was also a hot issue, as residents sought an update. Wantagh Fire Chief Dan Kipnis said he is "disgusted" with the community's perception on the land swap between the fire department and school district, saying there is a great deal of confusion on what is actually going on. To sum it up, there is no update. The land swap still needs to be voted on and any groundbreaking is still at least 10 months away.

Wantagh resident Tracey Thomas implored the board to answer her questions regarding what part of district law says that there can be an uneven swap of land between the district and other entity.

Co-President of the Salk/MacArthur PTSA Kathy Kenney voiced her discontent on the communication between the board and her organization on the progress of the study.

"We need honest communication between us and the board," she said.

Vice President Garvey responded saying, "What I have a problem with is that I think that implies we have been dishonest."

President Interdonato restored order and assured greater communication between both parties, as well as quicker response by the district on all issues to concerned residents.

The next board of education meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. at LMEC. More information can be found by logging on to www.levittownschools.com.