By:Laura Lane
Valente, 61, has always been a risk-taker with a clear vision of his role as principal. "My goal over the years has been to provide the best education for the children at Barnum," he said. "I've always believed to do this, a principal has to exert leadership. When you build credibility with the community and your staff, you have a formula that will be successful."
One of Valente's proudest accomplishments is the character-education program he instituted 10 years ago. The program encourages children to respect each other, to appreciate what they have and to serve the community. The program has been used as a model in this district and elsewhere, with administrators coming from across the state and country to learn how to replicate the program.
In 2000, Barnum Woods was given the School of Excellence award, one of only seven schools in New York to be honored. The award is a part of the federal government's Blue Ribbon Schools Program, which honors public and private schools that are either academically superior in their states or demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement.
People believe Barnum owes the award largely to Valente's leadership. But Valente attributes the honor to the excellence of his teachers. "My job has always been to be a facilitator, and to provide the teachers with the resources they need to be the most successful," he said. "Our wonderful faculty cares about the children first and themselves second."
Valente's strong support of his teachers may be attributable in part to his own experience as a teacher in the Westbury School District, where he taught for eight years. Teaching wasn't the former Westbury resident's first career choice, however. Coming from a family of carpenters, he almost followed in their footsteps. "I had just gotten married, graduated from college and was working as a carpenter because I liked it," Valente said. "And I was coaching Little League baseball, too. People noticed I was good with kids."
His in-laws had been working in the Westbury School District, and they suggested he pursue a career in education. Valente met with the elementary school principal in Westbury, and then the superintendent. He was hired immediately, and went on to get his certification and a master's degree in elementary education.
Valente loved teaching. "To this day I still miss teaching, and that's why I enjoy being around it," Valente said. "Some of my best days were successes I had in the classrooms. Teaching gets in your blood."
First-hand experience might also be why the longtime principal always had a knack for hiring the best teachers and maintaining a rapport with them. Ethel Sobel, who has been teaching fifth grade at Barnum for the past 18 years, said she's going to miss Valente. "He always had an open-door policy for the teachers, and there was no question you couldn't go to him with, no problem you couldn't talk to him about," Sobel said. "He even helps teachers form classroom management strategies."
Sobel added that Valente has always made an effort to ease a new teacher's discomfort. "His interest in cultivating a new staff member was a comfort," Sobel said. "It's difficult being new."
Sometimes Valente's ethics and ideals could be challenging for the staff, but Sobel said she always supported him. His belief that teachers shouldn't be bound to a particular grade for their entire career, for instance, was particularly difficult for some instructors. "My first three years here, I had three different grades," Sobel said. She recalled that it wasn't easy learning a new lesson plan each year and becoming familiar with a new set of books, but she trusted Valente's judgment nevertheless. "He's very convincing because he's very charming," she said. "Being a principal, to Mr. Valente, is very serious business to him."
Valente will leave behind a wide-ranging educational legacy. Eight of the assistant principals who have trained under him have gone on to become principals. One of them, Greg Bottari, will take over for Valente. No stranger to Barnum, he was the assistant principal from 1997 until 2000. Bottari described Valente as a legendary educator.
"Peter Valente is one of the greatest administrators in the nation. He is so known," Bottari said. "Under him, I learned to have vision for the job in regards to students' academic and social ability. He's my mentor."
Before coming to Barnum, Valente was principal of the now closed Newbridge Road School for two years. He has always lived in the area, residing in Levittown. Valente raised his two children, Valerie, 37, and Stephen, 36, there, and both attended East Meadow schools.
Leon Campo, the deputy superintendent of schools, said the district will miss Valente. He believes Valente's high standards and commitment to education have benefited the district greatly. "Peter is one of those individuals who is a consistently high-quality performer due to the fact that he's a quality person," Campo said. "Barnum is a success story, and Peter Valente is one of the major reasons why it is."
Comments about this story? LLane@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
