I have been truly honored to have served as your superintendent since 1999. In September, I announced that I will not seek an extension of my contract in June, 2007, due to my retirement. Personally and professionally, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest educators, parents and members of the community I have ever known. I will treasure the many special memories of my years in the East Williston School District.

Our school year is off to a great start, with many activities involving the total school community. During September and October, our students have achieved at exceptional levels in curricular and co-curricular activities. Four Wheatley students are Semifinalists in the Siemens Competition for Math, Science and Technology, with two of those students being named Regional Finalists. Wheatley also boasts five Semifinalists and seven Commended students in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The Varsity Girls Soccer Team captured the Long Island Regional Championship and qualified for the New York State Championship tournament. The Varsity Boys Cross Country Team earned its fifth consecutive Nassau County championship and advanced to the New York State Cross Country Championship meet.

Twelve of Wheatley's music students were accepted into the Long Island String Festival Orchestras for the 2006-2007 school year. Two Willets Road students and three Wheatley students were named Long Island Young Scholars of Mathematics. Sixty students from North Side, Willets Road and Wheatley are featured in The Wheatley School Encore, a celebration of 50 years of musical theater at Wheatley.

Sixty-seven Wheatley students were named Advanced Placement Scholars for 2006, the highest number of AP Scholars in the history of the school. One Wheatley student was recognized with the National AP Scholar award and five students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award. Thirteen students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award and 49students qualified for the AP Scholar Award.

The mean scores of the 2006 Scholastic Aptitude Tests reached the highest levels in Wheatley history. The SAT is one measure of students' cumulative learning and one measure of the quality of students' educational achievement from elementary through high school.

The Key Club sponsored an outstanding Fiftieth Anniversary Walkathon and the CAC/Interact Club participated in the Williston Park Street Fair with a face-painting booth to raise money for charities, held a carnival for students at the Little Village School and will partner with St. Aidan's to provide baskets for the needy at Thanksgiving.

We have just begun the academic year, and we can only imagine the successes in store for all our students.

On Oct. 18, we were pleased to have Dr. Barbara Coloroso speak to our students, teachers and parents on very timely issues, "The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander" and "Teaching Your Kids to Think and Act Ethically." We especially thank those organizations that co-sponsored her presentations: East Williston/Roslyn Coalition for Drug-Free Youth, the North Side, Willets Road and Wheatley PTO's, East Williston Education Foundation and the East Williston and Roslyn School Districts and Teachers' Associations.

On Oct. 20-22, our district celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of The Wheatley School. Our returning graduates spoke eloquently about their exemplary educational preparation. They expressed gratitude for the tradition of excellence, the opportunities to excel, to explore their interests within enriched learning environments, to follow their passions and to be prepared to live productive lives as adults.

I told these former students that I am in awe of their accomplishments and who they have become as human beings and asked them to harness all they have learned to improve our world.

The conversations during the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration affirmed that the board of education, community, faculty, and staff still protect and reflect the core values embedded in our district's strong educational history. We can have confidence that the district will surmount the challenges ahead and continue to maintain its premier status.

Reflecting on the changes that have impacted our schools and society over the past 50 years, we know that even more dramatic changes are expected in the coming decades. We are told that the amount of information, as well as the pace of dissemination of information, will multiply at least 30 times during the lives of the current graduates.

This growing amount of information cannot be adequately assessed on single standardized tests on any given day, but should be evaluated throughout an entire K-12 educational program through quantitative and qualitative measures. We already see how information is easily accessible, with instant messages bombarding us from multiple sources of media at once.

Indeed, it will be necessary to have even greater skills in accessing, verifying, critiquing, assessing and using such information. In order for our future graduates to be as well educated and as prepared for this new world as they have been for the last half century, we must continue to offer the best practices and curriculum available to meet our students' needs.

As our nation enters this new era of innovation, we must recognize that our graduates will be involved in jobs and careers that do not currently exist. Our school district's historically strong emphasis on collaboration, team-building and the ability to assess and work with large quantities of information along with increased knowledge of technology, will well prepare our students for whatever path they choose.

From its inception, our school district has been hailed as a "lighthouse district," by design, always nurturing innovative, progressive approaches to teaching and learning in tandem with traditional approaches. Our Curriculum Associates provide leadership and expertise in each area of the curriculum, facilitating opportunities for enriched experiences for our students. Our administrators rely on the talent and creativity of our students and teachers to make the magic happen, i.e., building relationships, engagement in learning and advancing the ability to produce excellent results.

As we plan for the future, we continuously strive to maintain the excellence, the variety and the comprehensive richness of the curricular and co-curricular program to help our students achieve their exciting and diverse wealth of potential.