Restivo packs his math books

“It’s mixed emotions,” said Nick Restivo about his retirement as Long Beach High School’s principal for the past eight years. “I’m very sad to leave Long Beach.”

While Restivo is leaving a school setting, he will stay in education, as he will replace Richard Kalman as the executive director of Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle School (MOEMS), an organization that uses contests to foster learning in mathematics. The Bellmore-based program can be found in schools worldwide.

“I went into education because even as a little kid I always liked teaching younger kids,” Restivo recalled about his childhood in Bayside, Queens. While playing school, a young Restivo would teach his neighborhood friends writing and math.

A graduate of York College in Jamaica and C.W. Post College, Restivo was a math teacher in the New York City, Plainview, Franklin Square and Mineola, as well as the director of mathematics in Mineola, before arriving in Long Beach as the high school principal in 2002.

“Long Beach was remarkable,” Restivo said of his early experiences at the school. He noted that he loved the people and the diversity of the school district, which had been featured as an example of diversity in a Newsday series published soon after his start. “I couldn’t think of a better place to do a principalship.”

During his tenure, Restivo implemented a number of different programs, including the renowned International Baccalaureate program. Restivo said one of his biggest accomplishments is the School Within a School program, which helps incoming freshmen who need to overcome a variety of challenges to succeed in high school.

“It’s a very special group of teachers,” Restivo said of those involved in the program. He added that each year he gives educators a chance to drop out of the high-stress program. “They refuse to give it up.”

Restivo also began the self-selection process at the school district, in which students decide the level of curriculum best suited for them. As an example, he explained that there are no prerequisites for students wishing to enroll in the IB program. “Many kids will aspire to something more challenging if it’s there and there are no obstacles in their way,” he said.

Always a hands-on administrator with an open door policy, Restivo said, “The highlight of my time there are the kids whose lives I’ve touched on a personal basis.” He remembered helping a female student through an abusive relationship and a male student who he brought to the hospital twice after failed suicide attempts. The student, Restivo said, is a talented artist and recently graduated at the top of his college class.

“I’m going to miss him very much,” said Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg, who came to Long Beach two years after Restivo and recommended him for tenure. “He’s an extremely kind and charitable human being and put students well ahead of everything.” Greenberg went on to say that Restivo brought a sense of stability to the high school and all his decisions were motivated by what was best for the students.

As the executive director for the Math Olympiads, Restivo will once again enter the world of math. “It’s like the circle of life because I’m going back to my beginnings,” he laughed.

As director of mathematics in Mineola, Restivo said he enjoyed working with teachers and helping them think outside the box for ways to bring math to students, which is what he will do in his next position. He will also work with students and travel to conferences to speak to teachers around the country.

He and his wife Cathi, a doctor, are the parents of three adult children, Michaela, Zachary and Cassandra, and help raise their 7-year-old grandson Jayden in their Queens home.

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