LIVERMORE – Terrie Roberts will be off to Florida when the school year ends to become principal of a “school of choice” in the Daytona area.
Roberts, the principal of the Livermore Elementary School for six years and before that a teacher for 20 years in Wilton, is going to work for a charter-school organization. SAD 36 directors accepted her resignation Thursday.
The New Sharon woman said that after living in Maine for 30 years, she was looking for a milder climate. She said she’d applied for several jobs in the “Sunshine Belt” and had received several offers.
She was the top choice of 35 candidates for a nonprofit organization that builds schools for “Academies of Excellence,” she said. The second choice candidate was also from Maine, she said, which shows Maine educators are sought after.
Florida runs its schools like counties, she said.
The first year, Roberts will be a principal of a 500-student school. The second year, she’ll be recruiting teachers and overseeing teacher training.
The organization starts new schools each year. It’s able to create any kind of school it wants, if it thinks the school would be approved, she said.
Under her leadership, SAD 36 built a new elementary school, implemented an all-day kindergarten and started a Reading Recovery program. Roberts credits the teachers and staff members for moving the school system ahead.
“I have been really fortunate to work with some of the finest people in this business,” she said. “I will never find a staff as great as this. We have strong work ethics in Maine. I think Maine is a good place. I think SAD 36 is a good place.”
Roberts said she and her husband don’t plan to sell their home at this time so they can return and visit during the year.
“I’m extremely excited,” she said. “I think change is good for people. I’ve traveled all over. For me, it’s just another adventure.”
Meanwhile, her top priority is getting her knee back in shape, said Roberts, who broke it in three places in a fall at the end of February vacation.
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