By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer
Mark Eastman’s road to SAD 17 superintendency traverses Maine.

OXFORD – SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman may have narrowly avoided the draft because of a twist – actually two – of fate. In doing so, he also inadvertently avoided getting a law degree and instead found a lifelong career in education.

After Eastman finished Bonny Eagle High School, where he was in the second graduating class of the then-new regional school, he earned a bachelor’s degree in pre-law studies from the University of Maine in 1967.

But his graduate law studies at the University of Kentucky were interrupted in 1968 by a draft notice during the Vietnam War. Yet, when he returned to Maine to enlist, he found the quota had been filled and, because he couldn’t return to law school, he turned to teaching.

He calls his first job as English teacher at Winthrop High School the “bottom of the heap,” because he had no classroom and had to roam the school to teach in any available empty room.

Six months later, he received another draft notice, Eastman said. But the military let him complete the school year. Once again, when he went to sign up, he was told the quota had been reached.

He then began teaching social studies and coaching sports. “After a couple of years with the teaching-coaching routine, I became chair of the social studies department, then next year, became assistant principal and athletic director.”

From that point, Eastman stayed in administrative roles, moving on to become – at age 27 in 1973 – principal of Gorham High School. “When I went to principal meetings, I was one of the few who didn’t have gray hair, although I started to get gray hair,” he said with a smile.

After working in that school system for six years, he took a break and helped a friend start a manufacturing company in Scarborough. Three years later, the company was bought out, and Eastman headed to Aroostook County to become principal of Central Aroostook Junior and Senior High School.

He said his jaunt into the business world helps him now realistically convey to students the challenges they face after school.

Eventually, he became superintendent of SAD 42 in Mars Hill, staying for 10 years, long enough to see students grow up and graduate.

In 1995, he started as superintendent of SAD 17, attracted, he said, by the opportunity to be part of building and designing a new high school. Since then, he’s tried to urge students here to reach their best.

“The focus of my whole experience here is to challenge and empower students to see and reach their highest potential,” Eastman said.

And when he’s not promoting achievement – and he admits he has little free time, Eastman likes to kayak, snorkel and work with wood. He and his wife are active in the South Paris Baptist Church. He also serves on several committees, including a state advisory board for No Child Left Behind and on the board of the development nonprofit EnterpriseMaine.

“I’m looking forward to a time when I’m not so committed,” he said. “But I still have the fire to do what I do.”