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Date: 7/1/2022
LUDLOW – Before interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth’s transition back to being the principal of Ludlow High School with Frank Tiano taking over as superintendent on July 1, Nemeth reflected on her year as the interim superintendent during her last meeting in that position with the Ludlow School Committee on June 28.
Nemeth said the year began with challenges almost immediately, including the closure of several buildings in the district.
“When I look back on it, we opened Harris Brook, a brand-new school, so that was exciting, but it came to reality that we had to close two buildings, Chapin was already closed but then we had to close Vets Park and liquidate everything and then also close central office,” she said.
Nemeth also recounted the challenges the district faced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“You kind of forget that all the students were masked when they came back and we were dealing with kids trying to take off their masks, leave their masks on, how we were doing vaccines, how we were doing COVID[-19] testing and how we were doing pool testing,” she said. “All of that was still a huge issue.”
Among the many challenges Nemeth said she faced was the budget crisis in the lead up to Town Meeting on May 9.
“We then went into our big budget crisis with only a 1 percent increase with the town and we went back and forth with lots of meetings with the town and administrators. During that time, we also settled five contracts, which is unheard of usually for a superintendent to have that many,” she said.
Looking into the 2022-2023 school year, Nemeth said she wants to see the district focus more on learning instead of recovering from COVID-19.
“I think our goal for next year and for the superintendent is just academics, to get students back on track to high expectations and focusing back that school is for learning – it’s not just social. It should be for learning, pursuing careers, college or whatever it may be,” she said. “Hopefully, we can rally our team back together along with our teachers to say we’re here for teaching, learning, academics and social but more get that focus back for the kids.”
Nemeth added that she already was working as the principal at Ludlow High School again with preparations already underway for the next school year.
“I have one foot already in there, we’re doing summer school, hiring and we need a new assistant principal, so I’ve been kind of working both jobs for the last week or two but I’m very excited to get back to the high school with the kids, the staff and just the energy that comes from any school building in any school district,” she said.
She added that she is looking forward to the next year.
“I think you’ll all see great things next year; I think we’ll get back to more normalcy than we have in the past,” she said.
Committee Chair Chip Harrington reflected on Nemeth’s tenure and the professionalism she brought to the position.
“We have our disagreements, but I can say this, she’s very professional, I’ve never walked away thinking I can’t call her tomorrow, whether it’s in public or private. You have always been incredibly professional, a superintendent position is not easy, even in the most idealistic community,” he said.
Harrington credited Nemeth for her work picking up the pieces after former Superintendent Todd Gazda left.
“You do deserve a lot of credit; it’s been a tough year. Dr. Gazda, when he left, he left pretty quickly and kind of handed you this ball of fire between COVID[-19], masking, vaccines – that was a tough baton to carry forward, but you did it,” he said. “I really appreciate the work that you’ve done over the past year.”
During the meeting, the committee also approved one of its first overnight field trips since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic for the high school cheerleading team to attend a cheer camp in Pennsylvania from Aug. 26 through Aug. 29.
Harrington also provided an update about the potential changes to music teacher positions that caused a stir at the committee’s previous meeting.
“Those positions are going to remain where they are, all the teachers that were teaching music in certain schools are going to be coming back in the fall in those same positions,” he said.
The Ludlow School Committee’s next regular meeting is scheduled for July 19 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the July 28 edition of The Reminder.