During the 2011-12 school year, Superintendent Randy Richards was at the center of several controversies. Last fall, former middle-high school Principal Katherine Mulderig filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She alleged that Richards engaged in gender discrimination against her, retaliated when she brought her concerns to the school board and created a hostile work environment for her.

The EEOC later validated those complaints. Richards admitted to and apologized for telling Mulderig he needed someone “bitchier” to manage the “bitchy” teachers at the Lake Placid Elementary school. Mulderig has since accepted a settlement agreement and left her job.

Richards is also the target of an appeal filed with the commissioner of the state Education Department by Linda Wallace earlier this spring. The appeal seeks Richards’ removal as superintendent and accuses him of “derogation of responsibility, neglect of duty and deliberate indifference.”