If there’s one word to sum up the year 2021 for the Pleasant Valley School District, it would be turnover.

After one year on the job, the school district’s new superintendent decided to retire in June. The interim superintendent came back to fill in, while the school board searched for another superintendent. That search ended in November with the hiring of the third superintendent in just two years.

Lee Lesisko, Ph.D., accepted the position of superintendent in March of 2020 for $155,000 per year. His predecessor was David Piperato resigned in November 2019 to take a job as superintendent in the Easton Area School District. The retired executive director of Colonial Intermediate Unit 20, Charlene Brennan, Ph.D., stepped in as interim superintendent. It was a role she would take a second time after Lesisko’s departure.

In November 2021, James Konrad, Ph.D., accepted the helm for the school district for $170,000 each year, and began his five-year contract as superintendent in December.

Second in command, the assistant superintendent position turned over in 2020. Josh Ziatyk left the position in May 2020, and Rae Lin Howard accepted the position in November 2020 with a salary of $125,000 a year. She was still very new to the position as the school district entered the new year.

Those weren’t the only top positions to turn over. Business Manager Susan Famularo retired in December 2020. The district offered the position to Thomas Cipriano Jr. in March, but that fell through. In May, Michael Simonetta accepted the position with a salary of $145,000 per year. He was the former chief financial officer for the Easton Area School District and began his new position in July.

Fortunately, the human resources position was filled in 2020, because the new HR director had much to do in 2021.

Jessica Tomon stepped into the director of HR position during the summer of 2020 for $100,000 per year. Her predecessor was John Burrus, Ph.D., who left in May 2020 to take the position of chief human resources officer at the Easton Area School District.

In May 2021, the school district announced that as many as 40 teachers and administrators could be let go at the end of the school year. The news was met with objection by the teachers and members of the community.

In the end, several teachers decided to retire, and others left for other jobs. The district raised the property taxes by 2.75% to help make ends meet in the budget.

Then in July 2021, the Pleasant Valley High School Principal Matthew Triolo turned in his resignation to take a position as principal at East Stroudsburg High School. Todd Breiner, the principal of the intermediate school, also resigned and took a position as principal of Slatington Elementary School.

The school district promoted their assistant principals to principal. Kelli George became the principal at the high school and Kendal Askins took over as principal at the intermediate school.

Meanwhile, the contract between the school district and the Pleasant Valley Education Association, which is the teachers’ union, expired in June. Despite talks with the school district prior to the contract expiring, the teachers returned to their jobs in the fall and continued to work. Negotiations are continuing into 2022, but the teachers’ union has given the school district a deadline of Feb. 28 for a resolution, or they plan to strike.

Even for the students, 2021 has been a year of change. They started off the year with a hybrid schedule of mixed remote and in-person classes. When outbreaks of COVID hit the student and staff population, some school went fully remote for a while.

Eventually, they transitioned to all in-person classes and have remained that way. In a recent interview, the district’s newest superintendent, James Konrad, said he doesn’t intend to do remote learning again even if the COVID numbers continue to increase. The district also returned to a mask optional policy after the state Supreme Court ruled the state Department of Health’s mandate for masks in school was not constitutional.