Maplewood Principal Hired As South Huntington Assistant Superintendent

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Bill Hender is moving from principal of Maplewood Intermediate School to a new role in the district as South Huntington’s assistant superintendent for elementary education, grades K-6, the school district announced.

He is replacing Gayle Steele, who is leaving to become superintendent of the Elwood School District.

He sees this new administrative position as an opportunity to be able to make an even greater contribution to the South Huntington community.

"It’s a place that I've grown to really love over the past few years," Hender said in a news release. "And I felt that it was the right time with the knowledge and experience that I've had teaching at many different grade levels from kindergarten through sixth grade. And the timing just seemed perfect."

Hender has been with the South Huntington district for three years as principal of Maplewood. Before that, he was principal at Eastport Elementary School.

He began his teaching career in 2001 in the Kings Park Central School District where he taught kindergarten, second, third, and sixth grades for 18 years. During that time he was also varsity head coach of the girls soccer, boys soccer, girls track, and girls softball teams at Kings Park High School.

Becoming a teacher is what Hender said he always knew he wanted to do, and his mother was part of his inspiration.

"My mom had a daycare center in our house growing up, and I knew that I just loved working with children," Hender said. "And I also knew that I had a love for coaching sports, so it worked out very nicely that I was able to accomplish both of those."

Hender received his bachelor's degree in child study from Saint Joseph’s College in Patchogue and his master’s degree in Education/Literacy from LIU. He has an advanced graduate certificate in administration from SUNY Stony Brook, and in 2022 he was awarded his Ed.D. in educational administration from St. John’s University. He has NYS certifications in school district leader (SDL), and school building leader (SBL), plus NYS Permanent Certification in Teaching (N-6) and Special Education (B-21yrs).

Hender’s love of education stretches beyond his work life in the schools of South Huntington, according to the distrct. He lives in Commack where he’s been a trustee of the Commack UFSD Board of Education since 2017.

He is set to assume his new position of assistant superintendent on July 1. He admitted it’s going to be tough to leave Maplewood.

"I love my Maplewood family," he said. "It's been just the best place for me. I came to Maplewood right after my mom had passed away. And, you know, the community, the building, the staff have just taken me in and we've done really great work there. And I'm really excited to see not only where Maplewood goes, but where the rest of South Huntington goes."