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Fifth Avenue bids farewell to educator and friend
Elementary school principal worked through her illness
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| | | Joan Baltman. Courtesy Northport-East Northport schools
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February 03, 2010 | 04:04 PM
On Christmas Day last year, Northport resident Joan Baltman Cooper, 56, the principal of Fifth Avenue Elementary School, died of breast cancer, working right up until the end and taking time off only occasionally, when absolutely necessary.
"She was a phenomenal educator," Superintendent Marylou McDermott said, "Very giving. A great lady. The salt of the earth."
Known as Mrs. Baltman in the district, she was highly regarded by all her coworkers. Interim Principal Josephine Imwalle, who worked with Baltman in her last few months as head of the school, said her predecessor was "truly devoted to the children and interacted with them very well. Her main concern was that the school be a healthy safe place where kids love to come and learn."
Lisa Leonick, co-president of the Fifth Avenue Elementary School PTA, would sometimes talk with Baltman four times a day. "Of course, during her last month, she didn't always have the energy to talk," Leonick said. "But whenever you spoke with her, you'd never be sad. She would never say, 'Oh poor me. I'm sad.' She was nothing but positive. She was completely upbeat whenever I saw her or spoke with her. The strength that takes! Whether it was a facade or not. I could never do that. I'd be in the corner crying."
Baltman had been honest about her diagnosis right from the beginning — about two and a half years ago. At first she was "doing great," Leonick said, but "then the cancer came back and she never recovered."
The district has not advertised for a new principal yet, said Bouton. That and the creation of an interview committee will probably start in March. The committee will make a selection and then advise the superintendent, who will make a recommendation to the Board of Education.
"It's a lengthy process," Bouton said. "We are looking at a probable July 1 appointment. We don't want someone to have to leave a job in the middle of the school year," she said.
In the meantime, Imwalle, who prior to this worked in community services and was a teacher in the district for many years, will finish out the remainder of the school year.
Baltman came to the Northport-East Northport schools at the beginning of the 1998 school year as an administrator for special education, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Terry Bouton said. She was appointed principal of the elementary school in April 2001. Prior to that she had worked in New York City schools.
One of her former colleagues, George Chakery of Floral Park, started teaching in 1986 at P.S. 177 in Queens, a school for special education students with severe difficulties. Baltman was a new assistant principal there at the time. "Joan was the first friendly face I saw when I entered ..." he recalled. "Even though I vowed I would never work with this population again, [she] made me feel that I could do it. … I will always remember Joan as the person who gave me the opportunity to work with a wonderful staff and administration. Joan was the consummate professional, straight and fair. She will be missed."
Northport High School chemistry teacher Don Strasser, who also advises the A Midwinter Night's Dream Committee that raised over $1 million for ALS research, said Baltman was "full of compassion, enthusiasm and dedication to her students, staff and colleagues."
"She was also an integral part to A Midwinter Night's Dream. She came to our event every year and even got her elementary school involved in the fundraising," he said.
Strasser recalled how every year the Fifth Avenue school would team up with the high-schoolers in selling snowflakes for ALS.
"Joan thought it was important to have the high school kids teach the elementary school kids," he said. "She was an inspiration to me and many others in the school district and she will be dearly missed by all."
A memorial service has not been scheduled but Leonick said the entire school community hopes to do "something special" in Baltman's honor.
She is survived by her children, Morgan, 24, and Dana, 20, and husband, Stewart Cooper, 60, who is still receiving cards, letters and phone calls, Superintendent McDermott said.
In lieu of flowers, her family has asked anyone interested to consider a donation to charity, in particular the Dana Farber Cancer Research; American Cancer Society and Relay for Life.
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