Valva case commissioner walked out after grand jury report

Daily Point

New head of Social Services expected to be announced soon

Following Thursday’s scathing special grand jury report about the county’s mishandling of the fatal Thomas Valva child abuse case and a news conference in which District Attorney Ray Tierney name-checked her several times, Suffolk’s Department of Social Services Commissioner Frances Pierre tended her resignation and walked out the door, just days before her term was to expire on April 9, The Point has learned.

County Executive Ed Romaine had long ago made up his mind that he would not offer another term to Pierre, despite her seeking reappointment by screening for the job. He has directed Deputy County Executive Sylvia A. Diaz, a health-policy specialist, to oversee DSS while Romaine wraps up his search for a permanent replacement. The search is a local one and the appointment is expected soon, said county sources. Romaine often speaks of how his grandson was Thomas Valva’s classmate in elementary school.

The Point called the Department of Social Services, seeking Pierre’s comment, and was told her last day was Thursday, the same day as the news conference held by Tierney, who released the 75-page special grand jury report.

Much of that report focused on how the warning complaints of child abuse preceding young Valva’s death were marked “unfounded” 10 times by Pierre’s Child Protective Services investigators. Tierney was critical of Pierre’s handling of the case and how her agency used existing state confidentiality laws to avoid disclosing evidence from the 10 previous reports about child abuse involving Thomas Valva. As a result, the grand jury said, the criminal probe was “hampered” by the state law and the agency’s refusal to turn over its confidential records.

“It is unconscionable that even in a case such as this, no one, not even a district attorney, Superior Court judge, or state advisory board can obtain prior reports that CPS has arbitrarily and erroneously deemed ‘UNFOUNDED,’ ” said Tierney on Thursday.

Romaine has been deeply critical of the handling of the Valva case by the administration of his predecessor, Democrat Steve Bellone. Romaine has indicated to aides that he wants Diaz — and ultimately his new choice of Pierre’s permanent replacement as commissioner of social services — to thoroughly re — examine the county’s Child Protective Services unit. Romaine also pushed for changes in the state law that prevented full disclosure of how the county handled the Valva case and other possible instances of child abuse.

Pierre served as Suffolk’s commissioner of social services for five years, since April 2019 until her Thursday resignation. Previously, she had worked for New York City’s Department of Homeless Services, and as chief operating officer of Help USA, a Manhattan nonprofit that is one of the nation’s largest homeless services providers and low-income housing developers serving at-risk populations, according to its website.

— Thomas Maier thomas.maier@newsday.com, Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com

Pencil Point

What's acceptable?

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Reference Point

Our steadfast school of standards

One consistent theme in the Newsday editorial board’s commentary about Long Island is the importance of strong schools to the region. The board has long maintained that the ability to get a great education is the single biggest draw for prospective residents, and that the cost of those schools is the single biggest expense for taxpayers.

The issue was percolating 40 years ago in an editorial with a self-explanatory title: “Don’t Dilute Standards for High School Diplomas.”

The concern stemmed from an attempt by the Northport-East Northport school district to challenge in court state education requirements “by awarding high school diplomas to mentally handicapped students who completed a special course of study but did not pass state competency tests,” the board wrote on April 4, 1984.

The U.S. Supreme Court had just declined to take up the district’s appeal of a state court ruling against the district and now state lawmakers — including three Long Island Republicans, State Sens. Kenneth P. LaValle, James J. Lack and Caesar Trunzo — were considering various plans to get these students “annotated” diplomas even if they didn’t pass mandatory state graduation tests.

“The spirit behind the proposal is a generous one, but misplaced,” the board wrote. “The Legislature should say no.”

The board’s position echoed that of state education officials like Lawrence Gloeckler, the acting assistant commissioner for the education of children with handicapping conditions, who told The New York Times, “One of the reasons the Regents instituted competency testing was that they didn’t want students pushed out of school with meaningless pieces of paper.”

Newsday’s board noted that students who completed special individual programs received certificates of completion, which it called an “honest” recognition of their achievements.

“Annotated diplomas, which would have an identifying sticker on the back, would mean no more, but would simulate the recognition that other students receive,” the board wrote. “To the extent that such a deception works, it would devalue all high school diplomas.”

Flash forward 40 years and students with disabilities still need to pass specific courses and exams to get Regents and local diplomas, and can receive two kinds of commencement credentials if they cannot. But that doesn’t mean there is no longer any controversy over graduation standards.

Last year, a state commission recommended multiple pathways to a single high school diploma and what the current board called “the misguided notion of reducing or modifying testing requirements” in a Nov. 26, 2023 piece called “Don’t lower school standards.”

The suggestions followed the pandemic period marked by increased learning difficulties for many students.

“After years of declining school performance, the nation is struggling to return rigorous standards to its high schools,” Newsday’s board wrote.

The comment sounds very modern, but it actually appeared in that editorial back in 1984.

When it comes to education, past is present and future, and vice versa. The quest for good schooling and high standards is timeless.

— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com, Amanda Fiscina-Wells amanda.fiscina-wells@newsday.com

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