Mr. DeTommaso: Passion for Successful Students

By Harpinder Kaur

I was lucky to sit down with the busy new principal. 

This is Mr. DeTommaso’s first year here as principal and he is motivated to bring great visions for the future of West Hempstead to action.

Mr. DeTommaso has been in education for over 27 years. He started his career as a Special Education teacher. He was also a devoted coach of football and basketball and even coached a professional lacrosse team, the Long Island Lizards. 

Mr. DeTomasso then took a Dean's job at East Rockaway High School later becoming an Assistant Principal there and then the summer school Principal. Mr. DeTommaso is filled with confidence about becoming the new principal of West Hempstead High School.

He knows that being a new principal takes a lot of time and devotion and he realized at once that moving here to West Hempstead was the right decision. “It was the right time in my life and I learned West Hempstead had a new team of administrators that were emerging here and I wanted to be a part of that. It was a good fit.” I learned that West Hempstead was an exciting community to join.

Amazed at the dedication of the staff, Mr. DeTommaso is committed to making sure all students have an equitable and exciting learning experience. Everybody being on board makes it not only easier to get started but inspiring to have such a great amount of support and respect.  

Mr. DeTommaso spends time getting to know each student and is always active in visiting classrooms. “I think my biggest connection has been on Instagram and Twitter with social media, and I realized that kids are on social media all the time so it has become another great way for me to communicate and celebrate all the great things happening in school. I try to not only focus on the athletics and clubs but what is going on academically in the classrooms,” said Mr. DeTommaso. Social media is used positively to show the community and students are able to see the activities happening in the building.

On the first day of school students and teachers were introduced to a new theme: Raise the bar and compete. In the summer, along with his building administrative team,  they decided that this motto would help motivate the entire community, in particular, the students to reach their academic potential. Mr. DeTommaso took this a step further in the welcoming assemblies for the students, “I challenged the students, I asked them all to stand up during the assembly program and everyone took the challenge, I challenged the teachers at the first faculty meeting and they all stood up and I took it one step further at Back to School Night by challenging the parents to also raise the bar with their own students”. Furthermore, he hopes that this challenge will carry over into students every day lives in helping them compete in school, college and work, and later in life.

Mr. DeTommaso feels immensely passionate when it comes to helping students become successful individuals both in and out of the classroom. Mr. DeTommaso introduced several new programs into the building this year. The Character Grams to recognize good citizenship and any student can receive a Character Gram, Student of the Month was left up to the teachers meaning they can pick one student per section who has greatly improved or  who is academically outstanding, and lastly the Super Masters Program which honors those students who scored above  95 on Regents exams.”  Such opportunities through these new initiatives has had a positive effect on the student body. Everyone can strive to do better. Those who didn't make the Student of the Month push themselves to try harder so they have a chance for the following month. This and other incentives are rewarding kids for their hard work and making them feel accomplished.

Mr. DeTommaso is building upon what has already been established here and hopes to build relationships and increase opportunities for all students to succeed. We wish Mr. DeTommaso great luck in his journey here at West Hempstead High School.

Are you all ready to raise the bar and compete?