Dennis Duquette of Raymond and Steven Connolly of South Portland, the two finalists in the search for the next principal of Cape Elizabeth Middle School, visited the community last week.

The search committee, which consists of two parents selected by the Middle School Parent Association, two school staff members, two School Board members, Interim Superintendent Bob Lyman, Assistant Middle School Principal John Casey and two members from the district leadership team, invited the two finalists after a single round of interviews. The committee hopes to make a final decision after the April vacation.

Duquette is now the principal of Gorham Middle School and Connolly is the assistant principal at Portland High School.

During his visit Thursday, Duquette told a handful of parents that in the two years he has been in Gorham, he has coordinated the opening of Gorham’s new middle school, changed the school’s schedule to allow for more learning time for students, began gardens that will provide the cafeteria and community with fresh produce and began a popular eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C.

Duquette began as a history teacher at St. Joseph’s High School in Springfield, Mass., in 1978. He then began a stint in the business world and worked as a regional sales operations manager for the American Oil Change Corporation and branch manager for Alco Equipment.

He returned to the education field in 1995 and got his master’s degree in special education. He was an assistant principal for one year at Mt. Anthony Union Middle School in Vermont and the dean of students for one year at Gateway Regional High School in Massachusetts. Before coming to Gorham Duquette was a middle-school principal for three years in Woodstock, Conn.

He said he was attracted to the Gorham region because of the beauty of Sebago Lake. When parents asked what his reasons were for leaving Gorham, Duquette cited differences in philosophy and vision with the new superintendent just hired in that community.

“When I came to Gorham Middle School I thought I’d be there forever,” Duquette said. However, he lost confidence in the direction that Gorham was heading and began looking for other opportunities.

Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp was surprised to learn of those comments, saying he thought they shared the same philosophy on middle school education.

When Duquette discovered a new superintendent had just been hired in Cape Elizabeth he said he was “a little apprehensive” because he has worked under five superintendents in five years; and only two of those have been “outstanding,” Duquette said.

Duquette said that the number of school clubs had grown in the past two years because he always supports the students in what they want to do.

“It’s so easy to say ‘no,'” said Duquette, “but, it’s just as easy to say ‘yes.'”

Duquette said he prefers working at a middle school rather than at a high school or elementary school because the age of the students is unique.

“I love that time,” Duquette said. “They’re still bright eyed and bushy-tailed. … You can make and mold them.”

Duquette said he strives to create a climate in the school where honesty and cooperation is fostered and every student feels safe and respected. He said his goal is “to find a way so that not one student falls through the cracks.”

Steven Connolly visited the middle school on Friday afternoon.

Connolly is not a stranger to Cape Middle School, where from 1982 to 1996 he taught sixth through eighth grade math and science. He was the math team coach, the environmental club’s advisor, he coached boys and girls soccer, basketball, baseball and volleyball. His last year at the school he was the eighth grade math team leader and the curriculum coordinator for sixth and seventh grade math and science.

“It’s tough to find a stone I didn’t overturn in this community,” Connolly said.

He told a group of parents that when he left his teaching position at the middle school, he jokingly told Nancy Hutton, who was the principal and is retiring June 30, that he would be back. When Hutton asked him to what position he would return to, he said he would take hers. The opportunities Connolly was looking for did not exist at Cape Middle School at that time, and he did not want to wait, he said.

“I like new challenges,” he said.

He has served as principal at Pleasant Hill School in Scarborough, the Young School in Saco and Baxter Elementary in Portland. When Baxter was being closed because of low enrollment Connolly decided to take on a new challenge and accepted a position as an assistant principal at Portland High School. He was offered a job at another elementary school; “but, I’ve been there,” he said.

He’s been at Portland High for two years now and said there’s no experience like it, but that he saw an opportunity at Cape Elizabeth, where the community is focused on education and the parents are proactive. Compared to other schools he has worked in, Connolly said that parent involvement in Cape Elizabeth is 10 times that in other communities.

Connolly said if he was hired he would attempt to meet with each individual staff member over the summer and any parent groups that were available, to get a sense of where the people who are affected by the school every day see its status.

“I’m hands on in the classroom,” Connolly said. “I want to model best practices … co-teach, lead book groups, … I want to take a break from the busyness of it.”

When a parent brought up the subject of bullying in the schools, Connolly said as an administrator you either promote it by doing nothing or you change it by creating good cultural norms within the school.

Steven Connolly is one of two finalists for the principal’s post at Cape Elizabeth Middle School.Dennis Duquette is one of two finalists for the principal’s post at Cape Elizabeth Middle School.