The Deer Isle area’s public school district is in the next stage of its search for a new leader after a tumultuous 2024 that saw numerous other staff departures.
School Union 76, which includes the towns of Brooklin, Deer Isle-Stonington and Sedgwick, is still without a permanent superintendent or principals for half of its four schools.
But it’s preparing to interview candidates for superintendent and one principal role, showing it’s starting to spring back from a staffing shortage that had leadership sending out email blasts searching for “anyone” who might teach there in the fall semester. Meanwhile, its interim leadership is working to rebuild trust within the school system after high-profile fallout with previous leadership in December.
The new superintendent will fill the post vacated by Dan Ross, who resigned in late 2024 while on administrative leave after towns within the school system held votes of no confidence in him and voted to suspend him from his duties.
The search committee is meeting this month for the next steps in the hiring process and hopes to have more to share soon, the school union’s chair Genevieve McDonald said Tuesday. She declined to say how many applicants the posting received, citing confidentiality matters.
When interim superintendent Mark Hurvitt took on his role in December, connections “weren’t good” between local school boards and administration, he said, an atmosphere which spread around the district.
In a letter explaining his departure, Ross described conflict about his administration’s efforts to “introduce and reinforce accountability” on subjects including staff certifications, evaluations and absenteeism.
To help restore some confidence in the central offices, Hurvitt said he’s been showing up early, going home late, being visible and making himself available. Hurvitt has almost three decades of experience in area school systems, including a previous stint as an interim superintendent, and he said those community connections have also helped.
“I think you could come down here and talk to anyone here [in the school] … and they’d say things are looking up,” he said.
School systems are complicated, Hurvitt added, and while he believes the island has all the pieces it needs to run smoothly, not all are lined up yet.
He declined to give specifics on the concerns he hears from residents, citing personnel issues, but said the district is making good progress.
The Brooklin and Sedgwick elementary schools are running well, as is Deer Isle-Stonington High School, and the island’s elementary school is on its way, according to Hurvitt.
District officials will start interviewing candidates for the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary principal position soon and applications remain open for the role at the Brooklin school. Principals of the district’s other two schools have renewed their contracts for next year, according to Hurvitt.
His contract runs through the summer, when the new superintendent is set to take over.
