LEWISTON — William Webster Jr., a former business executive for Hannaford, Ocean Products, Haven’s Candies and Arthur Anderson, was hired Monday night as Lewiston’s new school superintendent.

Webster, 60, is the superintendent for Regional School Unit 24, which is composed of 12 towns in the Ellsworth area. He will replace Leon Levesque, who is retiring next month.

Webster’s salary will be $115,000. He begins work in January.

One reason he was chosen was his “extensive financial expertise in both public education and the private sector,” committee Chairman Jim Handy said after the committee voted unanimously for Webster.

After he left the business world for a career in education, Webster worked as a teacher, became well versed in school finance, and “masterfully handled” the consolidation of School Union 6 to the 12-town RSU 24 “while maintaining a quality education for the students,” Handy said.

While CEO of Haven’s Candies, he provided training and employment for Vietnamese immigrants, “and believes in, as he put it, ‘the American ideal of cultivating success for all its citizens,’” Handy said. He embraces a philosophy that includes all stakeholders in decision-making and builds partnerships.

“On behalf of the Lewiston School Committee and the citizens of Lewiston, and most importantly its children, welcome to Lewiston,” Handy said to Webster, who was in the audience with his wife, Molly.

Webster said he’s honored and humbled. “I look forward to learning so much more about the schools, the people of Lewiston, the history, and working together on where we’re going to go,” he said. “I can’t wait to get started.”

In an interview Monday, Webster said he’s intrigued by Lewiston’s rich cultural history and current “infusion of immigrants over the last 10 years, and all the opportunities and challenges that come with that. Lewiston is a mixture of the old and new. What that’s going to become, I have a chance to be a part of that. That’s quite exciting.”

Webster has experience in a time where most school districts expect budget cuts. He cut his $32 million budget last year by $1.6 million, and oversaw consolidation from nine districts to one.

If less money comes from the state, Lewiston would have to decide how much it can afford, then “what is the best education we can offer within that,” Webster said.

His current district’s budget was cut by increasing class sizes to 17 to 20 students, combining programs, and charging fees to students for extracurricular activities, including sports.

Today, students pay $10 for each activity. The fees only generate $3,000 or $4,000.

“But we’ve got the framework to go to a stronger fee if we need to do that,” Webster said. “I’m not suggesting Lewiston should or shouldn’t do that.” But when there’s less money, “it’s those types of things that communities need to look at if they’re going to offer things people are used to.”

Last year, teachers and administrators in RSU 24 took a pay cut of 1 percent, Webster said. The salary reduction was equal to two days of work, which were eliminated. The school year was 177 days, “we went to 176.” Teachers attend eight workshop days instead of nine.

“I won’t say it was easy. I won’t say it wasn’t contentious,” Webster said. Eventually the pay cut was approved by the teachers union, he said. That reflected “an awareness that these are serious economic times and everyone needs to play their part to get us through.”

Also, teachers trusted him and the school board, he said. Because of the pay cut and retirements, “we did not lay off a single teacher, even where some school grades combined, those teachers could have been laid off. I did place them in other schools. That bought some good will.”

Webster was hired as superintendent in Ellsworth in 2006. A few months later, Gov. John Baldacci announced that Maine school districts had to be consolidated, saying taxpayers can’t afford so much administration.

At that time, there were nine school districts for the 12 coastal towns. “Some were one-school school districts,” overseen by three full-time superintendents and one part time.

After meetings, debates and forums, the 12 towns voted to become one district. That’s saving $800,000 a year, Webster said. While most voted for consolidation when they saw the costs, local control is important Down East, Webster said. “There’s still a very strong minority who would like to go back to the way it was.”

The search for Lewiston’s new superintendent began in January with a 20-plus member search committee. That committee produced two finalists who toured Lewiston and met with School Committee members.

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