Lars Clemensen

 

After teaching, Lars ran Teach For America-New Jersey, an organization dedicated to closing the learning gap in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods in Newark and Camden. In 2006, he returned home to Hampton Bays as the founding principal of the new Hampton Bays Middle School and has been the Superintendent of Schools since 2010. As superintendent, Lars focused his priorities on building relationships in the community and ensuring that every student arrives at Graduation Day with a set of choices for what to do after high school. Since he became superintendent in 2010, the district has introduced a college anti-remediation program that has increased the ability for our college freshman to get right into classes within their major by 40 percent. The pre-kindergarten program was expanded by 75 percent and now also includes a component for high school junior and

Lars Clemensen is our Superintendent of Schools in Hampton Bays. Currently in his 7th year as superintendent and 11th as a school leader in Hampton Bays, Lars and his wife are also lifelong Baymen. Lars is from Hampton Bays, having attended school in the district he now leads until 8th grade at which point he moved to Texas. A graduate of the University of Texas, Lars taught in Paterson, New Jersey and obtained his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership at Seton Hall University. He lives in Hampton Bays with his wife, Kim, a music teacher on the East End of Long Island and they have one son, Ryland.

 Senior “apprentice teachers” to come in and support the teacher, all the while learning about the profession of education. For students looking to enter the service industry, the two-year Culinary Arts program will arm kids with a food manager’s license and advanced standing in the Suffolk County College Culinary Program. Since 2006, Hampton Bays Schools have more than doubled their offerings for Advanced Placement, college-level coursework and, in partnership with our state universities, kids have the opportunity to take certain high school classes and earn up to 68 college credits! Opportunity for all kids is the key to make sure that we have a strong community where students graduate and become productive members of society. Since 2011, the school district has hosted 46 ceremonies to recognize local veterans. The program’s goal is to create a “living classroom” where students meet real-life Hampton Bays heroes.

Currently, Lars serves is the President-elect of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and, in local community life, serves as Vice President of the Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce and Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Hampton Bays. Despite his Scandinavian name, Lars’ grandmother, the former Kathleen Cunningham Smith was born in Tuam, County Galway in Ireland. She lived for just a few months in County Mayo before immigrating to New York City in 1924.