Kathleen Reilly wore many hats during her 25 years working in the Locust Valley Central School District. She’s taught, helped programs such as driver’s education and the middle school Washington, D.C., trip, supervised and worked the clock at sporting events, written courses at the high school level, and most recently guided Locust Valley Intermediate School students as the principal. She’s seen every level of the district and seen generations of students grow up, find themselves and return to thank her for her enthusiasm and care for them.
Reilly fell in love with history and social studies during her college years, specifically during a semester in London. Surrounded by the many historical sites there, she discovered her passion for learning the stories of how the modern world was built.
“History is always a story,” Reilly said. “It has romance, passion, laws and the ability to look at the present and relate it to the past and hopefully prevent tragedy in the future.”
A member of Locust Valley High School’s Class of 1980, Reilly started her career as an elementary school teacher at a catholic school in Queens before moving onto Floral Park Memorial High School as a grades 7-12 history teacher. In 2001, she returned to her alma mater, excited at the prospect of bringing her passionate teaching style to her social studies classes and her experience to the new Model UN club. She moved to the middle school side of the building in 2013, where she expanded the Model UN program there and coached girls lacrosse. She and then principal Tom Hogan oversaw the first nine years of the annual Washington, D.C., trip, which has helped students better appreciate the freedoms they enjoy and the historical figures who earned them.
“In middle school, mistakes are a natural part of the learning process,” Reilly said. “Educators and school leaders must create opportunities for students to reflect on their actions, take responsibility and use those experiences as valuable lessons for personal growth and future success.”
In 2022, Reilly was named principal at Locust Valley Intermediate School where she quickly endeared herself to students with her energy and excitement. Having worked her way through teaching elementary, middle and high school, Reilly knows the seeds of interest are best planted early, so that students leave the district with a goal or interest they are ready to pursue further.
“I’ve been able to look at all three stages, and realized the same things: interest and exposure,” Reilly said. “How are they going to know what they’re interested in and what they want to get better at if we don’t expose them to it?”
At every step of the way, Reilly and her teachers have tried to bring in a wide array of organizations and speakers, ranging from revolutionary war reenactors to meteorologists, to talk about their areas of expertise and spark curiosity in her students.
As a teacher and administrator, she has sought ways to instill empathy in her students while educating them. In one of her most famous lessons, Reilly would describe an ancient tribe and it’s infatuation with a mysterious item called a “rac,” which was a status symbol that dictated how infrastructure was built. At the end of the lesson, the students could not believe a people would put so much emphasis on the item, and Reilly would reveal that the whole time they were talking about our society and the “rac” was a car.
“Whenever you look at another society or another group of people, remember what you just ridiculed that tribe for,” Reilly said. “You have to be open minded with every group and every society you come in contact with. Hopefully, that gives our kids tolerance of others.”
While she won’t be there to do her quiet hands during an assembly or to high-five them in the hallways, the lessons Principal Reilly taught will stay with her students as they continue to learn and grow.