LBHS Principal Leaving for Bayport-Blue Point H.S.

Story by By Judy Mottl

Long Beach High School Principal Dr. Gaurav Passi is expected to be named the next principal at Bayport-Blue Point High School on Tuesday.

Follow Long Beach Patch on Facebook.

According to officials at Bayport-Blue Point School District, the B-BP Board of Education will appoint Passi principal at an annual salary of $169,000 at the May 7 meeting. He will replace B-BP high school principal Dr. Timothy Hearney, who was appointed assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, and will take on that new position July 1.

Passi told Patch that he made the job move for several reasons, citing in part his working relationship with Dr. Vincent Butera, Long Beach School District’s former superintendent of curriculum and instruction who was hired as B-BP superintendent in October.

"I enjoyed working with Dr. Butera at Long Beach, so that was a factor, but most important is the investment the Bayport-Blue Point community has made toward education," Passi told Patch during a phone call Monday.

"What the district is doing is in line with my philosophy of preparing students for the next phase of their life, career and college,” he added. “I hope to build off the foundation put in place by Dr. Hearney.”

Long Beach hired Passi to replace retiring high school principal Nick Restivo in 2010. Passi's career includes two years as an assistant principal in Northport High School and another two as an administrative dean at Locust Valley High School. Before this, the Levittown resident taught social studies at Farmingdale High School.

According to the Long Beach Herald, Butera was involved in hiring Passi to his position as principal at LBHS. Butera officially started in his role as B-BP superintendent on Dec. 1, 2012.

Bayport-Blue Point district's search for a new principal involved placing one job advertisement in the New York Times, which drew 15 resumes, according to B-BP officials. Of that pool, five candidates were invited for interviews.

Asked to comment on the move, Long Beach Superintendent Dr. David Weiss said: "I can only comment on official action that we take, and we have taken no official actions regarding a principal at this time."