Principal's Message 

Welcome to Saranac Lake Middle School!

My name is Amy Spicer, and I am honored to be your principal. I am originally from Western New York where I graduated from Jamestown Community College and SUNY Fredonia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Secondary English Education. I decided to stay at Fredonia to pursue my Master’s Degree in Education with a concentration in Secondary English Education. After graduation, I moved to Lake Placid, New York, and I had the wonderful experience of teaching English at Lake Placid Middle -High School for 22 years. I loved my students, their families, and being an English teacher. While teaching, I always tried to keep learning and challenging myself, and I took on many leadership responsibilities in the district. From leading the English Department as its Chair to becoming the Mentor Program Co-Leader to serving as the district’s Data Coordinator, I continuously tried to learn new skills. A few years ago, I decided to return to graduate school to pursue my advanced degree to become a School Building Leader. I graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh’s SBL program in May of 2022, and I am so grateful to join the excellent team at Saranac Lake Central School to work with all of the wonderful students, families and staff just next door.

Saranac Lake Middle School is a wonderful place for students to learn and grow. Our staff works tirelessly to create a safe, warm, welcoming, and fun environment for all students and their families. They support our students through purposeful learning in a student-centered environment. Their teaching is grounded in research-based, instructional best practices to support the NYS and Next Generation Learning Standards. Each grade level team has a dedicated time to meet daily to discuss specific student needs, meet with parents, collaborate on their curriculum work, plan field trips, etc…. If you have a concern about your child, I encourage you to contact the classroom teacher, grade level team and/or your child’s school counselor for assistance; we are happy to meet to discuss your child’s needs. By working together, we can help our children to be their best. 

We will continue to use ParentSquare to communicate with families and The Positivity Project as our social- emotional student educational program. ParentSquare is a robust communication platform the district adopted, and it will help us engage with parents and families throughout the year. We will also be incorporating The Positivity Project in our daily announcements, in our classes, and throughout our campus again this year. The Positivity Project is a social-emotional program that teaches each student about their character strengths to provide self-awareness and self-confidence; this work will help our students build stronger relationships by helping them recognize the character strengths in themselves and others. Additionally, the Positivity Project is part of the culture at Petrova and Bloomingdale Elementary Schools, and our students should transfer that knowledge and experience seamlessly into our culture.

Saranac Lake Middle School also offers many extracurricular and cultural opportunities for student growth. Our students can explore their interests by participating in the OutRide Group, Adventure Group, Art Peaks, Student Council, Jazz Band, Yearbook, Robotics, and YENGA. We also offer an array of modified girls' and boys' sports teams for 7th and 8th graders throughout the year to promote a healthy lifestyle for our students. Additionally, we are excited to offer three world languages for our students this year: Spanish, French, and American Sign Language.

I look forward to meeting you all and having a wonderful and successful year filled with learning and student growth. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions, thoughts, and ideas.

Sincerely,

Amy Spicer

Ms. Amy Spicer

Principal

spiceramy@slcs.org