New Principal Named At South Huntington's Maplewood Intermediate School

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Maria Colon was named principal of Maplewood Intermediate School, the South Huntington School District announced.

Colon spent 24 years at the school as a teacher before leaving in July 2019 to become the assistant principal of Oakwood Primary Center. She moved into the principal’s office at Maplewood on July 1. The position was vacated by Dr. William Hender who left for the district offices to become assistant superintendent for elementary education.

"I'm thrilled because I think that my experience in kindergarten through second grade [at Oakwood] is going to help me coming back to Maplewood because I'm so familiar now with what they’ve learned in Oakwood and Countrywood," Colon said in a news release. "And now we hopefully take them from acting like and being treated like very young children to now being treated like preteens academically and socially. What we’re doing at Maplewood is getting them prepared for sixth grade and for middle school."

Colon grew up in Uniondale. Her involvement in a Nassau County youth group, the Youth Participation Project, helped her realize she wanted to work with kids, she said. The group was all about youth empowerment, helping children develop, make good choices, and learn about the opportunities that are out there for them. She credits the program’s director, Kathryn Chandross, with being a huge influence in her life, helping her find her voice and her confidence as a young adult.

Colon received her bachelor of science degree from SUNY New Paltz with a major in Elementary Education, Grades Nursery to six. Six years later she was awarded a master of arts in liberal studies from Stony Brook University. She stayed with Stony Brook University for her advanced graduate certificate, and School District Leader and School Building Administration certificates.

"I bounced between secondary education as an English teacher or elementary education," Colon said. "But I just loved the little ones after visiting classrooms and seeing the difference between the two age groups. I knew that I wanted to work with younger kids."

After spending a year teaching in Poughkeepsie, Colon said she was very happy to secure an interview with the South Huntington School District so she could return to Long Island and be with her family.

She was hired as a teacher at Maplewood in 1995 and taught third grade, fourth grade dual language and fifth grade there for 24 years until she left in 2019 to become the assistant principal at Oakwood.

When the opportunity arose to become principal at Maplewood, she was excited to be considered because she finally felt ready to run her own building, she said.

"I found that I wanted to make a bigger impression on a larger group of students," she said. "Working with children, you learn that all of them are different. And also they always surprise you, even in their toughest moments. This resilience that they have isn't always seen. But when it comes out, it's mind blowing. That's what makes you want to help shape them and make them be the best person."

As she makes plans with her team this summer for the direction in which she’ll take Maplewood come September, Colon said she wants the South Huntington family to know that her door will always be open.

"I'm always here to listen. And if they need me at any time, they could always reach out or reach back, even if they've left the building. This is their home and we're here to help and support them.

And "going to the principal’s office" won’t be a bad thing, Colon said.

"This [the principal’s office] is a part of the school and this is where we help students learn. So if they make mistakes, we talk it out, we figure it out, we try to find other choices that would've been better."