MECHANIC FALLS – For her first month as School Union 29’s superintendent, Nina Schlikin listened.

She scheduled one-on-one meetings with about 100 people from the union’s three towns: Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls. Among them were students and selectmen, school committee members, teachers, former students and regular folks.

“I’m not just talking with supporters of the schools,” said Schlikin, who began her job at the start of July. “I want to know the communities and learn the culture. I think people are appreciative that someone is listening.”

She wants to lead.

As children return on Aug. 27, Schlikin hopes to release an action plan for the whole school district. Its aim: to improve the system where possible and strengthen what already works.

“I don’t see a need for a lot of changes,” she said.

After all, it was the strength of the school system, particularly Poland Regional High School, that led her to become a superintendent.

She didn’t want to lead a school system until this one had a vacancy.

Last spring, union leaders agreed to buy out the contract of Robert Wall, the superintendent here for the past 13 years.

Schlikin was then working in her role as Maine’s distinguished educator, a post that examined the state’s response to federal No Child Left Behind legislation. It was the latest in a long line of education jobs throughout southern Maine.

Schlikin, 57, grew up in Auburn and graduated from Edward Little High School. She started her teaching career in Reading, Mass.

She missed Maine, though, and eventually returned.

She became a teacher at Fairview School in Auburn, then worked on a statewide Right to Read program, which attacked illiteracy at all ages.

Over the next few years, Schlikin held several jobs within School Union 47, which then included Bath. She continued as an administrator in SAD 15 and worked in Cumberland and Westbrook before taking on the last state job.

Over the years, she learned that kids succeed in more progressive schools, she said.

Such concepts as student-led conferences, meshing topics into interdisciplinary classes and student governance all help kids learn better.

Often, kids are ready to take on more responsibility for their education than many people guess, she said.

Schlikin has worked with children as young as kindergarten age to do self-assessments and set goals. It’s the kind of work that’s already being done at Poland Regional High School and the Bruce M. Whittier Middle School, she said.

“I don’t think the traditional model fits our students any longer,” Schlikin said.

Besides the creation of her action plan, Schlikin plans to teach a class to her own teachers, titled “Teaching for Understanding.”

The voluntary year-long course may be used by teachers as credit for recertification. Assistant Superintendent William Doughty, hired just two weeks ago, will help.

The class will likely begin in October, just as her own initial exploration of the school union ends.

“It’s a community that cares very much about their schools,” Schlikin said. “I know I am in the honeymoon period.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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