A familiar face is now the Central District's assistant superintendent

Of all the moments in a school year, David Seinfeld, former principal of Calhoun High School, now the Bellmore-Merrick Central District’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said he loves the half-hour after graduation most of all. He enjoys watching families snapping photos of and hugging their proud graduates.

Graduation, Seinfeld noted, is “about celebrating the success of the community.”

Seinfeld became the Central District’s assistant superintendent on July 1, and has spent the last two months busily preparing for the 2014-15 school year, which will, no doubt, present its share of challenges as the district transitions to the new Common Core State Standards.

Seinfeld, who served as Calhoun’s principal for 11 years, said he will miss graduation. He will no longer offer the principal’s address. Students and parents will no longer know him as their principal.

He said, however, that he would continue to attend graduations, but not just at Calhoun –– he must also attend Kennedy and Mepham graduations in the future. And, he added, moving up to assistant superintendent would enable him to have an educational impact on a broader scale: The Central District has more than 5,500 students in five schools.

“Primarily, [my] focus was at Calhoun. Now the focus will be seven to 12 and kids throughout” the Central District, he said. “It’s about helping kids no matter who they are and where they are.”

Seinfeld said he was studying the cultures at each of the district’s five schools –– in addition to the three high schools, it includes Merrick Avenue and Grand Avenue middle schools. “I really look forward to getting to know the cultures of the schools…,” he said. “I have a learning curve.”

Seinfeld said he believes administrators need to let teachers do their job –– that is, they need to let them teach. “You focus on the teaching and not the testing,” he said. “It’s pretty simple.”

He described the Common Core Standards as “good.” But, he went on, they should have been implemented starting with kindergarten, not grades three to eight.