At 54 years old, William Michaud is resigning from his position as superintendent of Scarborough schools to go to law school.

“For some time, I have thought I’d like to have a second career,” said Michaud, who has been working as an educator for 28 years.

Michaud, who has been the Scarborough superintendent for almost five years, announced his resignation at the Scarborough Board of Education meeting last week. Michaud plans to leave at the end of August.

Board member Jacquelyn Perry said she wasn’t surprised Michaud was leaving. When the board hired him, she said, he told them he didn’t plan to make the job his lifelong career.

Perry, however, said she was surprised to hear he was going to law school so late in life. She said Michaud told board members he would be 57 years old when he graduated from law school.

Michaud said he’s always been interested in law, and he said a law degree would be good for his career no matter what line of work he decides to go into. “A law degree is one of the most marketable degrees” you can get, said Michaud.

While he has an interest in education law and criminal law, Michaud said he didn’t know what type of law he wanted to practice.

“At this point, I’m wide open. Maybe I’ll end up doing education law. Maybe I’ll end up being a superintendent again after law school. That’s certainly possible,” he said.

Board Chairman Robert Mitchell said he admired Michaud’s willingness to change careers. “Not too many people his age go out and start law school,” said Mitchell. “There’s something to be said in life for doing different things.”

Mitchell said his father’s death at the age of 68 about a year ago taught him how important it is for people to do the things they want to do before it’s too late. The high school athletic fields are named after Mitchell’s father, Clifford “Kippy” Mitchell, a longtime Scarborough resident and electrician who did a lot work for the schools.

“Age has a tendency to creep up on you pretty quickly. I can attest to that personally,” said Mitchell.

Michaud got into education when he was hired as a teacher at Westbrook High School in 1978. After about 10 years as a teacher, he decided to go for a job as an administrator because he had seen some good administrators in Westbrook and thought he could be more influential in that role.

“I was really fortunate to observe some really good administrators, and I kind of wanted to do what they did,” he said.

He got a job as principal of Westbrook High School, a position he remained in for 10 years before leaving to become superintendent of SAD 16, which serves the towns of Hallowell and Farmingdale. He stayed there for one year before becoming superintendent of Bath schools for two years, coming to Scarborough in 2001.

Michaud said his departure would come at a good time for the district. He said he and school board members have recently completed a five year plan for Scarborough schools that covers school building maintenance and needs, meeting state and federal mandates, administration and the Scarborough Education Initiative.

“It’s a good time for the school district, and it’s a good time for me,” said Michaud.

Perry and Mitchell said they thought Michaud had done a good job in his time as superintendent. Perry said Michaud guided the district through the construction of the new high school. Mitchell said the schools had added all-day kindergarten and foreign language classes to the fourth through sixth grades.

Both board members also said Michaud had done a good job with the school budgets. Perry said Michaud had helped the district reduce its reliance on financial support from boosters.

Mitchell said Scarborough offers one of the best educations in the state, even though the cost per student is in the bottom one-third when compared to other districts around the state. “I don’t think people recognize the value of a Scarborough education relative to dollars, and I think that’s due in part to the people at the top,” said Mitchell.

“His leaving is going to be a loss,” said Perry. “But we still have strong leadership in our school district.”

Perry said she would be meeting soon with Mitchell and board member David Beneman to decide how the school district should go about looking for a replacement for Michaud.

Scarborough School Superintendent William Michaud is leaving his position to attend law school.