By Nicole Falco
On Nov. 3, John Squadrito, a former teacher and coach at Central High School, filled the position that became vacant over the summer when Anael Alston announced his resignation after less than two years on the job.
Squadrito had taught in the district for 10 years before applying for the position. He taught Italian and Spanish and coached Central's boys' varsity soccer and volleyball teams. He also served as co-advisor of the school's Varsity Club, director of the drivers education program and coordinator of the district's summer recreation program.
Squadrito had just completed 2 1/2 years of coursework toward a certificate in administration in August when he heard about the opening at Memorial. "I wanted to take the experience of going through the interview process as an opportunity to get my feet wet," he said. He soon found himself making it to the next round of interviews.
"It happened really fast," Sqaudrito said. "I didn't expect it to happen this soon. I was hoping in the spring to look for an administrative position." When it came time to accept the position, he said, the decision wasn't easy.
"It was a tough decision," he said. "I still enjoyed being a teacher and having that interaction in the classroom, but [being an administrator] has always been one of my dreams."
Since his first job as an administrator is in a district where he has spent the majority of his teaching career, Sqaudrito said his transition to assistant principal has been easier than he expected. "I've just been lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time," he said.
Over the past month, he has been settling into his new job. As assistant principal, he is responsible for attendance and discipline as well as building issues and supervising the teaching staff.
Before joining the Memorial team, Squadrito completed the first marking period at Central and was able to coach the soccer team one last time. He led the soccer and volleyball teams to the conference championships the past two seasons, and was named coach of the year for the 2002-03 school year in the conference.
Squadrito admits that not being able to coach is a drawback, but he will continue to play soccer in an adult league. His love of soccer was cultivated when he was a child growing up in Italy. Though born on Long Island, he spent the majority of his childhood in Italy, where soccer is king. He returned to Long Island as a teenager. Eventually, he said, he may look into coaching an intramural soccer league.
Squadrito's interest in volleyball took shape when he was a student at C.W. Post. He started the college's volleyball team and did the same for Central when he arrived. It was also in college that he made the decision to become a teacher.
"Some of my college professors thought it would be a good career for me to become a language teacher because of my knowledge of languages," Squadrito said. "I was never fond of school. I thought they were crazy at first."
It turns out they weren't.
