By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

WALES – Paul Malinski’s philosophy is simple: When children need help, do whatever needs to be done.

It’s what led him, as a brash young social studies teacher in Connecticut to hop onto a table, take over a student body meeting and tell the high school principal to leave when he wouldn’t be honest with the teenagers. It’s why, as an Auburn principal, he kept Edward Little High School open after major vandalism and why, as a Union 44 superintendent, he spoke out against the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act.

His belief in helping children, in doing whatever it takes, kept him in education for more than 40 years.

“It never stops. There are always more things that need to be done,” Malinski said.

But soon, Maine schoolchildren will lose one of their staunchest allies. And the area’s elderly and disabled will gain a new one.

The Union 44 superintendent will officially announce his retirement at a School Committee meeting tonight. He plans to become a handyman for people in need.

Growing up, Malinski hated school.

“I didn’t like the fact you had to sit up, shut up and listen,” he said.

But his fourth-grade teacher, a World War II veteran, intrigued him. The man often told inspirational tales of war and heroism, illustrating points about staying positive, being smart or working hard. Malinski wanted to be a teacher just like him.

In the 1960s, Malinski attended college in Keene, N.H. During his last year, he wanted so badly to teach that he got up at 4 a.m., drove more than 76 miles to teach at a Lebanon high school and then returned for evening college classes.

After graduation, he bounced from one teaching job to the next while he earned a master’s degree and a certificate of advanced study. He liked being independent, mobile.

But no matter where he went, Malinski was a champion for children.

Joe Speranzo was an overweight, insecure high-schooler in Connecticut when Malinski walked into his life as a teacher and wrestling coach. Now executive director of a Connecticut United Way, he credits Malinski for challenging and inspiring him, for giving him the confidence he needed.

“A lot of what I do today is because of him,” said Speranzo. “His class was kind of a springboard. It was something that stuck with me.”

As principal of Auburn’s high schools in the early 1980s, Malinski was known as a caring educator who put students first.

“He doesn’t see bad kids. He sees hurting kids acting badly,” said David Eretzian, who worked with Malinski then and who now leads the city’s alternative schools.

His biggest challenge came Columbus Day weekend in 1982.

“I came home to a phone call,” he said. “Edward Little was on fire.”

Three teenagers had broken into the high school. They lit fires, smashed windows and tore apart classrooms, causing $250,000 in damage. Malinski refused to postpone classes. Instead, he asked community members to help in the cleanup. They came, he said, in droves.

“Kids who were in school needed to see that in adversity you can make positive things happen,” he said.

Malinski rarely stayed in a job for more than four or five years. After Auburn he served as superintendent for several Maine school system, including Hartford, Buckfield and Sumner’s SAD 39.

Since 1999, he’s been Union 44’s superintendent, overseeing six schools, working with six school boards and caring for hundreds of staff and students in Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales.

He loves his job, he said, but at 64 it’s time to retire. His last day will be June 30.

Like other retirees, he wants to go fishing, play golf, spend time with his wife and family.

But Malinski will also become an independent a handyman for the area’s disabled and elderly. He decided on the new job after seeing how desperate a neighbor became when she couldn’t find anyone to install a simple lock on her back door.

He won’t care about the money, he said. As in education, he just wants to help. He’ll do whatever needs to be done.

“You need to do the best you can for as long as you can to help people,” he said.

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