People around Elmont know Elmont Superintendent of Schools and former Elmont Memorial High School principal Al Harper as a friendly, hardworking and conscientious leader of the elementary school district. But could he be the next vice president? That may be a stretch, but nearly two years ago, Harper had the opportunity to talk about education with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

On September 12, 2006, Harper was part of a panel, co-hosted by the Education Trust, on Capitol Hill, along with Senator Obama, that discussed telling truths and dispelling myths about race and education in America.

Harper was chosen as the former leader of Elmont Memorial High School, a school with a large minority population that achieves academically with a high percentage of its graduates going to college.

According to the report prepared by Education Trust, entitled "Telling Truths and Dispelling Myths About Race and Education in America," dated September 2006, Elmont Memorial High School had 97 percent of its seniors go on to college.

Harper, who was hired as superintendent of schools for the Elmont Elementary School District in 2005, said he was overwhelmed to have served on the panel with Senator Obama. "It's even more overwhelming now because this gentleman may be the Democratic candidate for president of the United States and I sat in the room with him and drank coffee with him and shook his hand. He was picking our collective brains for ideas on how he may help to change the gaps in education among certain students," said Harper. "He was dynamic. When he walked into the room, everything stopped; everyone's jaw dropped; he was the center of attention and he didn't have to say anything."

For Harper, the way to change myths about education among minority students and to educate students in general is to take a community-based approach. Everyone from parents to teachers to administrators to custodial staff and cafeteria workers to local lawmakers have to take a role in the education of a student. But, he said, "The school must, at all costs, be able to step in and fill any gaps where they may exist...If you have after-school programs, if you're able to supplement things that children may not be getting at home through the school district, that makes your job that much easier. You must be able to fill those gaps and that's the school district's job."

Harper said he has seen that happening at Elmont Memorial High School and now in the Elmont elementary schools.