The search is under way for a new leader to take charge of Mt. Ararat High School after the departure of Craig King, who will take on a new role as superintendent for Regional School Unit 10.
King served as Mt. Ararat’s principal for the last nine years and will finish his term at the high school this month.
School Administrative District 75 Superintendent Brad Smith said Friday the district received 11 applications for the position.
The search committee has met and created criteria to screen those applications. The panel will meet again Wednesday to review the applications and select candidates to be interviewed on July 29 and July 30.
Smith said he anticipates nominating a candidate to the board Aug. 8.
The search committee consists of teachers, building administrators, district office administrators, parents, a student and additional community members.
There is also a representative from Maine Region Ten Technical High School because of the importance of vocational and career technician education in addition to regular and special education, Smith said.
Smith and Dan Chuhta, assistant superintendent, surveyed students and met with high school staff, teachers, administrators and office staff about what qualities and characteristics they desire in a principal.
Feedback will be correlated and used to generate the interview questions. Every candidate will be asked the same set of questions and a scoring mechanism will be used.
Smith said it is a very comprehensive process and one that works very well, but one that takes time and is also a very confidential process. In cases when the district is hiring during the school year, the district would visit the finalists’ schools, interact with their staff and in many cases talk to students.
“Who we hire, is one of the most important decisions we make as administrators or as a board, whether it’s a classroom teacher, bus driver or principal, who we entrust to take care of our children,” Smith said.
The district must choose extremely well and take no short cuts when it comes to checking on candidates, and typically checks three or four references before a candidate’s nomination will be forwarded to the school board, he said.
Who the district chooses as the top administrator of Mt. Ararat High School is a very important decision, Smith said, because whoever is at the helm at the high school in any district “serves a large number of students and the kinds of programs offered at a comprehensive high school are significant and extend to several different areas.”
The search committee is a large committee, Smith said, and is a good group “that will bring different ideas, hopes and vision for what is happening.”
Smith said who school systems hire can affect students for many years, and is not something to take lightly.
“It’s worth spending the time to do it and do it right, so we do.”
dmoore@timesrecord.com
The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less