By Gail Geraghty,Staff Writer

PARIS – David Mason, longtime assistant director of Oxford Hills Technical School, has been hired as director.

The school’s Board of Directors unanimously voted Tuesday to offer the job to Mason, who has served as interim director since last June, when Tom Cope resigned.

“I feel we’ve got an excellent person” in Mason, said board Chairman Jerry Wiley. “We just think he’s extremely qualified.”

Mason was in meetings and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The board acted on the recommendation of an 11-member search committee, which included the superintendents of the school’s two sending districts, SAD 17 and SAD 39, board members and one teacher.

When Cope resigned, Mason initially said he wasn’t interested in the director’s position, Wiley said. But he changed his mind, and told Wiley as much just before the Christmas holiday.

“Once he got into it, he discovered he liked what he was doing,” Wiley said of Mason, who started out as a forestry instructor in the school’s early years.

Mason served as interim director twice, both before Cope came on and after he left. “David’s come a long way,” said Mason. “He’s grown a lot.”

Mason’s hiring as director was effective as of Wednesday. Wiley said details of Mason’s contract will be completed over the next few weeks, and will be made retroactive to Wednesday.

The search committee advertised the position immediately after Cope left and did not receive a large response because most technical schools had filled positions by then. They decided to hold off and readvertise the position in January.

But with Mason’s decision to take on the responsibility of the top position, the committee decided it had its man.

The technical school is also known as the Region 11 Vocational Center. It operates out of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.