Ready to get to work

He applied in August, went through a four-step interview process in the fall, was officially hired in November, and on Dec. 2, Matthew Pearson will have his first day as an assistant principal at Central High School.

Pearson, 37, will take over as one of Central’s two assistant principals, with a concentration in discipline. The Central High School District Board of Education unanimously approved his appointment at its Nov. 12 meeting.

In the last five years, Pearson has served as an assistant principal and as dean of students at Rockaway Park’s Martin De Porress High School, a school that serves students from New York City, Nassau County and Suffolk County who have difficulty in the development of their educational skills and whose behavior has been severely disorderly and disruptive.

Pearson started as a teaching assistant in the Martin De Porress system soon after graduating Morris Brown College in 1999 and moving back to Brooklyn. He then served as a phys. ed. and health teacher at Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn before accepting a similar position at the Martin De Porress Elementary and Junior High School in Elmont.

He said his past work experiences will help him greatly in his new position. One of his strengths, Pearson said, is communicating with students who are having difficulties, and reading their body language. It’s his style, he added, to be proactive when it comes to student issues and work with them before the issues become a larger problem.

While the Central student population will be different than the students at Martin De Porress, Pearson said that there will still be issues and students who need attention. “[I] look forward to building relationships with students to help them through tough times,” he said.

In his new role, Pearson will also conduct teacher observations and assist the phys. ed. department when needed. “As I grow and continue to learn my primary position,” he said, “I’ll be afforded opportunities to do different things.”