eizzo@adirondackdailyenterprise.com LAKE PLACID The Lake Placid Central School District Board of Education hosted a virtual hearing on the district’s proposed 2021-22 budget on Tuesday. Unlike past hearings, at which parents and community members could voice their opinions in person, this year because of pandemic-related capacity limits people were directed to email comments and questions rather than join the board’s teleconference call. No comments on the budget were emailed ahead of the hearing, nor after the hearing as of Thursday morning, according to district Clerk Karen Angelopoulos. Superintendent Roger Catania and school board President Richard Preston presented details of the proposed 2021-22 budget during the hearing on Tuesday.
eizzo@adirondackdailyenterprise.com LAKE PLACID A Lake Placid Elementary School student tested positive for COVID-19 this week, but the response has changed since the fall and winter. With many people in the school community now vaccinated, and with contact between students still limited, the school will remain open. In many ways, the way the school responds to positive cases now is similar to how it responded at the start of the school year: When a student or staff member tests positive, that person is ordered to isolate, and contact tracing identifies all who may have been exposed to the coronavirus through close contact lasting more than 10 minutes. But the majority of Lake Placid’s teachers, and many eligible students age 16 and older, are now fully vaccinated, according to school district Superintendent Roger Catania. That cuts down significantly the number of people who are required to quarantine after a possible exposure.
Lake Placid Middle High School (News photo Andy Flynn)
LAKE PLACID Three people have been chosen as finalists in the search for Lake Placid’s new school superintendent. They will be appointed by the school’s Board of Education. The current superintendent, Roger Catania, is retiring at the end of this school year. Catania has been Lake Placid Central School District’s superintendent since 2013, though he worked at the high school as a counselor for several years before that, starting in 1997. The three candidates who are being considered as his replacement are Timothy Seymour, the current superintendent of the St. Regis Falls Central School District; Saranac Laker Dana Wood, former principal of the Lake Placid Middle-High School and current assistant superintendent for business, finance and support services at LPCSD; and Margaret Wright, a Canandaigua resident who has served in various administrative roles in school districts throughout the Finger Lakes region.
acerbone@adirondackdailyenterprise.com
Lake Placid grad William Quilla gives two thumbs up as he proceeds to his seat for the Class of 2020 graduation at the Olympic Speedskating Oval Friday, June 26.
(Enterprise photo â Elizabeth Izzo) LAKE PLACID The Lake Placid High School is planning an outdoor graduation and prom. A few high school students said they’re thankful the administration gave them as normal a school year as they could during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though it’s been hard to plan unconventional versions of these traditional events, the students are glad to make some memories at the end of this year.
To the editor: On April 26, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise printed an article titled “LP school considers diversity consultant.” This letter is to clarify the intent of the $25,000 allocation in the 2021-22 budget. In the article it was stated that the “District administrators proposed setting aside $25,000 for a temporary social studies teacher who would focus on integrating diversity, equity and inclusion.” I would like to clarify that the board approved a $20,731,143.00 budget that included “Up to $25,000 additional funding for any contractual expenses associated with curriculum and instruction.” Nowhere in the budget conversation during the April 20 meeting was the $25,000 explicit to a social studies teacher or, for that matter, any other focus area. While Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is enormously important to the district, the allocation of these funds remain undefined and are meant to be broadly applied, not aimed solely at social studies.