DIXFIELD — Lisa Twomey was hired as principal of Dirigo High School by the Regional School Unit 56 board of directors following an executive session during their meeting on August 14.
Twomey’s most recent position was at the Maine Girls’ Academy in Portland where she was chair of the English Department. She has lived in South Portland for 21 years other than when she lived in Costa Rica for a year where she was employed in a principal internship.
“I was looking for a small Maine community that was looking to grow academically and that had a strong focus on school culture. I think (RSU 56 is) very student-centered and forward thinking,” Twomey said.
Twomey replaces DHS principal Michael Poulin, who has been principal at DHS for 10 years and resigned as of Aug. 3. Poulin’s letter of resignation said that he “enjoyed tremendously” the students at the middle school and high school and the communities that comprise RSU 56, but he did not give a reason for his resignation.
In other business, the board voted that $11,000 received from the Maine Department of Education in July will be put in a holding fund for the RSU for next year.
Business Manager Mary Dailey explained to the board that the funds could be used so that the RSU 56 towns of Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru “can raise $11,000 less than what was in the (budget) this year,” but the board decided that because the money was such a small amount it would be best to put the money in a holding fund for the RSU for next year.
In other news, T. W. Kelly Dirigo Middle School Principal and RSU 56 Curriculum Coordinator Jason Long presented a plan for establishing a curriculum steering committee for the district’s grades kindergarten through 12.
Long said the committee would include himself and two teachers from each of the district’s three schools and that each committee member would be responsible for facilitating one of the eight content areas, such as math and science.
Long explained that the curriculum plan is to continue with dual-tracking of students’ grades at DHS, where the state proficiency-based approach is used along with a 100-point based course point average. “We will now have a kindergarten through grade five standards-based report card and a grades six through 12 dual-tracking method,” Long said.
Also, three new board directors elected in June were in attendance at the Tuesday meeting: Carl Lueders of Canton, Tammy Brown of Carthage and Angela Cushman of Peru.
The board approved new hires:
• Rochelle Soohey as a kindergarten teacher at Dirigo Elementary School. Soohey has recently been an educational technician and Title I educator at DES;
• Kathryn Wilcox as a school nurse for Dirigo High School and Dirigo Middle School. She has served as a missionary nurse in the Gambia and as an educational technician for RSU 73 in Jay; and
• Kathryn Coolidge as a kindergarten through grade eight music teacher. Coolidge is from Rumford and recently graduated from the University of Connecticut.
mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net
Lisa Twomey was hired as principal for Dirigo High School at the RSU 56 school board meeting on Tuesday. She replaces Mike Poulin who resigned Aug. 3. (Submitted photo)
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