Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Rockville Centre Education Foundation will honor two at its upcoming annual gala — set for March 3 at the Garden City Hotel.
This year’s honoree is Board of Education Vice President Mark Masin, who has served in a variety of roles on the board; South Side High School Assistant Principal John Murphy, the school’s International Baccalaureate coordinator, will receive the Ruth Fins Memorial Award. The pair is being recognized by the foundation for their dedication to enhancing the education of the village’s most valuable resource — its children.
In addition to his role as a school board trustee since 2003, Masin, president of American Trans-Coil, a military communications manufacturer, has long been active in the community. His resume includes nine years as a soccer coach in the Rockville Centre Soccer Club, and he was a member of the SSHS Compact Team, serves as Board of Education liaison to the RVC Education Foundation, was elected to the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association Executive Committee and currently serves as the chairman of its Finance Committee. A member of Central Synagogue of Nassau County, Masin is past president of its Couples Club and Men’s Club, a past member of the temple’s Board of Trustees, Rabbinic Search Committee and Temple Building Committee. He was honored as Brotherhood Man of the Year and with his wife, Meri, a reading specialist in the Freeport school district, were Central Synagogue’s gala honorees in 2009. The couple have two adult daughters, Samara and Elissa.
With a background as an English teacher, Murphy has worked as South Side High School’s Theory of Knowledge instructor and its IB coordinator since 2001, in addition to his role as an assistant principal since 2007. His professional accomplishments and awards include receiving News 12/NY Lottery Educator of the Week in April 2004; the Distinguished Educator Award from the Harvard Club in May 2008 and 2009 and the Phi Delta Kappan, Friends of Education Award in May 2011. A long distance runner who has completed five marathons, Murphy lives in Northport with his wife, Deirdre, and two daughters, Holly, 14 and Ciara, 10.
