Dr. Bill Hender will become an assistant superintendent for elementary education in the South Huntington school district, effective July 1.
His brother Chris Hender was appointed deputy superintendent of the Huntington district in May.
Bill Hender will move from principal of Maplewood Intermediate School to the new role, succeeding Dr. Gayle Steele, who has been appointed superintendent of the Elwood school district.
He sees this new administrative position as an opportunity to be able to make an even greater contribution to the South Huntington community. “It’s a place that I’ve grown to really love over the past few years,” Hender said. “And I felt that it was the right time with the knowledge and experience that I’ve had teaching at many different grade levels from kindergarten through sixth grade. And the timing just seemed perfect.”
Dr. Hender has been with the South Huntington district for three years as principal of Maplewood. Before that, he was principal at Eastport Elementary School. He began his teaching career in 2001 in the Kings Park Central School District where he taught kindergarten, second, third, and sixth grades for 18 years. During that time he was also varsity head coach of the girls soccer, boys soccer, girls track, and girls softball teams at Kings Park High School.
Dr. Hender received his Bachelor’s Degree in Child Study from Saint Joseph’s College in Patchogue and his Master’s Degree in Education/Literacy from LIU. He has an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Administration from SUNY Stony Brook, and in 2022 he was awarded his Ed.D. in Educational Administration from St. John’s University..
He lives in Commack where he’s been a trustee of the Commack UFSD Board of Education since 2017.