Northport High School’s incoming principal, Robert Dennis, in his own words
Late this July, the Board of Education appointed Mr. Robert Dennis to the position of principal at Northport High School, replacing former principal Daniel Danbusky. A 2004 Northport High School graduate, Mr. Dennis earned his bachelor’s degree from Providence College in secondary education and his master’s from Stony Brook University. Out of college, he returned to Northport High School, teaching both Italian and Spanish. In 2014, Mr. Dennis became assistant principal and Chairperson of ESL and World Language for the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District. Most recently, he has been the principal of North Shore Middle School in Glen Head for five years.
NHS rising senior Harrison LeBow sat down with Mr. Dennis for an interview, covering topics from his style of leadership, to his thoughts on such timely topics as social-emotional learning and the pandemic.
How has Northport High School changed since you were first a student in its halls?
Geographically, the high school has gotten a lot bigger. When I was a student here, the K-Wing didn’t yet exist; the athletic facilities didn’t really look anything like they do now. I think now, over the last number of years, the facilities have really transformed. It's so evident that the high school really is such a focal point and point of pride for the community. You can see that looking at the athletic fields, looking at the science labs, music, art, and tech areas. A lot of that is very new. So, geographically and physically, the building has transformed.
When I was a student here, the population was increasing. There were maybe 400 students in a grade. By the time I left as a student and returned as a teacher, there were roughly 550 students in each grade. The building then needed to get bigger to accommodate 2,200 kids. I’d say the biggest changes are physically, and then also, within the building, the different programs that spaces represent. The music additions, the art additions, technology, engineering, the dance room, the weight room, the science labs, the science collaboration center – all that stuff is brand new.
How did you first come to the field of education as a profession you wanted to pursue?
When I was a kid, I remember teaching my stuffed animals. I remember being four years old, and my father was a New York City sanitation worker and he used to find desks behind schools in New York City and bring them home. We would clean them up and put them in our toy room, and I would put my stuffed animals there and teach them. One of my very first teachers was my kindergarten teacher, and she inspired me to become a teacher. Then, when I went to middle school, I fell in love with Spanish because of my middle school Spanish teacher. I knew then that I wanted to combine my love of teaching and learning with my love of foreign language. That’s when I knew I wanted to become a Spanish teacher.
What inspired you to make the leap from classroom teaching to administration?
I taught here at Northport from 2008 to 2014. Each year, I got more comfortable in my role as a teacher. I branched out in different ways, getting involved within the high school community beyond just Room H-125: I was the advisor for National Honor Society, I was advisor to the Class of 2013 and 2017, the Spanish Club, and I helped out with the IB program. I enjoyed seeing kids beyond just in my classroom. While I think the role that a teacher plays in helping kids meet their full potential is really exciting, I grew even more excited by the opportunity to reach kids on a broader level – beyond the 125 kids I had on my caseload. I’d say in my involvement in extracurricular activities, I realized I wanted to see how I could have an influence on a larger school community.
What do you believe the role of a principal is, and what specifically will you do to fulfill this role?
I think the job of a principal is to be the champion and cheerleader of every student and staff member in the building. I think one of my responsibilities, and one of the things I am privileged to do, is to advocate for students, to advocate for staff, to celebrate with them, and to find out what makes them tick. What are you excited about as a student? What do you want to do four years after leaving Northport High School? What are you excited about as a teacher, and how do you want to work with students to help fulfill their dreams? I think the job of a principal is to be the champion and cheerleader of everyone in their building. I think this year, certainly in my first year as principal, it’s really important that I listen and observe a lot. I went here and taught here, but that was a relatively long time ago, so I want to listen to see what are ways that I can contribute to the school community in a positive way.
There has been a great emphasis placed on social-emotional learning over the past couple of years. With this, how do you plan to truly support the mental health of high school students, beyond simple mental health awareness?
At the secondary level – I spent four years as a middle school principal – this idea of social-emotional learning and mental health awareness is really important. My experience at the middle level is very similar to that. Our students need that time to process what is going on inside their own heads and how to make sense of things.
We created a program at my former school, a middle school advisory program where, instead of a traditional homeroom (which I know at the high school is attached to first period, and is just a period of announcements), we thought about how we can take advantage of this ten-minute period and transform homeroom differently. We spent time together, as a faculty, with students and with parents thinking about those ten minutes. We recreated homeroom where, instead of being whoever was in your first period class, we re-made it into small classes of anywhere from ten to fourteen students, and it was just a check-in time.
I had a [group] myself of ten eighth graders every year, during which we met in the cafeteria (that was our classroom); we talked about what’s going on, what are we looking forward to, played games together, went outside, just connected on a non-academic level. I think that time to get acclimated to your school day, to connect with other students, to connect with adults, was really important and it helped create a really positive culture in my former school.
I’m not saying that’s the be-all-and-end-all, but I am saying that that time to allow for purposeful social-emotional learning and to carve out a dedicated time for it is something I found to be successful. At Northport High School, there is a great deal of attention on social-emotional learning. I’ve heard about a lot of different speakers that have come in, a lot of different programs that have been done, and they might have put it off this past year due to Covid-19, but I think there is a strong desire by the students, by staff, by the community, to bring back a lot of that attention.
Hypothetically, if Covid-19 levels increase during the school year, and the board votes in favor as a matter of health and safety to reinstate remote instruction, how would you, as principal, assure a smooth transition among students and staff?
I think engaging people in conversation from the start, and then throughout that process. I would want to speak with students to find out what remote instruction looked like previously, what were some things that worked, what were some things that didn’t work, and how could we look at that experience and learn from it and make it more successful than it might have been. I would want to speak with staff to find out about obstacles that presented themselves in the 2020-2021 school year. We would work together to figure out solutions for that. I would want to work with parents to understand a little bit more about what that experience was like for students to be at home — what did or didn’t happen that you would want to ensure happened in a second version of remote instruction.
Regarding the institution of Northport High School as a whole, what do you specifically believe could be improved, and how will you go about improving it?
I think it’s really early for me to say what could be improved. I don’t know right now. I really am very sincere when I say that people should listen to and with one another in order to have a deeper understanding. I would like, coming out of the 2020-2021 school year and into the 2021-2022 school year, to think about the school community, to think about a sense of pride and excitement in school. If I were to think about the year ahead, words that resonate with me are making sure that school is positive, successful, and joyful for students and for faculty. That is a part of my focus, how can we make sure that school is positive, successful, and joyful.
What advice would you give to aspiring educators?
I would tell aspiring educators to always remember why they got involved with education. Anyone who gets involved in education does so because they want to make a difference on behalf of kids, whether they are in elementary school, middle school, high school, or college. And sometimes, people can lose sight of that, that first reason as to why did you get into the classroom. If you remember the “why” (your motivation), then that helps you get energized around things you are excited about.
