LIVERMORE FALLS – Damon Rodzen, the son of school board members, will join his parents on the board of SAD 36.

He will be the youngest director on the board at 19.

There might be some challenges, Rodzen said – not just because his parents, Denise and Eric Rodzen, are on the board.

“Who better to tell us what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong?” asked his mother, Denise.

“He does look at things differently. He’s very outspoken, and I know he wouldn’t hesitate to voice his opinions, and he definitely wouldn’t be influenced by his parents.”

The younger Rodzen said he welcomes the opportunity to be a part of the education system in Livermore and Livermore Falls.

“I’m committed to children,” he said.

A 2003 graduate of Livermore Falls High School, Rodzen received five write-in votes for a three-year term to the school board.

Denise Rodzen said her son is taking an avid interest in his community, and it’s going to be nice to see a fresh perspective from a younger generation. Denise Rodzen is the chairwoman of the 13-member board.

Thought it was a joke

This is possibly the first time that three members of an immediate family have served on the SAD 36 board. It’s not a conflict of interest according to state statutes, Superintendent Terry Despres has said.

Dale Douglass, executive director of the Maine School Management Association, said he has heard of husbands and wives on the same school board, but parents and children is a first for him.

No one had taken out nomination papers for the seat. “I kind of thought it was a joke when my mother told me people were going to write me in,” Damon Rodzen said.

He said he always wanted to be on the school board, but he was too busy being class president and with other high school activities.

Rodzen has his sights set on becoming a kindergarten teacher after he graduates from college, but in the meantime he’s holding down a full-time job at St. Croix Credit Union in Lewiston and runs his own disc jockey business.

When he returns in fall to Andover College in South Portland, where he’s studying early childhood education, he will be able to make it back in time for school board meetings, he said.

Learning path

He said he chose teaching kindergarten as a way to increase the number of male teachers at that grade level.

“There are not many male teachers for young children,” he said. “When you get to the older grades – third, fourth and fifth – that’s when male teachers show up.”

He said he thinks his perspective as a recent high school graduate will give him good insights as a director. He said he plans to base his decisions on the facts presented, and said he will look at all sides.

“I think I might have a better chance of talking to students in the school because, being younger, they might relate better,” he said. “If there’s something I feel that needs to be changed or something that needs to be brought up, I will.”

On the other hand, he hopes his age doesn’t deter people from respecting his opinion.

He said the next three years are going to be a learning adventure.

“A big one,” he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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