Dr. Andrew Trust brings experience, student-focused leadership to Highlands Middle School

Dr. Andrew Trust is bringing more than two decades of experience in education to his new role as principal of Highlands Middle School, where he plans to focus on building relationships, listening to the school community and creating an environment where students feel supported and excited to learn.

His career has included teaching special education, social studies and English, coaching, serving in coordinator and administrative roles and spending seven years as an assistant principal at Suffern High School in Rockland County. He most recently served as principal of Suffern Middle School, a position he held since September 2020.  

 A 1999 graduate of SUNY Oneonta, Dr. Trust earned his undergraduate degree in food service and restaurant management. He worked for Sodexo Corp. on its healthcare side for four years, including as an operations manager at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.  

He said the experience helped him discover how much he enjoyed working with people and supporting their personal and professional growth. 
Dr. Trust eventually followed advice his mother had given him for years and pursued a career in education after earning a master’s degree from City College of New York and began teaching in the Clarkstown Central School District in 2005. He later earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in administration from SUNY New Paltz and a doctorate from Seton Hall University. 

His first administrative position as an assistant principal came in the Pearl River School District in 2012. Two years later, he joined Suffern High School as an assistant principal before becoming principal of Suffern Middle School. 

Among his proudest accomplishments at Suffern Middle School was the introduction of Leader in Me, a program based on Stephen Covey’s "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens" that helps students develop habits centered on responsibility, prioritization and decision-making. Dr. Trust also helped redesign the school’s master schedule to provide dedicated time for academic intervention and enrichment.

He said communication and transparency are the hallmarks of his leadership.  

“Come into my office and talk to me. Stop me in the hallway and talk to me,” he said. “You have to have real conversations, and sometimes those conversations are hard. And sometimes they’re not, but even if they’re hard, those conversations are important because communication and transparency is key to effective leadership.” 

Highlands was already familiar to Dr. Trust before he applied for the position. He visited the school in February to learn about its bilingual and AVID programs, which Suffern Middle School also offers. He was thoroughly impressed by the instruction, students and staff he observed. 

“I said, ‘I need to work in this place!’” Dr. Trust recalled telling a colleague after the impactful visit. When the principal position later became available, he said applying “was a no-brainer for me.” 

He plans to spend much of his first year learning about Highlands rather than arriving with a predetermined agenda.  

“I need to learn about the students. I need to learn about the community. I need to learn about the staff, both professionally and personally, and create and start to develop a sense of trust,” he said. 

He also plans to rely on shared decision-making. “I’m not a guy that’s going to come in and say, ‘We need to do this,’” he said. “It’s all about everybody having a voice in the direction of the building.” 

For Dr. Trust, school success extends beyond test scores and he wants Highlands to be a welcoming place where students feel valued, respected and heard.

 “It’s all about the smiles on the students’ faces and the smiles on the teachers’ faces,” he said. “You want kids to come to school and you want them to want to be there.” 

He views middle school as a particularly important transition, when educators help children develop the independence and skills they will need in high school and beyond. Students, he said, should know that every adult in the building is there to support them. 

Dr. Trust also strongly believes in educating the whole child through academics, athletics, music, theater, clubs and other extracurricular activities. Students and families can expect him to be visible and accessible. He wants students to feel comfortable sharing their views and parents and guardians to know they can approach him with questions or concerns. 

“My door is always open,” he said. “Come in and say hello so we can get to know each other and you can know what I’m all about, and I can get to know what the community is all about.” 

As he begins his tenure, Dr. Trust said his goal is to build on Highlands’ existing strengths while taking the time to understand the people and culture that make up the school community. 

“I was just so impressed with the staff, with the administration, with everybody that I met,” he said of his first visit to Highlands. “This is the place I visited and this is the place I want to be.”