Beth McCoy Named Acting Superintendent of Schools

Huntington School Board members have named Beth M. McCoy as acting superintendent of schools effective Tuesday, June 4 and indicated she will be appointed as the district’s permanent superintendent upon finalization of a contract in the coming days.

Trustees took the action during a public meeting on Monday night in the Adam Spector Auditorium at Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School. During the same meeting, trustees appointed Christopher Hender as deputy superintendent. He had been serving in the position of assistant superintendent for human resources and general administration.

Mrs. McCoy had been Huntington’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction since July 2017. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Boston College. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in elementary education and the Hispanic experience in 1999 and a Master of Science in moderate/special needs education in 2000. She went on to earn a professional diploma in school administration and supervision at CUNY-Queens College in 2006 and a second professional diploma in school district leadership at St. John’s University in 2012.

Prior to her appointment in Huntington in July 2017, Mrs. McCoy was working at Nassau BOCES as executive manager of curriculum, instruction and technology. Prior to that position she was the principal of Charles E. Schwarting Elementary School in Plainedge for six years and was the assistant principal of Eastport Elementary School during the 2006/07 school year.

Mrs. McCoy taught 11th grade English in Quito, Ecuador in the spring of 1999 and was an adaptive behavior cluster intern on the kindergarten/first grade level in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1999/2000. She taught kindergarten at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Los Angeles, California for three years before serving as a first and third grade teacher in Glen Cove for three years.

A Golden Key National Honor Society member during college, Mrs. McCoy was on the Boston College Dean’s List for all four years of her undergraduate education. She earned the Sullivan Student Teaching Award and was a Donovan Scholar for her graduate studies specializing in an urban area.

A longtime member of the board of directors of the Long Island Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Mrs. McCoy has strived to stay on the cutting edge of innovative teaching and learning practices.

Christopher J. Hender

Mr. Hender has worked in the Huntington district office for many years, serving a five year stint as human resources administrator before being named assistant superintendent on September 13, 2022. He obtained undergraduate (child study with a concentration in speech) and graduate (literacy) degrees at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue in 2008 and 2012, respectively. He earned an advanced graduate certificate in educational leadership at Stony Brook University in August 2017. He obtained a second master’s degree in educational finance at Georgetown University in 2023.

A member of Huntington’s faculty corps since February 2008, Mr. Hender served as a fifth grade inclusion teacher at Woodhull Intermediate School. He also worked with third graders in the district’s special education summer program for many years.

A district delegate to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System for four years, Mr. Hender served for two years as the secretary of the Associated Teachers of Huntington, the professional organization of the district’s teachers. He was the ATH’s local action project coordinator for three years, helping to develop community events, among other responsibilities.

Woodhull School’s central treasurer for seven years, Mr. Hender managed the building’s extracurricular accounts, including the drafting and approval of all checks drawn and the depositing of all monies generated through fundraising activities.

During his teaching career in the district, Mr. Hender received grants from the Huntington Foundation and the Special Education PTA. He earned SEPTA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016. He was a New York State United Teachers delegate for four years.

While a teacher at Woodhull School, Mr. Hender helped lead the planning and coordination of fifth grade educational field trips, served as faculty advisor for the newspaper club and organized community service projects for the student council.