Dr. Ronald D. Valenti was named superintendent of schools of the Valley Stream High School District at the Board of Education business meeting of July 11 and will assume his new duties on Aug. 28. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Martin Brooks is leaving Valley Stream on July 18 to take on his new position as Superintendent of the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District.

Mr. Joseph Singleton, currently the Bond Projects administrator and formerly the Interim assistant superintendent for finance & operations, will serve as interim superintendent of the Valley Stream High School District until Aug. 28.

Dr. Valenti, with 20 years of experience as a superintendent of schools, comes to Valley Stream from the Smithtown School District in Suffolk County, a K-12 district of 12 schools with a student population of 8,700.

Previous to his service there from February 1999 to the present, he was superintendent of the Harrison School District for 11 years (1988-99), and the Blind Brook-Rye School District for eight years (1980-88), both in Westchester County.

Dr. Valenti began his educational career as a high school social studies teacher and department chair (1965-73) in the parochial schools of Queens, worked in central administration for the New Rochelle School District (1973-75), was named principal of Poughkeepsie High School (1975-79) and then became associate superintendent in Poughkeepsie (1979-80).

He earned his Ph.D. in secondary education and administrative studies from New York University where he received the Founder's Award for highest academic achievement. Dr. Valenti has an MA in education from Fordham University and a BA in philosophy and psychology from Catholic University.

An administrator who has served in numerous leadership roles, Dr. Valenti was president in 1995-96 of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents, a professional organization representing 80 school districts in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess Counties. He is also a past president, 1985-86, of the Southern Westchester Association of School Superintendents and has played an active role from 1996 to the present on the NYS Board of Regents Educational Finance Advisory Committee.

With his extensive experience, Dr. Valenti is also dean emeritus of the statewide faculty for the Superintendent's Academy, sponsored by the NYS Council of School Superintendent's to train school leaders for the 21st century. He has conducted workshops for IBM's Executive Training Program for the nation's school leaders and provides management training for the NYS Education Department as well as the New York City Schools. He also currently serves as an adjunct professor of educational administration in the doctoral program at Fordham University and in graduate leadership studies at Iona College, the College of New Rochelle, and SUNY Stony Brook.

Dr. Valenti writes extensively on education for professional publications and is a regular guest speaker for numerous professional groups. He was selected by Executive Educator 100 in 1986 as one of the 100 outstanding school managers in North America and received the Outstanding Educator Award in 1979 from the School Administrators Association of New York State.

Dr. Valenti and his wife, Eileen, a special education teacher at Southern Westchester BOCES, live in Rye Brook. Their son and daughter are both grown.

"I am absolutely delighted to be named superintendent of schools by the board of education," said Dr. Valenti," and am attracted to Valley Stream by both the challenges and the vision for the future."