Congratulations to Edwin (Eddie) Smith in his new role as Deputy Superintendent for the South Huntington School District. This appointment is in addition to his role as the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources. Mr. Smith first came to South Huntington in 2008 as administrative dean for Stimson Middle School. After leaving to serve as assistant principal at Merrick Avenue Middle School, he returned to South Huntington in 2013 as principal at Stimson. He’s been with the district since then, leaving Stimson in 2022 to move to the district offices as Executive Director of Personnel. He became Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in July 2023. His additional duties as Deputy Superintendent began on July 1, 2024.
Despite the fact that he admits being a bit of a challenging student for some of his teachers, Mr. Smith says being a teacher was the only thing he ever wanted to do. He credits an elementary school teacher and his high school history teacher with sparking his interest. He received his B.A. from SUNY New Paltz in Secondary Education Social Studies, and his Masters in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Social Studies Education from SUNY Stony Brook. In 2008, he was awarded his Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership and Administration from Long Island University. He has his New York State School District Administrator Certification and Social Studies 7-12 Permanent Certification.
“I remember my first day of student teaching. I’ll never forget it. All that work and all that dedication, studying, and maybe not going out when others were going out, to make sure that I was doing what I needed to do as a [college] student. And walking out the door after that first day of student teaching and really feeling like, wow, I love this. I could do this forever and be happy. It was such a moment,” said Mr. Smith.
He saw himself staying in the classroom during his education career until he started taking education leadership and administration classes with the purpose of salary advancement. But Mr. Smith says one of his professors at LIU saw his potential as an administrator and pushed him to pursue positions outside the classroom.
“I think to be a good administrator, which I hope to be, is that you can never forget what it's like to be inside of a classroom. So you’ve got to always keep that with you,” said Mr. Smith. “But once you get exposed to seeing the bigger picture through administration, you try to have a bigger impact on the things that are happening around you. The big impact is trying to look at the culture of schools and how kids are going to learn best and how we're going to create a community that supports that.”
As new Deputy Superintendent, Mr. Smith can certainly have a bigger impact on what’s happening in the school district. He sees continued growth and fiscal responsibility as some of the biggest challenges facing all school districts right now. Although there’s no “laundry list of new responsibilities” associated with this title, he’ll have an expanded role working with the administrative team he’s been part of for a few years now. “It means working very closely with the superintendent, having conversations on a daily basis, multiple times a day about what's happening around the district, and stepping in when Dr. D’Elia’s not available. Being in the know as far as the direction the district's going in, and also the needs of the superintendent and being involved in what his goals are, and what the next steps are. And then just really working collaboratively with the team that we have here,” said Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith is looking forward to the visibility around the district that this new position will give him again. Greeting kids coming off of school buses, opportunities to have “meet and greets” with students, and finding out how they feel about their experience in the schools with their teachers and their peers. All things that were a regular part of being principal. “Trying to get that perspective again, I do think that’s important. And I kind of miss it,” said Mr. Smith.