Welcoming Mr. Bracco!

You may have seen a new face around the halls during passing periods or dismissal. With a big personality, upbeat energy, and lovable demeanor, he is hard to miss. This school year, we welcomed Mr. Bracco to North High School. His official position at North as our interim principal means that he is temporarily filling in for Dr. Small as principal. Do not worry, we are in great hands for the meanwhile. Mr. Bracco is no stranger to administrative positions. In fact, he has 30 years of experience in this area and many more with teaching Science. And though he is not here permanently, he is certainly worth trying to get to know and accept, nonetheless. 

Mr. Bracco is not a Long Island native; he grew up in Astoria where he began teaching at St. John’s Preparatory School. He is a science guy who taught a variety of classes including regents, general, and AP chemistry, microbiology, and seventh and eighth grade science. He then moved to John Adams High School where he continued teaching science for a year before eventually landing at Elmont Memorial High School where his administrative journey began. Bracco started off teaching science at Elmont and later became a science chairperson there until being asked to apply for assistant principal. He holds fond and humble memories of this time, saying “I was truly fortunate to have some good mentors when I was over at Elmont, so people took interest in me. They saw that I had leadership potential, so they encouraged me to go for my administrative degree.” With his leadership skills and years of prior experience under his belt, Mr. Bracco felt that this type of position was the next logical step in his career. He got his administrative degree at “CW Post”, now known as Long Island University Post, and was an assistant principal at Elmont for 7 years. However, he did not stop there. After moving further on Long Island, he was a principal in Suffolk County for 20 years before eventually retiring from Kings Park School District. But even after working in administration for 27 years, Mr. Bracco could never forget his teaching experience. “If you want to be a good administrator, you need to be a teacher at heart, you cannot forget the days you spent in a classroom. That is critical,” he claims. 

Now, following 8 years of retirement, Mr. Bracco is temporarily back in action. You may be wondering why he would want to leave such an easygoing and laidback lifestyle of relaxation, traveling, and family time; however, according to him, retirement is not all it is cracked up to be. “After 4 or 5 years [of retirement], when you have done something for 40 years and you just find yourself sitting at home on your couch, you say to yourself, ‘Is this all that is left in life? For me to watch Netflix all day long?’” he remarks. Sitting around all day is especially hard for someone as passionate as Bracco, as he recalls, “I felt an urge to come back because I still feel like I have something to give.” Now, as he fills in for Dr. Small for the time being, he promises to work to the best of his ability to ensure that when she does come back, North is the place that she left, and “she doesn’t feel like she’s missed a beat.”  

But what exactly does a principal even do? According to Mr. Bracco, a high school building principal such as himself oversees hiring, safety, and even working with colleges such as Adelphi University or SUNY Albany to implement AP classes and programs in our schools. Overall, he describes his job as doing “whatever needs to be done to ensure that the kids entrusted in our care are leaving here with the best possible education that they can muster for the 21st century.” Principals who are engaged and show such clear care for their schools are beyond impactful and important for a high school community. So far, Mr. Bracco has been loving his time at North High School. When asked about his experience thus far, he states, “the kids are fantastic, the staff is excellent, and the community, I mean talk about community and support!” going on to say “I like the fact that it is a diverse community. We can all learn from each other: diverse cultures, different languages, I mean that is the best scenario because that is what the world is. It is a mosaic.” With his determination, experience, and charisma, I am positive that we at North can benefit and learn from having Mr. Bracco here as well.  

During his retirement, Bracco has been able to focus more on his hobbies and interests. Outside of work, one of his main hobbies is reading. He challenges himself to read 15 books per year as he considers himself an “avid reader” who particularly enjoys fiction and historical fiction. Though unpaid, he loves sharing his thoughts and making book reviews on Good Reads, and he is a part of the Barnes and Noble review staff as well. He has recently finished The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani, a fictional romance novel following a woman dealing with divorce, loss, and self-discovery. Another enjoyable read he highly recommends is The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. This book is a historical fiction thriller about siblings Bobby and Alicia Western coping with the legacy of their parents’ work on the Manhattan Project. Aside from literature, Mr. Bracco is a huge family guy. He loves spending time with his wife of 42 years and his four grandchildren who live nearby. He also considers fishing to be his biggest hobby. 

Mr. Bracco has always been extremely passionate about his career. As a student, you can usually tell when a teacher is there for money versus when they love their job and care about their students, and Mr. Bracco falls into the latter group. Teaching was more than just a form of employment for him. He believes that “the teacher profession in general is a profession, but it is also a vocation. Not everybody can be a teacher. It takes a tremendous amount of demanding work, understanding, patience, and perseverance to be a teacher.” From the way he reminisces on his teaching days and how he was just itching to get back to work, you can tell he really practices what he preaches. “Ponce de León tried to find the fountain of youth, and I always say the fountain of youth is working in a building with students,” Bracco also added. Just being able to give back to younger generations and the impact he has is enough to keep him young too. And when you meet someone as bubbly and genuine as Mr. Bracco, it is impossible to doubt that he genuinely loves what he does. So, the next time you see Mr. Bracco in the hallways or happen to be passing through the cafeteria hall, stop, and say hi to welcome him to our little community at North. We have been lucky to have him here!