Shannon Welsh, superintendent of Regional School Unit 5 since its inception five years ago, will retire on June 30.
Nelson Larkins, chairman of the RSU 5 Board of Directors, made the announcement Thursday on the school district’s website. Larkins said Friday that Welsh has planned all along to conclude her career following the current school season, and do some travel.
Freeport is in the process of withdrawing from RSU 5, which also includes Durham and Pownal.
“She’s had this planned for about five years,” Larkins said. “It really has nothing to do with the state of the school district. It was planned.”
Welsh was out of state at a funeral on Friday, and unavailable for comment.
Larkins said that Welsh has been a superintendent for 12 years, having come to RSU 5 from the former School Union 30 of Lisbon. She began her career as a special education teacher, he said.
Larkins made the following statement on the RSU 5 website: “I am saddened to announce our superintendent, Shannon Welsh, will be retiring on June 30, 2014. Shannon has been a tireless advocate for our students and schools since being selected as the first superintendent of RSU 5 in 2009. She has provided the leadership necessary to bring three separate school systems together into one consolidated community. But she did more. Her cutting-edge educational skills, coupled with amazing administrative abilities, have allowed RSU 5 to create a strategic plan, reform professional learning, consolidate services, shape capital plans dating out 20 years, expand our curriculum, and spearhead the successful high school renovation bond.
“I can personally attest to the fact Shannon has always put our kids first. Her passion for education and children will be hard to replace. I want to personally thank her for all she has done for the district, all the great changes she has implemented, and the positive, lasting impression she will leave on the district,” Larkins wrote.
Larkins said that the board will keep the public informed regarding the process to find her replacement. The future of RSU 5, of course, is unclear, so it is possible that Welsh would be its first and only superintendent.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
