After Mineola High School Principal Jay Lewis found out that although he was one of the five candidates left to succeed Superintendent of Schools Dr. Harry Jaroslaw, he would not be getting the position, Lewis resigned from Mineola. He will take a position as principal of Ward Melville High School in Suffolk County effective July 1.

Lewis' resignation comes 12 years after he was hired as the Mineola High School Principal in 1989. At Ward Melville, Lewis will be closer to his home in Selden. However, that was hardly the reason he is leaving the district as he explained that it is time to take the next step in his professional career.

"I'm excited about it. It's quite an opportunity. It's a different kind of a high school. I really love being a high school principal, but I couldn't see myself being here for my last ten or twelve years in the business," he said.

Although he did not get the Mineola superintendent position, he does not harbor any bitter feelings. "I hold no bad feelings about that at all, but one way or the other, it was time for me to do something else," Lewis said.

As the only internal candidate left for the Mineola's superintendent's position, he was told he was not chosen for the position. He then accepted the job at Ward Melville. "I made it down to the final wire, but boards of education have a lot of things that they have to consider when they hire a new CEO and I respect their right to make the selection they think is best," Lewis said.

Lewis takes with him from Mineola over a decade's worth of memories that he looks back on fondly. "It's a wonderful district. People here are aces all around. The kids are great. The parents are so supportive. I have a wonderful staff. That's why it's so difficult to leave. It's not as difficult to leave the bureaucracy as it is to leave the people," he said. "But time marches on."

Lewis has been in education for 27 years, but the 12 years in Mineola have been his best, he said.

The departure of Lewis marks yet another major change for the Mineola School District, which recently hired a new assistant principal to replace Mike Terc in the high school and a new director of health, physical education and athletics to replace Tony Gulli.

The district, according to sources, is close to hiring a new superintendent and will have to now search for a new high school principal.