While attending the school board meeting, we were very impressed by the new board members.

James Robinson talked of returning to the Oyster Bay area and wanting to be involved with improving the district. He recognized some of the teachers in the audience as having been his, when he attended the local schools.

James Smiros said he considered sending his child to a private school, but when he asked for information about student achievement he was told that wasn't important. He said he realized the private school had different goals for their school than he wanted for his children. He decided to send his children to the public schools and to work to improve them as a service to the community.

It was good to see the sincerity of Dolores Grieco, Tim Mietus and Keith Kowalsky. It was good to see the professional leadership of Robin Dando and the commitment of Judith Wasilchuk.

It was great to see Tammy Ashley is back to work with the PTA to keep the district on track. Over the years we have learned that there is a 45 percent negative vote in the community. There are people who vote for whatever personal reasons, against any budget. It is important in this community to get out the voters. Last year we noticed that there was no positive campaign to get people to vote for the budget and it luckily passed. This year there was a strong negative campaign with no positive campaign to balance the information. Interestingly the figure the budget passed by last year is about the same as the figure it was defeated by this year.

There are two more things to tell readers. One is that Judi Pullman wanted the board to keep the budget as planned, saying scores are going up because of changes in the programs and class size. She said scores wouldn't be going up except for the changes.

That would have been a brave decision and one, we actually think might work. We think that if the pro-voters came out they could turn the tide. We think many of the no-voters do so for reasons that are very personal. A man told us his children are living in Baltimore because they can't afford to live on Long Island as a result of the cost of living here.

Another point to consider was what Dr. George Chesterton, superintendent of schools said. "We talk about the budget but we don't know what the state aid will be. If the state legislature doesn't pass a budget by July 30 the governor will appoint a Master to decide what aid goes to New York City. The aid issue is full of unknowns, things we can't forecast. In 1990 health insurance costs were very high and some schools cut teachers in January, to meet the costs." That explains why the district needs to have funds available for emergency expenses.

Ms. Dando talked about the constraints for districts saying, "You can't spend more than allowed by the taxpayers. There can be no deficits." Mr. Mietus too added that the school budget is not like a business, that much of the budget is a result of contractual costs that must be met. The board meeting started at about 8 p.m. and we left at 11:35 p.m. and they were still talking about their budget decisions.

There is a great deal to think about and to consider. Maybe the best focus is to remember the better we treat the children, the better they can cope as adults and that makes for a better world for all of us. We all profit when the children win.