Due to the recent retirement and promotion of administrators such as Dr. Williams, former principal; Mr. Howard, former dean of students; and Mr. McCaw, former vice principal of MHS and current principal of Ames, the staff at MHS has shifted around quite a bit. The following are questions and responses collected from interviews with two of the many new staff members.  

Question: What is your name?

Ms. Berry: Deja Berry

Mr. Wing: Kenneth Wing

Q: What is the title of your new position?

B: Executive assistant to the principal, which is just a fancy title for vice principal.

W: Dean of students at Massapequa High School

Q: How long have you worked in education?

B: Twenty years

W: Twenty-six years

Q: What positions have you held in the past?

B: I was a high school math teacher, a math chairperson, a curriculum associate for mathematics and business, and then the executive assistant to the principal at Berner.

W: For the first five years, I worked at East Lake as a math teacher, then I moved to Berner for two years doing the same thing. I worked at Ames for the past 18 years teaching math and working in the attendance office.

Q: What inspired you to work in education?

B: I think I’m a people person.  I was initially a math teacher and I know a lot of people don’t like that subject and I wanted to help people feel better about math.

W: I have always wanted a job that wasn’t soulless and educating students is certainly not soulless.

Q: What is your favorite part about your job?

B: I like working with students and helping them to realize that they can find success and do well. That’s my favorite moment.

W: Definitely working with students

Q: What responsibilities come along with your new position?

B: For the most part, we help the principal support his vision and goals for the school. I do the master schedule and take care of testing. There’s a lot of behind the scenes stuff, working with guidance and making sure students have everything they need.

W: Mainly, I’m responsible for creating a safe environment for students that is inviting for all.

Q: How does this compare with your past tasks?

B: It’s a little different. With this job I get to work with students more while in the past it was more about curriculum, so I’m excited about that. I’ll be apart of running the building and student activities which is more challenging in a way because it is more responsibility being that it is a whole school I’ll be working with as opposed to just one department.

W: It’s on a level playing field.  I have always wanted a job that was predominantly student-oriented and the dean of students allows me to still be heavily involved with the students.

Q: What are you most excited about with this new position?

B: I’m excited right now to get to see the students I worked with at Berner and what they’re doing now and what challenges they’re taking on and seeing them grow.

W: The new challenges, meeting new students, and engaging with past students.

Q: Most worried about?

B: There’s not much for me to worried about because I’ve worked in the building and I’ve worked with these people before. If anything, I’m anxious about the master schedule and that it runs smoothly, basically that I’m responsive to what everybody needs.

W: If at some point a student comes to me with an issue, I fear being unable to resolve that issue.

Q: What are your hopes for the school while you are here?

B: I hope that we are able to provide students with challenging coursework while having fun and getting involved.

W: I hope we can continue to make MHS not only the greatest school in Nassau county, but the best on Long Island.  I love the community and the school and great things have every year here and I hope to continue that tradition.

Q: What advice would you give to any incoming students?

B: This school has so much to offer in the way of coursework, in the way of clubs and sports and activities and I would just say to get involved make the best of it and don’t forget to have fun.

W: I would tell all students to after their goals and dreams in life, don’t ever sell themselves short.