Remembering the Principals of Toaz
During its more than four decade run of service to the community, Robert K. Toaz Junior High School had 11 principals, including four that went on to become district superintendents. It was a proud school, often on the cutting edge of education and boasted numerous awards for its classroom and after school service programs.
Toaz opened on September 5, 1939 and by the time it closed on June 25, 1982 more than 10,000 students were educated in the massive brick building located along Nassau and Woodhull Roads.
The principals of Toaz included:
• Amos C. Pence
• Dr. Austin C. Cole
• J. Taylor Finley
• Dr. Chester Wilhelm
• Emory G. Bromsted
• Raymond Hettler
• Christopher Vagts
• Norma Saunders
• George Reilly
• Carl Cozzette
• Gerard Dempsey
Mr. Pence, the founding principal of Toaz, was largely responsible for the school becoming an instant leader in junior high school education not only in New York but the entire country. His innovative ideas stretched from the physical organization of the building, to course offerings and curriculum to an elaborate extracurricular program that was immediately embraced by students and parents.
After three years at the school’s helm, Mr. Pence resigned to join the U.S. Navy, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Japanese and America’s entry into World War II. Mr. Pence, who later killed in a car accident in Chicago, was replaced by Dr. Cole, who after one year as principal also resigned to serve in the U.S. Navy.
Mr. Finley was the school’s third and longest serving principal. He came to Toaz from Woodbury Avenue School where he had been principal. When he assumed leadership in 1943 he sent a message to students, writing “You are preparing yourselves for a part in the life of America and of the world after the war is ended. By the time another school year comes around let us pray that the promise of peace is much nearer.”
Dr. Wilhelm was hired when Mr. Finley was elevated to an assistant superintendent position in the district’s central office in 1954. Dr. Wilhelm was a popular figure and very involved in every aspect of the school, included the numerous evening activities. His wife became a constant presence, too, never failing to pitch in and help out.
After obtaining his doctorate from Rutgers University in 1957, Dr. Wilhelm resigned and was replaced by Mr. Bromsted, who had earlier served as an attendance officer and assistant principal at Toaz.
With the Toaz enrollment surging and with the opening of the new Huntington High School in November 1958, Mr. Bromsted oversaw the moving of the freshman class into the high school building, giving Toaz some breathing room. A few years later, Mr. Bromsted moved to Robert L. Simpson Junior High School (site of the old high school) after that building reopened following a three year renovation.
Mr. Hettler, who had been working as a high school assistant principal, became the sixth principal in Toaz’s history and split sessions ended with the opening of Simpson. After just two years, Mr. Hettler left for a higher level position in Massachusetts. He was replaced by Christopher Vagts, who stayed for four years before moving into the central administration.
Ms. Saunders followed Mr. Vagts in the principal’s office after a long stretch as a teacher at the school. According to The Spotlight, the school newspaper, Ms. Saunders’ five years in the post produced “a record of excellence in which her leadership qualities were made apparent.” When a large addition to Toaz was constructed in 1970, it was dedicated as the “Norma Saunders wing” by an appreciative district.
In 1972 Mr. Reilly took over from Ms. Saunders and helped guide Toaz to new heights. When Simpson Junior High School closed in June 1976, enrollment at Toaz nearly doubled. One of the highlights of Mr. Reilly’s tenure came in 1976 when Toaz was at the center of town’s celebration of America’s bi-centennial. The Toaz Bi-Centennial Club earned a first prize in the town’s environmental competition for its recreation of a huge model of Huntington village as it existed at the birth of the nation.
Rumblings about the possibility of Toaz closing were already being heard by 1979. The district put the building on the market and parents and students coalesced in an effort to keep it open.
In 1980 Carl Cozzette became the school’s tenth principal, staying for about 18 months before moving to an assistant principal’s position at Huntington High School. Toaz’s fate was finally sealed when the Board of Education voted 7-0 on October 14, 1981 to close the school effective June 1982. It was later rented and then sold outright to Touro Law School.
Mr. Cozzette was replaced by Gerard Dempsey, who prepared the students for their move to either the high school or J. Taylor Finley Junior School, which became the district’s only junior high after once being merely one of three such buildings.
Messrs. Finley and Vagts went on to become Huntington School District superintendents. Messrs. Reilly and Dempsey became superintendents of schools elsewhere, with Mr. Reilly serving in Bayport-Blue Point in eastern Suffolk and in Connecticut, and Mr. Dempsey leading a number of Nassau County districts.
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