Tuesday, May 13, 2025
The message landed without warning on March 25: Howell Road School Principal Frank Huplosky is to take the helm at Wheeler Avenue School, filling the vacancy to be left by Ruth Peets-Butcher for the upcoming school year.
After nearly a quarter-century of unbroken leadership at Howell Road School, Huplosky’s tenure will end not in the familiar halls he’s guided since the start of the millennium but in a new school building altogether. For parents like Stephanie Marquez, it’s a seismic and sudden change.
“My oldest is in fifth grade, my middle son is in fourth, and my daughter’s in first,” she said. “I’ve had a long relationship with Frank—and I thought I would have a long one into the future.”
On the same day of the announcement’s release, Marquez and other parents, joined by teachers, turned a scheduled Board of Education budget meeting into an impromptu protest against the decision.
“This is not just a loss for Howell staff but for the entire community that has come to rely on (Huplosky’s) leadership, vision, and commitment to our student’s success,” said Anna Mihalos, a reading teacher at Howell Road School. “We all know that a great principal is not just a figurehead. He is the heart and soul of the school.”
A Change.org petition demanding that Huplosky stay at Howell has surged to nearly 700 signatures as of press time.
Superintendent Judith LaRocca says it’s Huplosky’s seasoned leadership that makes him an obvious choice to bring long-needed stability back to Wheeler Avenue School. “This change, while I know is difficult, provides the opportunity to build upon what Mr. Huplosky and his staff have created at Howell Road,” said LaRocca in a statement on Parent Square.
As the district searches for a new principal at Howell Road School, LaRocca has laid out a structured hiring process that includes multiple forums for parent input. She also said the proposed budget sets aside funding for a new assistant principal, who would divide time between Howell and Wheeler Avenue schools and support the district’s prekindergarten program at Howell.
Signs of instability at Wheeler Avenue School began to surface in 2019. Following the conclusion of Principal Gayle Steele’s seven-year tenure that year, the school has cycled through two other principals.
Steele left for a position in the South Huntington Union Free School District and was succeeded by John Frias, who led from July 2019 to July 2022 before departing for Eastern Suffolk BOCES. Peets-Butcher stepped into the role in July 2022 and is expected to leave the district by the end of this year.
At Willow Road School, leadership shifted recently, with Cindy Gervasi taking over in 2023 from longtime principal Rosalie Ambrioso. In contrast, Howell Road, and James A. Dever schools have enjoyed an extraordinary stretch of stability, each led by the same principal for more than two decades.
National data highlights the rarity of that consistency in today’s educational landscape. As of the 2016–2017 school year, the average tenure of a U.S. principal was just four years. Roughly one-third had been at their schools for fewer than two years, and only 11 percent had remained in the same building for a decade or longer.
Howell parents, in conversations with LaRocca, have been pining for answers about the underlying causes for the leadership churn at Wheeler, hoping to avoid a similar situation as the district prepares to select a new principal for their school.
One prevailing theory among parents is that starting salaries are not competitive enough to attract and retain top-tier talent.
“A lot of people are using this position as a stepping stone for their personal career. Obviously, it makes sense on a personal level,” said Howell parent Michelle Rico. “The district’s starting salary is not comparable or competitive to the rest of the area’s wages including those in Queens.”
But Valley Stream District 13’s starting salary for principals, about $140,000, positions it at the higher end of average principal salaries in Nassau County, according to Salary.com — though factors like school size, years of experience, and leadership responsibilities can cause principal salaries to vary widely between districts.
“We have always been able to attract highly qualified candidates for our administrative and teacher positions,” said LaRocca. “Salaries are set by the Board through individual contracts or through the collective bargaining process.”
She also emphasized that the board “periodically” reviews base salary amounts to ensure they remain competitive, with flexibility to increase salaries when needed, but did not indicate whether a pay increase for starting principals was being considered.
Principals Darren Gruen and Huplosky, who began their tenures around the same time, each earn roughly $220,000 — nearly matching the superintendent’s $244,000 salary and surpassing the district’s assistant superintendents.
However, the pay for these two highly experienced leaders stands in a class of its own.
For highly credentialed leaders just joining the district, the limited annual pay increases, while notable, may not be enough in the face of other lucrative opportunities elsewhere. This is especially true as Long Island’s cost of living and housing prices continue to soar, putting pressure on salaries to remain competitive across the region.
Still, pay is only one factor influencing a principal’s decision to stay. Experts say high workload, unrealistic performance standards, and challenging school environments also weigh heavily on their choice to head for the door.
At Wheeler Avenue School, roughly 103 out of 506 students — roughly 20 percent — are chronically absent, according to the New York State Department of Education. That’s less than the statewide post pandemic average but still means one in five students are chronically missing school. Chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days in a given year—has become a statewide challenge. The district has also been slapped with a need improvement designation by the Department of Education for lower-than-expected levels of state testing participation, partly fueled by the popularity of the opt-out movement.
Individually, Wheeler continues to grapple with longstanding “structural issues” to the building, including leaks in the gymnasium. LaRocca, however, reassured that these problems are being addressed as part of a comprehensive capital improvement plan, which will move forward once the district receives approval from the New York State Education Department.
She remains confident that the administration and board will identify a worthy successor by the end of May, despite the considerable shadow cast by Huplosky’s enviable tenure.
Have an opinion on this article? Send an email to jlasso@liherald.com.
