Superintendent of the Elmont School District Dr. Maria Palandra confirmed with a letter to members of the district and the community that she will complete her tenure at Elmont by the end of the 2004-2005 academic year. The Elmont Board of Education will be involved in the selection of a new superintendent of schools.

"I leave the district with a sense of pride and fulfillment knowing that under my tenure the district has flourished. Our school system has reached high levels of student performance, is in sound fiscal condition and is staffed by some of the most competent and dedicated employees any school district would want," she wrote in her letter.

Dr. Palandra has been with the Elmont School for 23 years and became the district's superintendent in March 1998. During her tenure, the community passed a critical bond referendum that added space to all of the schools in the district.

As the head of the Elmont School District, Dr. Palandra faced many challenges. In a school district of over 4,000 students where over 70 languages were spoken, Dr. Palandra, the Elmont Board of Education, the staff and the community teamed up to make Elmont achieve on statewide assessments.

Test scores in Elmont steadily improved and with the district curriculum mapping, all schools in the district were able to achieve. In January 2003, Gotham Avenue School was presented with the Pathfinder Award by the Business Council of New York State, citing the school as "Most Improved" in English language arts and mathematics test scores on the 4th grade level. Only 24 schools in the state, and just two on Long Island, received the award.

Most recently, on the spring 2004 4th grade math assessment tests, the district-wide average of children achieving at the two highest levels (meeting all standards) is 97.5 percent, up from 97.2 percent in the 2003-04 school year. The statewide average is 79.1 percent of students scoring at levels 3 (grade level) and 4 (mastery).

"The 23 years spent in Elmont have been most rewarding. The joy I have been experiencing each day seeing our children learn and setting them on a path that will lead them toward economically and socially productive lives will be with me forever," Dr. Palandra wrote in her letter. "The successful contributions that so many of our former students have been making for years to our state and nation and those that our more recent and current students will undoubtedly make in the future will be forever a great source of pride for me and those with whom I have worked during these years."

An Italian immigrant who came to the United States with only a few words of English, Dr. Palandra educated herself as an English as a Second Language student.

Her quest to make sure each student has an equal opportunity was rewarded with one of the most prestigious awards that one can receive.

In 2003, Dr. Palandra became one of only four in New York State to be chosen for the Dr. Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award in recognition of outstanding contributions in serving the community through their knowledge, skills and services.

"There is no one on Long Island that I know that deserves this award more than she does," said Elmont Board of Education president Aubrey Phillips.

Dr. Palandra said stepping down as superintendent will allow her to dedicate more time to her family and explore intellectual challenges for her future professional commitments.