(Ed. Note: The following letter was sent to Levittown Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Herman A. Sirois and Levittown Property Owners Association and is printed here at the author's request.)

Thank you for addressing the Levittown Home Owners Association on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. I had asked a question and I would just like to make certain that you did not misunderstand my point. I had made the comment that all of your statistics were a comparison to average and I stated that striving for average is a recipe for failure. We should strive to be the best. You also tried to justify the 7 percent plus yearly budget increases as being OK. Well, it is not OK. There are few of us residents who are getting 7 percent plus annual raises (I am not one of them) so your arguments don't sit well with us. I don't care, I just see the bottom line and in five years with your plan we will have at least a 40 percent increase in the school taxes. That is again a recipe for disaster.

However, maybe if you emphasized to us some of the things that you are doing to save money, we might be able to relate a little better. As noted at the meeting, I was using the Division High School Track the other day at 7:30 a.m. and the following lights were still on (can't be cheap) - the softball field, the lights over the stands at the football field and the parking lot lights for the Summit Lane School. Your comment was, "I don't turn the lights on and off." Well, on Thursday morning, March 13, the same lights were still on at 7:30 a.m. Again on Tuesday morning (one week later) at 8 a.m. the same lights were all still on and again Thursday, March 20 at 8 a.m. and again Monday, March 24, 8 a.m. and now I have one final day at noon the lights were still on. So obviously you didn't think that this was an urgent matter and nobody turns off the lights. Maybe this attitude is the problem.

I am typically not for agreeing to giving up control to a higher form of government; however, when our County Executive suggested taking over some of the local control and consolidating, I thought that maybe this is a way for everyone to feel the same pain. I hope this suggested intrusion and the articles in Newsday light a fire under our local school administration and board and point them to the idea that this just might be the beginning of the end and so you might make better efforts to get it under control.

I am not one who just complains. I believe that it is important to also have positive suggestions. So I'd like to offer a suggestion that maybe if you find some success, you might just have a topic that would show the community that you are at least trying (real progress is the end goal) to cut costs while you are talking about the 7 percent annual increases.

I would suggest that you chair a committee whose purpose is to identify ways of cutting costs. I would suggest that you have an executive committee and then some subordinate committees. I would suggest that you enlist at least the following groups: students broken out by logical grade groups (ex. 9-10 and 11 and 12), parents, teachers, administrators, maintenance, supervisors, community, seniors, etc. I would also suggest that budget committee members and PTA be limited in their influence in order to maintain a semblance of propriety. I would also think that based upon the value of any suggested savings, that there would be reward system.

Another suggestion would be to follow the lead that some in industry have taken and make it a documented part of a yearly and periodic review for every employee - that every employee is expected to participate in finding and suggesting to management areas where they think costs can be cut. As for management, they are also expected to have suggestions but they are also expected to implement promising suggestions. This attitude and process adoption would at least put and keep the idea in front of every employee that not wasting the taxpayer's dollars is expected from everyone.

Please, this is just a suggestion and I am sure you will have many more ideas. But the key would be to communicate to the community and solicit their input. Negative will not be tolerated, only positive things.

Thomas C. Caro