Cape Elizabeth is losing its superintendent to a school district in New Hampshire.

Meredith Nadeau will start her new job as superintendent for the Newmarket School District on July 1.

The selection of Nadeau, who has been superintendent in Cape Elizabeth for five years, was announced Tuesday in a news release from the Newmarket School Board.

Nadeau worked in New Hampshire, as director of instruction for the Oyster River Cooperative School District in Durham, before becoming superintendent in Cape Elizabeth. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, as well as a master of education degree and a certificate of advanced graduate studies in educational leadership from the University of New Hampshire.

“Nadeau was chosen from a highly qualified field following a very rigorous selection process,” said Nathan Lunney, chair of the Newmarket School Board, in a prepared statement. The Newmarket School District has about 1,180 students from preschool through grade 12.

Those enrollment figures are lower than Cape Elizabeth schools, which as of Dec. 1 had more than 1,600 students.

There are two schools in the Newmarket School District: Newmarket Elementary School, for preschool to grade five, and Newmarket Junior-Senior High, for grades six through 12.

Cape Elizabeth operates three schools: Cape Elizabeth High School, Cape Elizabeth Middle School and Pond Cove Elementary School.

U.S. News and World Report rates each state’s school districts. In 2015, Cape Elizabeth High School was ranked the third-best high school in Maine by the magazine – trailing Yarmouth and Falmouth high schools. Newmarket Junior-Senior High School was ranked the ninth-best high school in New Hampshire for 2015.

About a year ago, the Cape Elizabeth School Board added a year to Nadeau’s contract after learning she had been a finalist for a superintendent’s job in Weston, Massachusetts.

At the time, Nadeau told the Portland Press Herald that she had been recruited for the post in Weston by a headhunter.

When Nadeau was hired in 2011, her annual salary was $123,000. Her annual salary through the end of her contract in 2018 would have been $132,000.

Nadeau could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, but Elizabeth Scifres, chairwoman of the Cape Elizabeth School Board, said the board accepted Nadeau’s resignation at its meeting Tuesday evening. Scifres said the board will issue a news release on Wednesday.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com