The future of your children's education is being slowly eroded by a school board that values short-term monetary savings over long-term academic excellence.

I'm writing specifically to those of you probably 40 years and younger, many with children in pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school and young babies. You're pre-occupied with things such as Mommy and Me, Pee Wee Soccer and play dates. I can't blame you because my family had the same priorities when I moved to Roslyn in 1990. School budgets, school boards, who gets elected - that was someone else's concern.

Unfortunately you don't have the luxury of leaving it to someone else as we did. Many of you probably chose to live in Roslyn in large part because of the excellent and well-deserved reputation of the school system. Even in the wake of the scandal, you felt this community would right itself with a new board and direction that would get things back on track.

I hate to inform you that your trust is misplaced. Most of you have a 10-20 year stake in the future of your children's education here in Roslyn. You are not representing yourselves, making your priorities known and unless you start to turn that around, ultimately your children are going to pay the price.

This school board has done an outstanding job of restoring fiscal integrity to the Roslyn schools which everyone in this community appreciates. However, they have also made it their mandate to cut the school budgets both last year and this year to bare bones increases. They believe they are doing the "will" of the Roslyn community.

However, since your demographic group is virtually invisible and silent in such matters, your interests are being completely ignored. Here are some of the ramifications of a bare bones budget:

• increasing class sizes
• reduction in intramural and extra-curricular activities in all buildings
• summer school program eliminated or greatly reduced
• elimination of many of the school trips in all buildings
• reduction in the amount of teaching assistants in all buildings
• potential reductions in transportation service available
• less elective options in the middle school and high school
• fewer special education services

The strongest advocates for putting academic excellence above bare bones budgets are the women of the PTAs, PFA, CCPA - they come to each and every meeting. They watch out for our kids' academic interests but frankly it's not enough. Without you, the mothers and fathers of the children who will grow up in the Roslyn schools in the next two decades, this school board will continue to believe that you're okay with cutting services, academic options and increasing class sizes.

My family will be done with this school system in four years when my youngest child graduates.

You have a lot more at stake here than myself and my contemporaries. Please wake up because decisions are being made for you by people who don't understand what you want and think you don't care.

This school board truly believes they are making decisions that are best for our community. The problem is, that "community" is not representative of those families that have the greatest long-term stake in the school system - all of you.

Get informed, get involved and make yourself heard - or else you will have no one else to blame but yourselves.