OXFORD — Retiring school Superintendent Mark Eastman didn’t start out seeking to be a superintendent.

He was studying to become a lawyer when the Vietnam conflict sidetracked his plans to continue law school in Kentucky.

“It was a very uncertain time,” Eastman, 64, said as he reflected on close to 40 years in public education from his superintendent’s desk at the Oxford Hills School District administration office Monday, just three days before he is set to retire.

While the draft detained his plans to study maritime and international law, he looked at other opportunities. He ended up teaching at Winthrop High School. Although he was drafted soon after, the call up was deferred because he was teaching.

Education wasn’t entirely out of the blue, Eastman said. During high school his “strong interest” test indicated just that — a strong interest in education, far and above any other. “I loved teaching,” he said of his job at Winthrop High School that eventually turned into an assistant principal’s job. From there he worked at a small school with his hands in everything from being transportation coordinator to supervising the cafeteria ladies and negotiating contracts.

Then he got sidetracked — this time by a friend who wanted him to come work at his manufacturing plant.

It was in the private sector that he saw first-hand the difference between those with an education and those without.

“It improved my understanding of the world we live in,” he said. “This kind of broadened my whole world. I don’t regret taking that side road.”

The “side road” as he called his three years in the manufacturing firm, provided him with a broad experience that laid the basis for decades of success in the field of education.

So many lessons learned from his short stint in the manufacturing world — the importance of higher education, punctuality, focus … all attributes that he talked to people about. “I tried to inspire people to get a college education and know where you’re going. It’s all so important,” he said.

“I had an expectation for everyone. I knew what the standard should be,” he said.

But he missed working with children and being in a school setting and soon returned to education as principal and superintendent for 15 years at SAD 42 in Mars Hill and then on to the Oxford Hills School District where he spent the next 15 years.

“It’s so important to set goals,” said Eastman, who brought the idea with him from his private sector work. It was that belief that set the baseline for his aspirations-based educational work.

While he says it’s tough to leave the Oxford Hills School District, there were some tough times.

This past year he faced what was perhaps his hardest year, when state curtailments forced some hard decisions including the scale back of what he hoped would be a full-fledged kindergarten-through-grade-12 foreign language program. “That’s a disappointment,” he said of the program that is now in grades 7 through 12.

But the hard times also produced one of his proudest moments as superintendent when about two-thirds of his staff agreed to give up a day’s pay to save teaching jobs and ended up as “Persons of the Week” on ABC’s nightly news.

And then there’s the Aspire Higher program, that he established early on to provide students with the incentive and belief that education beyond high school is possible even in the traditionally blue-collar, working-class Oxford Hills, where college is not always part of the family tradition.

There is a $6 million endowment from donors in the community that provides more than $500,000 in Aspire Higher scholarships each year. This year, the endowment reached $6 million with a recent surprise $1 million donation from Bob and Sandy Bahre of Paris Hill and New Hampshire in the name of Mark Eastman.

It is a legacy that he still shakes his head over in disbelief. “It’s mind boggling,” he said.

The Aspire Higher program, which kicks off each fall with a parade at Homecoming Weekend, has had solid success with an increase in secondary enrollment jumping from about 30 to 40 percent to 70 to 80 percent today.

With only one day left, Eastman is still hard at work finishing up projects and making transition plans with incoming Superintendent Rick Colpitts. He hopes to have his office cleared out by Wednesday, his official retirement day.

Leaving a career that he has called “an addiction” isn’t easy, said Eastman, who will remain in the area with his wife, Cille, for the time being and enjoy a family weekend at their lake camp over July 4th holiday.

To the students, he says the most important message he leaves is to set goals and pursue them. It’s more about attitude than aptitude, he said. Have a can-do attitude.

“Choose that attitude, set high goals and pursue those goals,” he said.

It’s been a busy, good 15 busy years and he wishes to thank the students, staff and community. He believes the school district is in a good place.

“I’m exited for the future,” he said.

[email protected]