Hanging in the principal's office at Mineola High School is a movie poster from the popular Frank Capra film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jimmy Stewart. If one were to make a movie in Mineola High School this year, the title could easily be Dr. Nagler Comes to Mineola.

The new high school principal came to the district just three years ago and he has already completed his first year as a high school principal. After two years as assistant principal of Mineola Middle School, Dr. Michael Nagler was named the high school principal before the start of the school year and the Brooklyn native is happy with the way things turned out. "It's a challenge for me," said Dr. Nagler in the waning days of the 2001-2002 school year when he had a rare moment to reflect on the past year. "It was interesting. The advantages I had was that I knew the eighth grade [last year] from the middle school so I knew 200 students very well right off the bat and I learned kids' names very quickly."

The team of Dr. Nagler and assistant principal Edward Escobar essentially replaced former principal Jay Lewis and assistant principal Mike Terc, who retired before the start of the new school year. After serving as an assistant principal at Mineola Middle School, Dr. Nagler accepted the challenge of leading the high school even as the central administration had also experienced a major change when Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli succeeded Dr. Harry Jaroslaw as superintendent of schools.

Dr. Nagler has no regrets about coming to Mineola and becoming its high school principal. Even with the challenges, he knows he is in the right place. "I really saw it as a new challenge, a new chapter in my life," he said. "It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of hours. I don't think people realize how much time and energy this job can absorb."

Dr. Nagler has tried to make his presence felt at high school events. He thinks of the staff, administration and students as partners in education. Last weekend, he saw the first class under his tenure as high school principal graduate. "I really have a lot of respect for this class," he said. "I held them to some tough standards this year and they didn't rebel. They really made me proud this year. They spoke up when they had to, they compromised, they understood my point of view. It really was a partnership."

The Class of 2002 embraced the district's mission of not only achieving academically, but contributing to a "global society." The jewel in the high school's crown, said its principal, is its students' understanding of the importance of community involvement and the roles of the upperclassman setting an example for the entire district. "We like to refer to the high school as the best kept secret on Long Island," Dr. Nagler said. "We teach kids that a school is part of a community and you have a responsibility to the community," he said. "One thing you can say about the students in the high school is that they really care. They understand their place in the community and they go out and work toward it."

Now that the only page left of the school year to be turned is graduation, one can look back and see that it took some perseverance to endure this year. Students, faculty and administration were barely into the school year and Dr. Nagler was barely settling into his new job when the terrorist attacks on September 11 rocked the country. Mineola High School students organized a candlelight vigil and held fundraisers as part of the healing process. This year, each student's diploma represents not only an accomplishment, but an ability on the parts of students, teachers, parents and members of the administration to endure and then to move on.

It has been an unforgettable year for Dr. Nagler. Despite the fact that his job can be demanding and working with students, faculty members and parents sometimes poses some bumps, he drives home each day with a sense of satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment that perhaps in some way, he and other educators have influenced the life of a student. "I love this job. I don't think I could do it with the energy that I bring to it if I didn't love kids and I didn't love this community," he said.