Mineola Schools Chief Named New York's Superintendent Of The Year

MINEOLA, NY — The head of the Mineola Union Free School District has been named the top superintendent in New York and now becomes the state's candidate for national superintendent of the year.

Superintendent Michael Nagler was announced as the winner at a Thursday board of education meeting, the district said in a news release. Nagler said winning was "truly an honor."

"I believe strongly in Mineola's mission statement to create lifelong learners who contribute positively to a global society, and there is nothing more satisfying to me than being in a classroom and seeing both staff and students fully immersed and engaged in a lesson," he said.

Nagler noted that the recognition is a testament to the work that teachers, staff and administrators in the district do every day that impacts their students. He also credited the Mineola Board of Education for embracing his ideas and "sometimes out-of-the-box" approaches.

"I am humbled to receive this honor on behalf of Mineola's everyday heroes," he said.

The award is part of the American Association of School Administrators' national award, which was established in 1988.

Nagler earned a doctorate in education from Columbia University and has been in education for more than three decades. He began his career in the New York City school system and later became an assistant principal. In 1999, he joined Mineola as assistant principal of its middle school, then later served as its high school principal and deputy superintendent. He became superintendent in 2009.

Among his most significant contributions, Nagler persuaded the community to consolidate and reorganize its school structure to remain fiscally responsible. The district used the change and savings to fund tech advancements for students, including an initiative to give all K-12 students an iPad they could take home.

Since then, the district has remained at or below the tax cap for residents.

Here are some other accomplishment's under Nagler:

• Mineola was the first district to have all five of its schools earn the distinction of an Apple Distinguished School.
• All five schools were recognized as a Common Sense School for Digital Citizenship.
• The district is one of only 114 members nationwide in the League of Innovative Schools.
• In 2018, Mineola was also named one of the Top 25 Most Innovative Districts by the American Association of School Administrators and Successful Practices Network.
• Mineola High School and Mineola Middle School became the first on Long Island with a Fabrication Lab, commonly referred to as a Fab Lab, where students learn, design, collaborate and build in a small-scale workshop environment.
• Mineola was named among the Top 10 Digital School Districts in 2017-18 by The Center for Digital Education and the National School Boards Association.
• In the last three years, there has been a significant improvement in the achievement of ENL students as evidenced by NYS Regents results
• Expansion of the district’s fine arts and music offerings, including a recent win in its division at the New York State Field Band Conference competition.
• Mineola is the first and only district on Long Island to offer full-day pre-K to all of its residents.
• All curriculum has been rewritten for K-7 in the last few years to take a more integrative approach.
• Integration of AKAs (Application of Knowledge Assessments) that require students to illustrate their understanding of a concept in different ways.
• Established a culture of growth mindset districtwide, and of cultivating the 4Cs of creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration into all of its innovative learning environments.
• Capital work continues each year to advance the schools for its students and protect taxpayers’ investment in buildings, all without the need to bond any work. To date, more than $45 million in capital improvement work has been done at no additional expense to our taxpayers.

The national superintendent of the year award will be announced at the American Association of School Administrators' National Conference on Education in San Diego in February 2020. Nagler was nominated for the award by Board of Education President Christine Napolitano and will be honored March 2 at the State Conference in Albany.