Two New Principals Arrive in Westhampton Beach

Members of the Westhampton Beach School District welcomed back two of their own into the Elementary and Middle Schools this new school year. Elementary School Principal Lisa Slover and Elementary/Middle School Assistant Principal Brian Naughton, both graduates of Westhampton Beach High School, officially began their first full school year earlier this month.

Ms. Slover and Mr. Naughton's professional teaching and administrative experience prior to this year included positions that brought them to much different parts of the country – and in Mr. Naughton's case, the world – though both said they are happy to be back in their home district. Both principals said part of the attraction of coming back to Westhampton Beach was that their children would go to the same schools they grew up in.

“This is a wonderful place. The staff here are fantastic,” said Ms. Slover, who has three of her children in the elementary school, and a fourth in the high school. “I wanted to come back to be around my family, but also to bring the kids up in a community that values education.”

“It's really kind of neat with my son going to same school where I went,” she continued. “They still have some of the same traditions, and in this day and age nice to have that.”

“I'm proud to be back,” said Mr. Naughton, who graduated from the high school in 1984 and was officially hired earlier this month. “[Westhampton Beach] is still a small setting - so many other high schools are pretty big these days, but here people know each other but there you can still have a lot of opportunities academically and for extracurricular activities.”

Both Mr. Naughton and Ms. Slover gained much of their experience in other parts of the country. Ms. Slover first started off as a speech and language therapist in North Carolina and New York, before moving to Florida to work as a reading and language arts specialist, and then as the regional Reading First director at the University of Central Florida. Thereafter, she accepted a position as the assistant principal at Southern Oaks Middle School in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, and then as Principal at the Floresta Elementary School, also in Port Saint Lucie.

Mr. Naughton, meanwhile briefly began his career working as a teacher in New York City before other circumstances brought him to Hawaii, where he worked in an elementary school for 2 years. Thereafter, he and his wife decided to move to Santa Barbara, California, where he taught grades 3-6.

It was then, with the encouragement of his principal, that Mr. Naughton began to look into more administrative roles, so he went back to school and eventually landed a job as a junior high assistant principal in Santa Barbara. During two summers in the early 2000's, Mr. Naughton also worked as an information techology specialist and a quality assistance technician for Miramar Systems. Then, in 2009, he and his family moved to the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, where he worked as computer applications teacher.

Ms. Slover, who began working at the elementary school in April, said she's looking forward to continue fostering the relationship between the parents and the community at large in her new post.

“We all work together for the same reason – for our kids,” she said. “I'm looking forward to bringing everybody into that same understanding that we're all here for the kids.”

Mr. Naughton, who was also a personal trainer while getting his master's degree in elementary education, said he's hoping to focus on providing students with the best educational and extracurricular activities he can.

Their appointments were in addition to seven new teachers who began earlier this month in the high and middle schools : Gregory Izzo and Cynthia Sparwell will be joining the middle school as new science and ESL teachers, respecively, and Laura DiLandro has been hired as a longterm maternity leave replacement. In the high school, Jennifer Alvarado, Vanessa Porcelli, Eric Rubenstein, and Cody Hoyt will become new English, math, music, and health teachers, respectively.