LIVERMORE FALLS – It’s a bittersweet moment for Shane Lambert – leaving SAD 44 and the people he has worked with for four years and saying hello to a new group of people in SAD 36.

Lambert, 35, the principal of Telstar Regional High School in Bethel, has accepted the position of principal at the Livermore Falls High School, which will also give him the opportunity to mentor under SAD 36 Superintendent Terry Despres as he works toward his superintendency certification.

“I’ve very much enjoyed my last four years,” Lambert said.

He has been able to make an impact working with staff to make improvements at the Bethel school, he said.

But he’s looking forward to a new challenge and opportunities in SAD 36.

“Things still need to be worked out and will continue to be worked out well into the future,” Lambert said. “I plan on learning a lot from Terry.”

It’s a great opportunity for him, Lambert said, as well as an opportunity to have an impact on another school district.

He doesn’t want to leave Telstar in the lurch on this, so, he says, the transition will be made when things are worked out there.

The exact date of the transition to Livermore Falls school is unknown.

The new job will cut 10 miles each way off his daily commute. Instead of driving 50 miles to work, Lambert be driving 40 to the new school from his home in New Gloucester, which he shares with his wife of 12 years, Nicole, a registered nurse at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, and their three children, Max, 9, Alexandra, 6, and Cordelia, 3.

Lambert said he had met Despres and Livermore Falls High School teacher Tom Marshall at an accreditation visit in Fort Fairfield before he considered a position in SAD 36.

What he likes about SAD 36 in Livermore and Livermore Falls, he said, is the commitment to education that he feels is evident.

For example, he said, they went ahead and built an elementary school on their own without state aid.

“That speaks volumes,” he said.

He also likes the district being consolidated.

“I like having a concentrated (school administrative district). It’s like a municipal school district, but not,” Lambert said.

It appears that education is a focal point in SAD 36, he said.

“It’s something people seem to rally behind and that appeals to me,” he said.