Rebeccca Silverman Wins
Robert K. Toaz Award
Rebecca Silverman is just the kind of young lady that Robert K. Toaz would like. Mr. Toaz, who was the Huntington School District’s first superintendent, was all about developing a love for learning, students setting high goals and then working hard to achieve them.
Ms. Silverman, Huntington High School’s Class of 2010 valedictorian, is this year’s recipient of the Robert K. Toaz Award. The teenager is headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she plans to study environmental science.
Mr. Toaz served the Huntington community from 1906 to 1932. During his tenure, the high school was located several miles northeast of its current site at what is now Huntington Town Hall.
Until 1930, Mr. Toaz was simultaneously the high school principal and the district superintendent. While he was at the helm, the district erected a new Huntington High School, which Theodore Roosevelt visited with friends one Sunday morning when the group rode over on horseback from Oyster Bay.
Mr. Toaz also oversaw the building of School Street/Station School, Lowndes Avenue, Woodbury Avenue, Lincoln and Nathan Hale elementary schools. He was at the helm when Lowndes Avenue School was doubled in size in 1926/27 and renamed Roosevelt Elementary School.
While Mr. Toaz is long gone from the school system and community, and largely forgotten to history, the annual academic award allows a new generation to become familiar with one of the district’s legendary figures.
Ms. Silverman has been an integral figure around the high school for the past four years. Teachers say she is anything but a “stuffy academic.” She’ll be remembered around her alma mater as a lively, bouncy, funny, bright, well-spoken and absolutely charming young lady who brought a positive nature and helpful attitude to class each day.
“Rebecca is such a delightful young woman,” Huntington Superintendent John J. Finello said. “She will quickly become a favorite of the professors and students at MIT. We are really going to miss her next year.”
Toaz Comes to Huntington
Robert Kennedy Toaz was born on August 23, 1869 in Rochester, New York, where he was educated in the local public schools. A member of the Delta Psi fraternity, he graduated from the University of Rochester in 1893 and soon after began a career in education that brought much honor to him.
Prior to coming to Huntington, Mr. Toaz served as a teacher and head of the science department in Canandaigua for a year, as an assistant principal in Waterloo for four years and as a high school principal in Marion, New York.
In 1899 Mr. Toaz became principal of Oxford Academy and Union School and stayed there until February 1906 when he began a 27-year career in Huntington, landing a position as the high school principal and superintendent of the district. He also taught English and Math at Huntington High School and coached the football team. Needless to say, this was a much different era in the world of education.
Mr. Toaz earned a master’s degree at Columbia University and also studied at Albany Teachers’ College and Clark University. He was extremely active in community affairs, serving as president of the board of trustees of the Old First Presbyterian Church, charter member and president of the Huntington Rotary Club, director of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, master of Jeptha Masonic Lodge, director of the Bank of Huntington & Trust Co., chairman of the Suffolk County Boy Scouts, member of the board of directors of the Huntington Hotel and a trustee of the Heckscher Trust, which administered Heckscher Park and the art museum.
On Friday evening, April 15, 1938 Mr. Toaz, who suffered from heart trouble, told his family that he didn’t feel well. The family physician was called in and shortly thereafter the longtime educator went to bed. He never woke up, passing away in his sleep during the early morning hours of April 16. He was 68 years old.
Presented to Top Student
The Robert K. Toaz Award was originally presented to the top student at the junior high school bearing his name. That building was located at the intersection of Woodhull and Nassau Roads and its property extended along Spring Road. When Toaz Junior High School closed in 1981, the annual award recipient became the valedictorian of the graduating class. The award presented to Ms. Silverman carried a stipend of $100.
Construction on what would become Robert K. Toaz Junior High School began January 8, 1938. The cornerstone for the structure was laid May 7, 1938. The school cost $748,957.33 to build, equip and landscape. The John H. Eisele Construction Company served as the general contractor. The federal depression era Public Works Administration footed $336,457.33 of the cost with a school bond issue of $412,500 covering the balance.
The building was completed in late November 1938, more than four months ahead of the April 15, 1939 contract deadline. Speedy progress was attributed to good weather conditions. Dedication ceremonies were held August 23, 1939 at 8:30 p.m. The capacity of the building was 1,025 students. A later addition increased the capacity by several hundred. The initial registration was about 800. The first day of school was September 5 with the first bell sounding at 8:30 a.m. Students were dismissed that day at 11 a.m. with regular hours being implemented the next day.
The Toaz building was the first junior high school in Suffolk County. After it was closed, the Huntington School District eventually sold the site to Touro Law School, which operated out of the facility for more than 20 years. Two years ago the Good News Church bought the building and surrounding land after Touro moved to a new facility in Central Islip.
Ms. Silverman joins dozens of Huntington High School valedictorians who are forever linked with the district’s first superintendent by virtue of the award named in his honor. Although he passed away more than 70 years ago, the educational framework laid by Mr. Toaz continues to bear fruit in the community
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