(FREEPORT, N.Y.) - Nassau County Legislators Kevan Abrahams (D - Freeport) and Debra Mulé (D - Freeport) thanked their colleagues for voting on Monday, April 26 to approve the ceremonial renaming of Brookside Avenue between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road outside Freeport High School in honor of beloved Freeport educator Ernest J. Kight, Jr., who passed away suddenly on Feb. 27 this year.
“The ‘Ernie Kight Way’ is marked by his embrace of education, commitment to community service, dedication to mentoring our youth, and his unwavering love for everything that makes Freeport unique and special,” Legislators Abrahams and Mulé said. “Renaming this stretch of Brookside Avenue will serve as an especially fitting and lasting tribute to a man who gave so much to Freeport High School, its students, and the entire community.”
A 1971 Freeport High School graduate, Mr. Kight began his employment at his alma mater in 1975 as a social studies teacher. He later served as principal at J.W. Dodd Junior High School before becoming Freeport High School’s assistant principal in 1991; he was elevated to interim principal in 2008 and became the school’s principal a year later.
During his employment, he was inducted into the Nassau County High School Athletics Hall of Fame after coaching numerous varsity sports, including most notably the Freeport Red Devils ladies’ basketball program. After retiring from the school district, he was elected to the Freeport School Board in 2015 and became its president in 2019.
“The renaming of Brookside Avenue between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road is such an amazing and fitting tribute to Ernest J. Kight, Jr.,” said his wife, Diane Caruso. “He spent so many happy and fruitful years at Freeport High School traveling up and down this street in service of Freeport students! It is an honor that Ernie would be so proud of and we are grateful and appreciative to all those who made this honor possible.”