June 13 marked the final Levittown Board of Education meeting for the 2006-07 school year. The night commenced with an adorable presentation by students from Northside Elementary School, titled Springtime in the Northside Kindergarten Literacy Clusters. The kindergarteners were flanked by two fifth- graders who helped tell the story of how flowers grow when it rains in the springtime.

Six young elementary school poets were honored for being winners in the Long Island's Best Young Poets Contest under the supervision of Director Connie Ungeheuer. The theme of the contest was "gatherings" and the students were very creative in writing about party gatherings, Thanksgiving, and even a war zone gathering.

More student achievement came from the MacArthur High School Italian students who impressed the board with a PowerPoint presentation on their prospective 10-day trip to Italy over the 2008 Easter Break. The students covered all the bases from safety and supervision and hotels, to fundraisers and the great learning and cultural experience it would be. MacArthur's Foreign Language chair Mirtalita Cerritos would be organizing the trip.

Other award recipients of the night included 27 CSE parent members who donate their time to be "child advocates."

In addition, several instructional and non-instructional retirees were given plaques in appreciation for their longtime dedication to the district. Retirees of note included 45-year music teacher at Gardiners Avenue, Fred Barnett, 40-year physical education teacher at Gardiners, Tom Grace, and the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Victor Longaro. Assistant Superintendent for Budget and Finance Jeffrey Carlson will also be leaving the district, and former Salk principal Debbie Rifkin will move into an assistant superintendent's role.

Three-year board member Roseanne Gullans will also be moving on and Dan Bornstein will take her position as a result of the May 15 trustee election. Gullans was honored with a plaque for her work over that time, and she said she will maintain a strong involvement in the school district.

After a long wait from New York State, Longaro gave his last presentation as assistant superintendent by displaying how Levittown matches up with the rest of the county on their respective report cards. Levittown rates far above the state average in most categories and slightly above the county average in most, including graduation rate which is 89 percent in Levittown to 88 percent in the county in 2005-06.

Other interesting notes include a 55 percent rate of graduating seniors attending four-year colleges, with 35 percent going to two-year schools. The rate of post-secondary education for Levittown students has been about 90 percent over the past five years. Regents diploma rates are at 93 percent over 2005 and 2006 with Advanced Regents rates at 58 percent and 55 percent over those two years respectively. The Math B Regents has proved to be the biggest roadblock to higher percentages, according to Longaro.

As far as the elementary level is concerned, there are not many areas of need with math and science being the strongest, including an 88 percent mastery rate of fourth grade Science.

The next regular board of education meeting will take place Monday, July 2, at the Levittown Memorial Education Center at 8 p.m. For more information log on to www.levittownschools.com.