Poland Community School’s principal seeks a job as a superintendent.
By Daniel Hartill
Staff Writer

POLAND – After seven years as principal of the Poland Community School, Peter Campbell has resigned.

He wants to become a superintendent.

“It’s a planned career move,” Campbell said. “This seems to be an opportune time.”

For the past three years, Campbell has attended education classes at the University of Maine in order to be certified to take over the leadership of a school department.

Campbell’s departure is the third by a School Union 29 administrator in the past several months, since Superintendent Robert Wall’s contract buy-out earlier in the year. Curriculum Director Christine Chamberlain announced in April she would leave to become a principal in Hallowell.

All three departures take effect on June 30.

Campbell, 50, hopes to take advantage of a current shortage of qualified superintendents in Maine. Several area departments are searching for administrators.

Campbell said he was reluctant to renew his contract at the school because he felt drawn to challenge himself further. Meanwhile, he also hoped to move to the Bangor area, where his grandchildren live.

There was no problem with the school or the larger union that led him to seek work elsewhere. However, Wall’s departure did not lead him to apply for the role here at School Union 29, he said.

The union’s structure, which includes five school committees, would make it a different kind of job than he is looking for, he said.

In his resignation letter to the Poland School Committee, Campbell cited his leadership in the school’s recent expansion as one of his favorite accomplishments in the job.

The school teaches children from kindergarten through the sixth grade.

Ike Levine, chairman of the Poland School Committee, said he hoped a new principal could be hired before the start of classes in the fall.