Being a principal is not an easy job, especially for a high school; but, Dr. Rusielewicz does the job well. I was able to sit down with him and ask some questions about his goals and plans for the building, including his insight on our new online newspaper.

First of all, Dr. Rusielewicz would like to give credit to Mr. Hanley for the online paper because he had established one with the old school he had worked at. What is very interesting to Dr. R is that the online version looks like any other Yahoo, News 12, or CNN that you see online. Also, he very much likes the limitless breakouts this online paper can have such as a sports section. Each year new kids will be added to the journalism class and newspaper club and then, depending on the interests of the students that year, new breakouts can evolve. This online version, according to Dr. Rusielewicz gets many more people involved.

Being the principal, Dr. Rusielewicz has a lot of goals for the Patchogue-Medford High School this year, as he does every year. One of his main goals, which is a consistent one, is to have an increase of students join extra curricular activities. This school has tons of clubs and sports; it’s getting easier for students to find their interests.

Besides the extra curriculars, Dr. R is always wanting to improve academics as well. Considering all of the AP classes offered, it makes this school even better when it comes to academics. Dr. Rusielewicz states, with a lot of professional development going on among faculty and staff, he is hoping it will raise what they are doing classroom. The teachers here at Pat-Med are always working their hardest to improve instruction in the classroom, which is always a significant goal. A major goal this year, according to Dr. Rusielewicz, is to increase safety awareness. He addressed in the grade level assemblies the intruder drills. This year, they want to focus a lot on intruder drills during gym, if you are in the auditorium, or even if it is during passing time in between classes. “These intruder drills aren’t made to scare anyone,” states Dr. Rusielewicz, “they are made to make sure, if in any case of danger, everyone knows what to do in order to be safe.” Dr. Rusielewicz believes strongly, being a parent himself, that no parent should ever worry if their child is safe at school and these safety procedures ensure that.

Lastly, as always, the spread of Patchogue-Medford pride is always an important goal for the principal. The extra curriculars and, of course, Homecoming always showcase our pride. The Principal Leadership Council, spirit days, and even our own faulty coming up with their own specific things to do on Fridays,  is another element to our pride here at Pat-Med, according to Dr.R. Dr. Rusielewicz hopes that the team mentality for both the faculty and the students will increase which connects with pride. He states, “we have thousands of kids that do the right thing every day and we want more and more kids to be that way.”

Dr. Rusielewicz says all of the administrators, including himself, are always trying to improve the school every day.