The Elmont Elementary Board of Education is generally known as a body that doesn't always agree, but does get along to make decisions that are in the best interests of the Elmont Schools. The district's test scores have improved; its budget was easily passed; it's superintendent Dr. Maria Palandra has even received the prestigious Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. However, when the subject of the Sewanhaka High School District is brought up, members of the Elmont Board of Education turn into rivals.

At a recent Elmont School Board meeting, after the district honored its students for their achievements in music, a heated discussion ensued, mostly about recent eighth-grade English Language Arts state test scores published for Sewanhaka High School. The discussion brought up the issue of whether such discussion are appropriate for the Elmont School Board or whether they are better left to be discussed in front of the Sewanhaka Central High School District Board of Education.

There was discussion initiated by board members Joy Madera, Aubrey Phillips and Robert Nori about the performance of Sewanhaka High School on the test. Test results showed that 32 percent of the Sewanhaka eighth-grade students who took the test met or exceeded state standards, down 17 percent from 2002. However, what may be alarming to some members of the community is that Sewanhaka scored 31 percent lower than Elmont Memorial and 34 percent lower than Floral Park, the school to receive the highest percentage of the district's five high schools.

"It does concern me. I don't believe that this was an anomaly. This was something that was coming and no one at the high school level had paid attention to it," said Mr. Phillips, one of the Elmont representatives to the Sewanhaka Central High School District Board of Education, about the recent test scores at Sewanhaka.

Sewanhaka Central High School District Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Goldstein said he had no comment on the discussion at the Elmont Board of Education meeting. However, he did say that information will be made available as to the analysis of the scores at the appropriate time.

Dr. Goldstein does join the list of educators who don't believe one test accurately measures the quality of education at a school. The superintendent said he is more concerned with graduation. The district's graduation rate for 2003 is 98.2 percent. Broken down by schools, it is as follows:

Elmont Memorial		307 graduates	99 percent
Floral Park Memorial	221 graduates	100 percent
H. Frank Carey			225 graduates	98 percent
New Hyde Park			206 graduates	99 percent
Sewanhaka High School	213 graduates	96 percent

Despite the fairly consistent graduation rates, the eighth-grade ELA test scores seem to back up the notion that not all five schools in the Sewanhaka Central High School District are receiving the same quality of education.

The notion was dispelled by Dr. Goldstein, who said that all five high schools in the district receive the same programs. The sentiment was also shared by Elmont Board of Education President Deanna Doreson, who, along with Mr. Phillips, is one of two representatives from Elmont to the Sewanhaka Central High School Board of Education.

Mrs. Doreson said that the quality of education is the same at all of the schools and added that she is proud of all of the students regardless of whether they did poorly on one test. Mrs. Doreson, like Dr. Goldstein, doesn't believe the state tests should be the measuring stick to judge the quality of education children are receiving.

However, the idea that all of the schools in the Sewanhaka Central High School District are receiving the same level of education is not one that is shared by Mr. Phillips.

Mr. Phillips pointed out that last year, Elmont Memorial High School had about 63 percent of its graduates receive Regents diplomas. However, for Sewanhaka High School, 53 percent did. "Graduation rates, on its face, really isn't a decent measure of the performance of the school," he said. "Even though the curriculum across the district may be the same, there is a matter of the quality of teaching and the quality of leadership that we need to look at. Clearly, Elmont Memorial is doing better than Sewanhaka. Why? These are the same students that come out of the Elmont Union Free School District."

Mrs. Doreson said she did analyze the data concerning the Sewanhaka test scores, but did not wish to elaborate on the analysis. She did, however, say at the Elmont Board of Education meeting that a number of the Sewanhaka students who took the eighth-grade ELA test did not come from the Elmont Schools.

Community member Patrick Nicolosi, who recently ran an unsuccessful campaign against Mrs. Madera , came to the defense of Sewanhaka High School. Mr. Nicolosi said he has had three children all go to Sewanhaka High and all three have enjoyed success. Mr. Nicolosi took exception to what he felt was unfair treatment of Sewanhaka High School, which he feels is a place where students can get a good education. "I don't want people to get the wrong idea," he said.

Mr. Nicolosi also felt that it was unfair for some of the Elmont board members to use test scores as a weapon to bash Sewanhaka High School.

One explanation of why the test scores at Sewanhaka were low was that they were also low at the elementary level when the eighth-grade Sewanhaka students were in fourth-grade. Some of the fourth-graders from Elmont in 1999 may have been among those who took the eighth-grade test at Sewanhaka in 2003.

In January 1999, 50 percent of fourth-graders who took the fourth-grade ELA test met or exceeded state standards. In January 2000, the number jumped to 59 percent. By comparison, in 2003, 89 percent of fourth-grade students at Elmont met or exceeded state standards on the ELA test.

The argument that the score at Sewanhaka was poor because the Elmont School District sent Sewanhaka poor students doesn't hold water, Mr. Phillips said.

Mr. Phillips believes that Mrs. Doreson refuted that argument by saying that a number of the Sewanhaka students who took that test did not come from the Elmont schools.

In addition, Mr. Phillips pointed out that the bulk of students that go to Sewanhaka from the Elmont schools come from Covert Avenue and Stewart Manor, which have traditionally been two of the higher scoring Elmont schools.

On the January 1999 fourth-grade state English language arts test, 51 percent of Covert Avenue students met or exceeded state standards, good for third out of the district's six schools and 70 percent of Stewart Manor students met or exceeded state standards, good for tops in the district.

Also, Mr. Phillips believes that if the Sewanhaka High Schools scores were low because of students from the Elmont School District, then Elmont Memorial High School would have suffered as well. However, 63 percent of Elmont Memorial High School eighth grade students met or exceeded state standards in English language arts, only three percentage points behind Floral Park Memorial High School, which was tops of the five high schools in the district.

Mr. Phillips suggested that the problem at Sewanhaka High School as it relates to the test scores is one that is common in schools across the state. According to Mr. Phillips, the curriculum is not very rigorous and in particular for Sewanhaka and Elmont Memorial High Schools, the care with which instruction is delivered is lacking.

Mr. Phillips also warned about the district measuring success based on graduation rates. "The high schools have decided that the measure of their success is how many students they graduate. Therefore, they pay little or no attention to the child's middle years in all of the high schools," he said. "The high school district, because it is pretending to be a middle school district and a high school district and because it sees its measure of success as the percentage of graduating students, it focuses on making sure students pass the Regents at the expense of making sure students do well in the eighth-grade."

As a Sewanhaka Central High School District board member, Mr. Phillips said he would like to take a look at the curriculum for students in middle grades.

Proponents of the level of education of Sewanhaka High School, such as Mr. Nicolosi believe it is a school where a solid education can and has been received.