The 2024-2025 school year was the last opportunity for LHS students to experience social studies classes with the one and only Bill Leighley. After 33 years with the Lynbrook District, Leighley is ready to depart for retirement. He has cemented his career as an enthusiastic social studies teacher and dedicated varsity lacrosse coach, both on and off the field.
Leighley completed his undergraduate studies at the University at Albany and attended Hofstra University for his master’s degree. He secured his job at LHS over a phone call with former principal (and later district superintendent) Dr. Santo Barbarino. At the time, Leighley had only been teaching for six months in Elmont School District, and he initially declined the offer, but Barbarino simply asked him, “Do me a favor and just come in and see what we have to say,” as Leighley recalled.
Little did Leighley know he would fall in love with Lynbrook. Alongside teaching AP Microeconomics and Regents U.S. History, he has enjoyed living in the community in which he teaches and growing his family here; this started with meeting his wife, Spanish teacher Danielle Leighley, to whom he has been married for 22 years. Leighley’s children, Emma (Class of ‘22), Peyton (Class of ‘25), Aiden (Class of ‘27), and Reid (Class of ‘31), also attend Lynbrook schools. “Just being able to see my kids in the hallways warms my heart,” Leighley shared.
Peyton could not be prouder of her dad: “One of the ups [of attending the same school my dad works in] is definitely getting to see how respected and appreciated [he] is by students, staff, and his players. I think overall he’s made a true difference here, and I’ve been really proud to be associated with him.” Peyton was also a student in his AP Microeconomics class this year, which made for a unique experience. Despite being nervous about how it would feel to be his student in a classroom rather than just his daughter, she quickly grew to enjoy the class. She shared, “I quickly saw what so many students before me have seen. Although his class is hard, he puts in so much effort when teaching and genuinely wants everyone to succeed. It was pretty cool to see that side of him, and I gained a whole new level of respect for how hard he works.”
Leighley’s impact in the classroom extends to the lacrosse field, where he has coached for 33 years and plans to do so even after retirement. Seeing as Leighley played lacrosse when he attended Ward Melville High School and at the collegiate level at SUNY Albany, there is no surprise he has had much experience and advice to offer the Lynbrook Owls. Senior attackman and captain Bennett Votano expressed, “Since I was a sophomore starting on varsity, Leighley was always there helping me improve not only as a lacrosse player, but as a person and a teammate. He has guided me every year to improve, and it has paid off listening to him because I would not be the person or player I am today without him.”
Leighley began his coaching career as an assistant coach with veteran coach Larry Glenz for 15 years before taking over as head coach. He then coached with physical education teacher Brain Hetrick for nearly another 15 years. Hetrick spoke about the time they worked together fondly: “We had an awesome time and were very successful, winning numerous conference championships along with a county and Long Island Championship in 2014. We have been friends on and off the field [and embarked] on many lacrosse-related trips.” Hetrick humorously noted, “We spent more time together than we did with our own families.” Hetrick could not be more honored to be Leighley’s friend and godfather to his son Aiden.
When Hetrick stepped down from coaching, Spanish teacher William Luzzi coached with Leighley from 2006-2010 and 2017-present. In 2023, Leighly switched positions, and Luzzi became the head coach. Luzzi credits Leighley for helping him become the coach he is today. “I learned how to take small parts of situations on the lacrosse field and make them into drills to work on every aspect of the game, and gradually to bring those parts together to prepare players for the game in its entirety. More importantly, I learned about the value of putting emphasis on the experience for the players and the comradery with their teammates,” Luzzi explained. Hetrick and Luzzi both wished Leighley a happy and relaxing retirement.
Votano continued to share that he had never had a coach as passionate and knowledgeable as Leighley is; he said he has learned much from him that can be used in any life situation. “If I found myself off and out of it and he could visibly see that, he would pull me aside and tell me about this law [in stoicism]: that anything that has already happened and is out of my control, is something I should not be stressing over or letting change my mood because it happened, and I can’t change that, so it is not something to dwell on,” Votano shared.
Votano is also a student in Leighley’s AP Microeconomics class and conveyed what a rewarding experience it has been to have him both as a coach and a teacher. “As a senior taking his class, it is almost the same as being one of his players. There is a teacher-student relationship, and a coach-player relationship, but through all of the years we have known each other, it grew to more than that,” Votano reflected.
Votano concluded that he is very grateful to have had a coach like Leighley during his high school career. Leighley commented, “Being able to send kids off to college to play and then going to watch them play while they’re in college, it’s just been fantastic. And we try to preach brotherhood and staying connected after they leave.” Leighley is glad to have done that for so many years and looks forward to continuing to do so.
After a 33-year teaching career, Leighley reflected, “Find a job you love, in a place you love. It makes it real easy to put all you have into it.” In his retirement, he looks forward to plenty of gardening. “I’m becoming addicted to it. I’m building raised garden beds, and I’m even going to help out here with Mrs. Reganato’s garden,” he explained. He also looks forward to a lot of reading and relaxing.
Leighley has left an impact within the Lynbrook community that many students and staff will forever cherish. Principal Matthew Sarosy especially remembered Leighley’s influence when he himself started out in Lynbrook and was hired in the social studies department at North Middle School. “I still remember Mr. Leighley’s presence from those early department meetings and thought, ‘That’s the type of teacher I wanted to emulate.’ I felt he struck the perfect balance between passion for the curriculum and connection to the students. Years later, I came up to the high school and got to work with Mr. Leighley in a different capacity, which I’m incredibly grateful for,” Sarosy reminisced.
