After an expansive search, welcome to Carissa Hagan, William Holl, Brenda Almendarez-DeBello and Brian Kolar as the new assistant principals at Samoset Middle School, Seneca Middle School, East High School and North High School, respectively.

Ms. Hagan comes to Samoset Middle School from Sagamore Middle School, where she has worked as an English as a Second Language teacher since 2010. During her time at Sagamore, Ms. Hagan worked with students to increase comprehension and understanding of content areas and spearheaded other initiatives such as Sachem’s districtwide ESL community night. Additionally, she worked as an adult education teacher and has served as the Middle School Director of the Sachem Summer Enrichment Program since 2014. Ms. Hagan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics TESOL K-12 from Stony Brook University, a Master of Science degree in earth science from C.W. Post of Long Island University and an Advanced Certificate in school building leadership from College of Saint Rose.

Mr. Holl most recently worked as a physics teacher for the Sachem High School North, teaching both Regents and Advanced Placement courses, and serving as a mentor for two first-year physics teachers. Additionally, he worked collaboratively with colleagues to develop and enhance the physics curriculum. Since 2010, Mr. Holl has coached the Sachem High School North boys cross-country team to many impressive finishes. The 2014 Suffolk County Coach of the Year award winner led the team to a Suffolk County Class A Championship victory, a Division 1 Championship and two League 2 Championships. Mr. Holl holds a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Master of Arts degree in liberal studies from Stony Brook University. He also attended the Educational Leadership program at Stony Brook University.

Ms. Almendarez-DeBello comes to the district from the Uniondale Union Free School District at the Lawrence Road Middle School as an administrative intern and a bilingual mathematics teacher. Within these roles, she aided in creating measures to facilitate testing procedures for administration, proctor schedules and student accommodations as well as developed and provided various professional development workshops for teachers. Prior to this, Ms. Almendarez-DeBello taught mathematics for eight years at Intermediate School 93 for the New York City Department of Education. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, her Master of Science in education from St. John’s University, where she also completed an Advanced Certificate in school building leadership and is currently in the process of receiving her doctorate of education degree in educational administration and supervision.

Mr. Kolar joins North High School after serving as the acting building principal of Sleepy Hollow Middle School in Tarrytown, New York since 2015. For the past 18 years, Mr. Kolar has taught social studies to students grades 6-12 and acted as a seventh- and eighth-grade team leader, where he oversaw a five-teacher team, was a mentor to new staff members and was responsible for the design and implementation of lesson plans and curricula. Mr. Kolar received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Boston University, a Master of Professional Studies dual focus in secondary social studies and special education (K-12) from Manhattanville College, and his Master of Science in education administration and supervision from Fordham University.

In addition to the appointment of the four new assistant principals, John Cariddi and Dr. John Galligan, both current employees of the district, were named assistant principals at Sachem High School East and Sagamore Middle School, respectively.