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Administration
Margaret Murray
Principal
Meg Murray grew up in a military family, and lived all around the world. She attended the University of Illinois, where she pursued her love of literature and the power of language by studying English and Advertising. She also studied at Cambridge University and the University of Austria in Vienna, and later earned a Master of Education degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College.
While the military wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, she decided in college that she wanted to devote her life to the service of education. After college, she was accepted into Teach For America, and placed as an English teacher at East Side High School. She fell in love with teaching, and knew early on that this was where she was supposed to be. She served the students and staff of East Side for twenty years, as an English teacher, an English Department Chairperson, and as an Academic Vice Principal. She is forever grateful to the students and staff of East Side for raising her as an educator and as a leader.
Ms. Murray is thrilled to continue her service as Principal of American History High School, with a laser-focused mission to ensure that all students have access to exceptional educational experiences that will propel them into a choice-filled life. She believes that teaching and learning, at their best, are both joyful and rigorous, and she believes that teaching is a professional craft that should be intensely revered and celebrated.
The mission statement of American History High School ends with this statement: The shared efforts of students, parents, and staff will result in the development of life-long learners and productive citizens who advocate for social justice for ALL. Ms. Murray pledges to live these words by emphasizing student voice, building confidence, encouraging problem-solving, all while upholding kindness and joy, at American History High School every day.
Ms. Murray is the proud mother of Charlotte (8) and Frankie (3), and is married to Amy Christie, the Director of College Initiatives for Achievement First Schools.
Elizabeth Crespo
Vice Principal: Health/Physical Education and World Languages
Peter Salek-Nejad
Vice Principal: Operations and Special Education
Vice Principal Salek has been in the field of education since 2005, when he began working as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional. While he originally had other career aspirations, he quickly realized his passion for working with children, which led him to pursuing the alternate route program to obtain his teaching certification. While working as a classroom teacher for 10 years, he also earned a master’s degree in special education, and a second master’s in educational administration. In 2016, Mr. Salek began his career in school leadership, and has since served in the capacity of Vice Principal, Supervisor of Curriculum & Instruction, and Director of Special Programs. Having taught for the Newark Public Schools earlier in his career, Mr. Salek had a great desire to return to NPS and once again have the opportunity to serve students, families, and fellow staff members.
Mr. Salek is currently the Vice Principal of Operations and Special Education at American History High School. The experience he brings with him includes, but is not limited to, leading and evaluating all staff members in academic, student support, special education, and operations departments, developing master schedules, serving as a school and district test coordinator, coordinating Intervention & Referral Services (I&RS), coordinating credit recovery programs, and grant writing/management.
Babita Kukreja
Department Chairperson: Mathematics and Science
Mrs. Babita Kukreja has been an employee of Newark Public Schools for 16 years. She has served as a Mathematics teacher at University High School for 10 years, District Supervisor for High School Math Instruction for 5 years and now serving as a Department Chairperson of Mathematics & Science of American History High School.
As a Mathematics teacher, She has taught variety of courses ranging from Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, PreCalculus and Calculus at University High School. She is extremely passionate about bringing joy in classes while students explore mathematics and make sense of it.
As a district supervisor, Mrs. Kukreja has been instrumental in writing curriculum guides and yearly instructional plans for all math courses, designing Interim Tests, creating Common Assessments on School Net to be administered. She has coached high school math teachers providing them in depth coplanning based coaching cycles. She has modeled math lessons in all high schools. She created a model for Differentiated Professional Development sessions and managed the largest professional development day in the history of Newark for about 650 math teachers across the district with her team. She has taken a major part in organizing a district wide math olympiad to allow 575 students to participate in a math competition on a digital platform.
As a department chair for Mathematics & Science, She is interested in interdisciplinary collaboration and find opportunities for students to be exposed in STEM field projects.
Kevin Arroyo
Department Chairperson: Social Studies and Career & Technical Education
