BRUNSWICK — After a two-year search and review of 45 candidates, Brunswick High School will have a new permanent principal heading into next year.

Arthur “Art” Abelmann, 50, of Laconia, N.H., will step into the top spot at BHS starting July 1. Interim principal Donna Borowick will return to the position of vice principal.

Superintendent Paul Perzanoski said Thursday that Abelmann’s breadth of experience — ranging from teaching college math to serving as director of an alternative school in Tilton, N.H. — factored into his nomination of Abelmann for the job and the School Board’s approval of the hire at a May 9 meeting.

“He has worked all over the spectrum,” Perzanoski said.

Part of that experience working in traditional and experiential education is described in a February 2011 column Abelmann wrote for The Aspen Times, while he was principal of the high school in that Colorado city, about the school’s “Experiential Education Program” and its new “Extended Learning Opportunity” credits for students pursuing courses outside of regular classroom study.

“As our students continue to explore their areas of personal passion, shouldn’t we take the time to recognize these accomplishments and offer school credits when the work warrants such?” Abelmann wrote.

In his first year at BHS, Abelmann said he will take suggestions rather than make them.

“I see a lot of listening and paying attention to where the school is going,” Abelmann said.

Part of that listening process comes from regular, monthly round-table discussions he started in his most recent post as principal at the 550-student Aspen High School.

“I look forward to having a monthly round-table discussion with parents and encourage parents to come and speak with me about any subject they want,” Abelmann said.

Other aspects of his time in Aspen, Abelmann said, he is leaving behind. He left the two-year contract position after just 16 months, against his initial plans to stay.

Part of the decision was personal, Abelmann said, with the death of his father, a Harvard University medical professor, at age 89, and much of his family still on the East Coast. But part of the decision was also professional.

“It became clear to me that my objectives and goals were really very different than what they had sold me on when I was hired as a new principal,” Abelmann said. “When I got there, there was a different superintendent than the one who hired me and his idea of operations was different than mine.”

Perzanoski said Thursday that he’s confident Brunswick — and a return to the East Coast — will be a better fit for Abelmann.

“I wouldn’t have nominated him otherwise,” Perzanoski said. “He’s a very genuine human being, and everything that he told us panned out when we talked to people in Aspen, so I’m pretty comfortable.”

Abelmann agreed to a two-year contract. Terms of that contract were not available at press time.

In February, Perzanoski expressed concern that steep budget cuts in the district might deter potential candidates from applying for the high school principal post, but Abelmann said the cuts are hardly unique to Brunswick.

“I think public education, no matter in what community you’re in, is facing a budget crisis,” Abelmann said, noting that to be a challenge in his current home of Laconia, N.H., as well.

Specifically for Brunswick, Abelmann noted the impact of closing Brunswick Naval Air Station on the school district’s bottom line, but said, “I think those challenges make us try to be more efficient and more effective with less.”

“It requires more community involvement and more parental involvement and trying to get the maximum out of the staff that you have,” he said.

Abelmann said he has been encouraged by signs — literally — of support for education staked in lawns around Brunswick and also by the close proximity of Bowdoin College.

“Trying to maximize the opportunities to work with Bowdoin will be one of my goals,” Abelmann said.

Abelmann, a Boston native raised in Lexington, Mass., plans to land in Brunswick this summer before the start of his contract on July 1.

In migrating to Maine, Abelmann will join his daughter, who is studying currently at the University of New England, but he’s no stranger to the Pine Tree State.

Years ago, Abelmann spent summers at camps in Maine and worked on the Appalachian Trail around Flagstaff Lake, near Carrabassett Valley. About this latest move, Abelmann said he’s excited.

“I’m kind of tickled that I get to come to an area as nice as Brunswick,” Abelmann said.

dfishell@timesrecord.com