SCHOOLS

A new leader in ‘Colt Country’

Hollings prepares for first year as Calhoun’s principal

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Nicole Hollings was in the 16th year of her career in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District in 2010 when an assistant principal’s position opened up at Calhoun High School in Merrick. While she was perfectly content teaching science at Bellmore’s Mepham High, she saw the job opportunity as a door that opened for a reason.

When the door to the Calhoun principal’s office opened four years later, Hollings did not hesitate to walk through it. With the 2014-15 academic year set to begin in a few weeks, she said she looks forward to leading “Colt Country,” and that her new role won’t be all that different from that of an instructor.

“I’ve always been someone who has wanted to help support people, and I’m always looking for ways to be a better teacher — every step of my career was about teaching and mentoring,” Hollings said. “As a principal, my first and most important role is being a teacher. I’ll just continue on in that by making sure that I’m helping and supporting teachers and students as they learn and grow.”

Hollings was named principal of Calhoun by the district’s Board of Education on June 23. She succeeded David Seinfeld, who completed an 11-year tenure in the building before becoming Bellmore-Merrick’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment on July 1.

Before she began her teaching career, Hollings studied biology at Swarthmore College and earned master’s degrees in education and school leadership from Stony Brook University and Touro College, respectively. A Deer Park native, she came to Bellmore-Merrick in 1994 when she started teaching at Mepham.

When Superintendent John DeTommaso approached her about the principalship at Calhoun, Hollings recalled, she was excited by the chance to work with students, parents and faculty in a new way. She said she is looking forward to collaborating with everyone to make the classrooms of a school she loves a vibrant and academically challenging environment.

“We have amazing students and a fantastic staff, and I want the school to be an even better place than what it is,” she said. “I want the staff to grow in their teaching while continuing to meet the needs of all of our students.”

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