Bonny Eagle High School opened for the new academic year this week needing a new principal.
But Robert Strong, who resigned Aug. 18, will need to wait possibly 90 days before he can begin his new job as principal at Freeport High School.
Strong currently has a three-year contract with School Administrative District 6 with a 90-day resignation notice clause. He cannot officially be released from his contract until Nov. 4.
Strong, a Freeport resident who was hired by SAD 6 two years ago after serving as principal at Medomak Valley High School in Warren, said he is eager to begin his new job, but he also understands his contractual obligations.
“The difficulty was the timing,” he said this week. “I had planned on staying here several more years, but I could not pass up this opportunity. It’s one of the school systems I had admired from afar.
“Just to be very frank and honest,” he said, “I had applied for this position about three years ago when it was available then. I already have family in the Freeport-Falmouth area, so I thought this would be ideal for me.”
SAD 6 Superintendent Suzanne Lukas said Strong’s resignation has not been contentious.
“People in the Bonny Eagle school district have been very supportive of me,” Strong said. “A lot of them have told me it made sense.”
Strong earned $87,000 at Bonny Eagle High School, and will earn $90,000 at Freeport.
The school district is developing a plan to find Strong’s replacement, but details will not be released until Tuesday’s School Board meeting, Lukas said.
“We’re working on all of that,” she said. “It all came up pretty fast at the end of the summer, but we will have a plan in place shortly.”
Strong could be released from his contract before Nov. 4 if a suitable replacement is found.
“He has to give a 90-day notice before he can leave,” said SAD 6 director David Hopkins. “We would release him earlier if we had a person in place.”
In Freeport, Christopher Leighton, School Board chairman, said, “Good things are worth waiting for. It’s a bit of an inconvenience, but when he gets here it’s all in the rear-view mirror.”
Leighton said Freeport hopes to have the matter resolved and have Strong working by mid-October, but understands that Bonny Eagle needs to take care of finding a replacement first.
“You have to jump in the shoes of the superintendent at Bonny Eagle,” Leighton said. “Because of the timing of this, they are left without a principal and they want some time to wrap some things up and get the hiring process going. It’s all very practical.”
Strong will serve as Bonny Eagle’s principal until he is released and continue to work as if he’s not leaving, he said.
“I am doing everything I can working with the administration here,” Strong said. “I think it is going to be a smooth transition.”
Strong will take over for Mark Tinkham, who left Freeport High School earlier in the summer to become the assistant principal at
Windham High School. Craig Sickles, Freeport’s athletics director, will fill in as principal in the interim, Leighton said.
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