Dr. Kerri Titone-Lemanski was appointed as the new assistant principal of Pelham Memorial High School during Wednesday’s board of education meeting.

Dr. Titone was recommended by Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ and was officially appointed in an unanimous vote by the board. She starts Jan. 3. Dr. Titone currently works at North Shore High School as a supervisor for Advanced Placement courses, dual-enrollment courses and the International ​​Baccalaureate Program. 

“We are bringing on someone who is going to bring a wealth of expertise that is a really great fit for Pelham,” said Champ. 

“I am very excited about becoming a part of a new community and getting to know the families here, the teachers, the students and the faculty that support this building,” said Titone-Lemanski. 

Audrey Levenson, a PMHS senior, spoke about the district’s Covid-19 policy during the public comment period. Levenson described the impediments that missing a minimum of five school days can cause. Under the district’s current policy, using Google Meet is not permitted for students staying at home because of Covid-19 or any other illness. 

“I would hope that there would be some type of option so students don’t feel uncomfortable missing such a lengthy period of time, and so they feel some sort of support from the district that allows them to move forward in their academic process, even if they are testing positive for Covid-19,” Levenson said. 

Board president Dr. Michael Owen-Michaane described it as a “complicated issue.”

Champ said, “We had said that our approach for this year would be to treat (Covid) as any other illness, but we did say that we would continue to watch the numbers, and if the numbers led us to need to revisit that, then we would consider it.”

Responses from Owen-Michaane and Champ and other board members during the public comment period are extremely rare. It has been the board’s unwritten policy since December 2019 to not reply to comments or questions from the public. 

(Levenson is an assistant managing editor of the Pelham Examiner. She was not attending the board meeting for the paper.)

Trustee Jessica DeDomenico discussed an upcoming guided discussion between district officials and parents about the idea of “excellence” in the Pelham schools. An email about the meeting was sent out by the district last week, with idea for the program coming from the board’s authentic learning committee. 

“There has been a lot of talk about excellence over the last number of years, and it is a great opportunity for us to hear from the community, as a very important stakeholder group, and a nice opportunity for our community outreach and advocacy committee to help facilitate these discussions,” DeDomenico said. 

The event will take place on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. in cafeteria C. 

The next board of education meeting will be held on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. in the middle school library.