Valley Stream Central High’s Blue Ribbon principal calls it a career

In Valley Stream Central High School’s nearly century-long history, few educators occupy the same epic status in their school as Principal Joseph Pompilio did in his.

In a district where a culture of high expectations and exacting standards for its students is deeply ingrained, colleagues say few principals understood how to compel students and staff to believe in this vision better than Pompilio. His storied run as principal came to an end with his announcement of his retirement. Candace Hugee will succeed him for the upcoming school year. 

Some might be surprised to learn that Pompilio, a resident of Huntington, wasn’t raised in Valley Stream. Yet he has become so connected with the school and the community that his presence has become a fixture of village life. Even Mayor Ed Fare christened him an “honorary Valley Stream resident” in 2017.    

As principal, he watched thousands of students stride across the graduation stage over the years to receive their diplomas. He developed countless bonds and refined or expanded a variety of programs and traditions at Central.

In a school with roughly 90 percent students of color, Pompilio — fair-skinned, sporting a charming white handle-bar mustache, with pronounced cheekbones framing a jovial grin in almost every photo — doesn’t exactly resemble most of the young people under his care. Yet through the years, families embraced him. Amid periods of dramatic demographic change at the school, few better understood the challenges of an increasingly diverse student body and the involved effort needed to close the achievement gaps between white students and their non-white classmates.

“In my experience, once you put expectations out there, no matter what race these kids are, they do respond,” Pompilio told Newsday in 2012. “I think our teachers work very hard, and we constantly strive to motivate and challenge these kids. We’re not a wealthy district, but the teachers here come early and stay late. These kids want to be here even after the bell rings at the end of the day.”

Few trusted more strongly, more completely in the capacity of students to rise to an academic challenge than Pompilio. Alongside his staff, he regularly communicated those expectations to students and the importance of positive achievement for their future.

Amid calamities like the Sept. 11 attacks and the pandemic, he was that steady and devoted educational advocate.

“I use the public address system as an instructional tool, and often speak to the students throughout the building about achieving academic success and repeating behavioral expectations,” he told the Herald last year.

Thanks  to Pompilio, the moment students stepped into school, they could feel an air of gravitas and high-minded ambition toward learning that inspired them, no matter their own unique challenges and doubts, to believe in themselves and take their goals seriously.

Giving students both the means and the motivation to achieve meant Pompilio and school officials worked to balance a rigorous curriculum with tools for self-paced study, individualized attention, and extra help opportunities outside the classroom.

If they trusted in this formula for success, the results in due course would speak for themselves. And sure enough, they did.

In 2014, Valley Stream’s Central High School was named by the Daily Beast as one of the top 500 high schools in the country in the news website’s 2014 annual high school rankings. In 2018, Central was lauded by officials from the Education Department for consistently graduating men of color at a higher rate than the state average. But perhaps their culminating success was when Central was recognized as a National Blue-Ribbon School winner among three other schools on Long Island. 

As for advice for his successor, Pompilio said, “Spend the first year taking it in. Sit back and observe. Establish professional relationships with people and establish professional relationships with the students.”

“When you think about it, given Dr.  Pompilio’s long and distinguished career, his crowning achievement must be the thousands of students that have graduated under him, have gone on to become productive members of society, done amazing things, and had families,” said Superintendent Wayne Loper. “And I think that is very impressive.”

Central Board of Education president Kenneth Cummings said, “He led the school as one that is dignified and respectful of all students. He is a proud father of two daughters who is always willing to share their accolades. He certainly had a positive impact on the school community, and I wish him good health and God speed in the next chapter of his life.”

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