WESTBROOK – First-year Westbrook High School Principal Thomas O’Malley is resigning his position at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, according to School Superintendent Marc Gousse.

Gousse said O’Malley made his resignation official in a letter dated Dec. 19. O’Malley’s resignation is effective June 30, 2012, Gousse said.

O’Malley, 59, was hired in August 2011 to replace Gousse, who moved on to become superintendent after running the school for 10 years.

Gousse declined to comment on O’Malley’s reasons for resigning, but said, “He decided to leave of his own volition.”

When asked if he requested O’Malley’s resignation, Gousse said, “Absolutely, unequivocally not.”

O’Malley said Wednesday afternoon that he had no animosity toward the district, and that he technically was not resigning, but simply declining to seek an extension of his contract, which expires on June 30.

O’Malley would not elaborate on why he was leaving.

“My reasons are personal,” he said.

O’Malley’s public education career spans 35 years, beginning in 1976 as an eighth-grade teacher in Somersworth, N.H. His administrative career covers nearly 20 years, including as assistant principal and athletic director at Marshwood High School in South Berwick and as principal of Sanford Junior High School.

Most recently, he served for eight years as principal of the Cooperative Middle School in Stratham, N.H., before coming to Westbrook.

Gousse said he and a search committee chose O’Malley in July from a pool of about 15-20 candidates, and the Westbrook School Committee confirmed O’Malley at its Aug. 10 meeting.

Committee member James Violette, who was on the search committee, said he was shocked at the resignation.

“I was kind of disappointed,” he said. “I thought we had a really good candidate to replace Marc.”

Violette said it’s possible the school district may be able to go back to the pool of applicants from the summer, but it’s too soon to tell.

“I’m not sure what direction the administration’s going to take,” he said.

First-year Westbrook High School Principal Thomas O’Malley is
resigning his position at the end of the 2011-2012 school year.
(File photo)