Huntington Celebrates Assistant Principals’ Week

Huntington UFSD celebrated its three assistant principals during National Assistant Principals Week. The district recognized the good work and efforts of Alexis Estrada, Gamal Smith and Amy Cabelo.

“National Assistant Principals Week is a celebration of the unsung heroes in our education system,” according to the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “These dedicated folks work tirelessly to bolster teachers, motivate students, support their principal, create a positive learning community, and face the many unpredictable challenges that land on their desk.”

Gamal Smith has been assistant principal at Huntington High School for more than a decade. Ms. Estrada and Ms. Cabelo are in their first year, respectively as assistant principals in Huntington UFSD.

“Assistant principals are the backbone of our schools, demonstrating exceptional leadership, dedication, and a deep commitment to student success each day,” Huntington Superintendent . Your unwavering support for both staff and students help create a positive, thriving learning environment, and we are truly grateful for all that you do.

The three “APs” all fill integral roles at their respective buildings and can be seen throughout the day making their way around hallways, darting in and out classrooms as well as observing classes and teachers and attending after school events.

“Assistant Principals play a crucial role and this week is a dedicated time to recognize them for their hard work and commitment to our schools, students, and profession,” according to the NASSP. “Please join us in celebrating these incredible school leaders!”

Gamal Smith

Gamal Smith has been an assistant principal at Huntington High School since July 2015. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and pre-med studies at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where he also played on the varsity basketball team for four years. He earned a Master of Science degree at Mercy College in the Bronx and studied for his state administrative certification at Touro College in Manhattan.

Prior to joining Huntington’s administrative ranks, Mr. Smith worked as a teacher and lab instructor at Richmond Hill High School and John Adams High School, where he also served as dean of students. He was assistant principal at John W. Dodd Middle School in Freeport, dean of students/discipline at Brooklyn Lab School, assistant principal and science department chairman at Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health & Science Charter School in the Bronx, assistant principal at PS 212 in the Bronx and dean of students and a science teacher at PS 254 in the Bronx. He was also principal of Nassau BOCES PATH (Positive Alternative Twilight High School) for a year.

Mr. Smith has worked for several years as the assistant principal and principal of the Western Suffolk BOCES summer school program.

Over the years Mr. Smith has helped spearhead many initiatives at schools where he has worked, including Saturday, after school, extended day and early college awareness programs and science fairs and expos.

Amy Cabelo

Dr. Amy S. Cabelo has been assistant principal at Huntington School since February 24, 2026. She came to Huntington from the Marion County Public Schools in Florida where she had been working as a coordinator of multilingual education and family engagement and assistant principal of curriculum. She developed school-wide initiatives that increased the graduation rate by 16 percentage points by implementing targeted intervention programs.

Dr. Cabelo obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in business management at the University of Phoenix; a Master of Science in educational leadership at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a Doctor of Education at National Louis University in Chicago. Her research focus was on program evaluation of reading programs and professional learning in reading strategies.

Dr. Cabelo previously worked for four years as a literacy coach and reading/English teacher in the Hillsborough Public Schools. She spent one year teaching special education in the Long Beach Unified School District and taught special education-reading and language arts in the Hillsborough Public Schools from October 2004 to August 2011.

Alexis Estrada

Alexis Estrada has been J. Taylor Finley Middle School’s assistant principal since July 1, 2025. She earned an undergraduate degree at SUNY Old Westbury in childhood education/English language arts with a concentration in multicultural/US and British literature. She obtained a Master of Science in English as an Acquired Language at CUNY Queens College and an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership at Stony Brook University.

At the time of her appointment in Huntington, Ms. Estrada had been serving as assistant principal at PS 143Q – The Louis Armstrong Elementary School in Corona since August 2019. She worked as a teacher at PS 16Q – The Nancy DeBenedittis School in Corona from September 1995 to June 2019.

Ms. Estrada also taught at IS 93Q – Ridgewood Junior High School in Ridgewood from September 2012 to June 2015. She has enjoyed a variety of educational experiences from coordinating a grant for an after-school Queens Botanical Garden program to implementing the Common Threads program.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Estrada has worked as a dual language teacher, classroom teacher, English as a new language provider and English/ENL integrated co-teacher. She was the liaison for the ENL student identification intake process at Ridgewood Junior High School in 2013/14.

Ms. Estrada is fluent in reading, writing and speaking Spanish. She has experience in leadership and supervision, testing coordination, operational management and community engagement and events coordination.