As I was browsing the Internet, I came across an opinion article that was reprinted by Levittown Tribune, dated April 11, 2008, from James P. Ward. I have attached a copy of the article for you. Although I do feel that Mr. Ward may have some ulterior motives, I have to say that I absolutely agree with him on this matter.

My husband and I moved to Levittown in 1999 from Brooklyn, because we wanted to give our two young children a better education than they would have received in Brooklyn. Although the school taxes were extremely high we felt that the smaller class sizes and great teachers made up for the burden of the taxes. Now, eight years later, I have my oldest in McArthur High School and my youngest in Gardiners Avenue Elementary School and have now been told by the superintendent that due to their error, my children will now be in class with 25-30 other children and their teachers are being laid off. I have to say that I was never really overly active in attending budget meetings because I had trusted that our school board and superintendent would do the right thing for our children, but I now realize that they were incompetent with our tax money and ultimately our children will now be the ones to suffer.

When provided with facts, Dr. Sirois and his school board totally dismissed anything any taxpaying parent has to say. We are always wrong. They took no responsibility for the error in the budget resulting in a $7 million mistake (and growing every time they talk about it). When you have a superintendent making $313,123-plus perks-he should be held responsible for his staff and when one makes a mistake resulting in an $7 million shortfall in new teachers' salaries, then maybe it is time for him to go. Because in the real world, he would have been terminated for incompetency for allowing his staff to make such an error, without ever once checking his work. And, quite frankly, having Dr Sirois say, "I'm sorry," just doesn't cut it.

Because as far as I'm concerned when your school district is in such a mess, laying off great teachers, increasing their class sizes, I don't know how Dr. Sirois has the gall to ask the school board to extend his contract by two years (especially when his contract doesn't end until 2011). What's the big rush to save his job, he doesn't seem to be worried about our teachers' jobs.

He knows that if he doesn't lock in another two years when the very disgruntled parents have their chance to re-elect the school board that any, if not all of them, will not be coming back and then he will be in the same position as his teachers. And rightfully so!

And in light of the record school aid we received from the state budget, he should be forced to sit down and re-evaluate keeping our teachers, especially in the elementary level. Our elementary schools and their teachers are an essential element in how well our children will perform in the higher grades. The teachers at this level evaluate if the children need any services and they mold our children into the type of student they will be in middle and high school. Taking away very valuable teachers will allow our children to fall through the tracks and flounder the rest of their academic careers,

After sitting through three open to the public budget meetings with Dr. Sirois and the Levittown Board of Education, I was shocked a how they showed no regard for the importance of the elementary level of education. I am extremely outraged at the fact that the other schools, which include two middle schools, one other high school and six elementary schools weren't given that same consideration. The other frustration has been the fact that the only media coverage about this was leading people to think that the only school affected was Division Avenue High School.

I don't know if this letter will make any difference, but it is something that had to be said.

Annie Passik