Valente heads to Hall

SPRING VALLEY – Hall High School has a new principal. 

At a special meeting Wednesday, Hall School Board voted to hire Tony Valente. Valente comes to Hall from Kaneland High School in Maple Park. 

He replaces Principal Patti Lunn, who the board decided to reclassify as a classroom teacher earlier this year.    

Valente was one of nine candidates the district interviewed for the principal position. According to Superintendent Mike Struna, the district screened candidates with a blend of faculty, staff and board interviews.

“It was a pretty thorough process, and we really benefited from the good faculty and staff involvement,” Struna told the BCR. 

Struna said the district hired Valente because he has an ideal blend of experiences as a principal and a teacher.

Valente was principal for two years and assistant principal for a year at Kaneland. Before that, he served as assistant principal for five years at West Aurora School District. He taught history for six years at Proviso East High School in Maywood.  

Valente is a Chicagoland native and a 1987 graduate of West Leyden High School in Northlakel. He holds a bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University, and an master's degree from Northeastern Illinois University. He is a doctoral student at Northern Illinois University. He is married with three children.

As an administrator, Valente joins new Hall athletic director Gary Barrera, who the district hired this spring to replace retiring athletic director Gary Vicini. 

Struna said the district anticipates a learning curve with Hall's fledgling administration.    

“We suspect there’ll be some speed bumps because we have lost some experience,” Struna acknowledged. “The expertise that comes with that experience, we’ll miss.” 

But while Hall’s new administration may be short on institutional memory, Struna said Valente and Barrera will give the district an “influx of new ideas.” 

“I think that’s a good trade-off,” he said.

Valente’s former workplace, Kaneland, is a suburban school district serving 1,200 students. And although KHS is about three times the size of Hall, Struna said Valente sees parallels between his experiences there and his future at Hall.  

“(Kaneland) is a bigger building with more students, yes, but Tony felt like we’re facing the same issues as far as meeting goals,” Struna said.