Eric Varney may be the first

Morse alumnus to become principal of the Bath high school.

Varney will replace retiring Principal John Pinkerton on Aug. 1.

A Georgetown native, Varney has worked as a science teacher at Morse since 2004 and in 2014, was named Sagadahoc Teacher of the Year. Last year, he switched to an administrative role, accepting a position as assistant principal.

“I loved teaching in the classroom. I really enjoyed it. It was fantastic,” said Varney. “I just felt like I wanted a little bit of a change, and I was at a point where I tried a lot of new things in teaching and I’d had some success, and a couple of people had brought up the idea of administration to me.”

Varney went back to school, obtaining a certificate of advanced study in school administration from the University of Southern Maine. To cap that off, he learned about Morse’s administration firsthand when he interned with Pinkerton.

Varney said he likes working in administration, though it’s different than teaching.

“I do enjoy this job as well. It’s rewarding in different ways, and different challenges,” he said. “But it’s been great and I really look forward to the challenges for next year, too.”

One difference is the day-to-day variety serving as an administrator.

“It’s very different than the classroom. I’ve always been a planner,” said Varney. “I can say a week from now what’s going to be happening this morning. You have to give up all that … in this role.

“The days look very different one day to the next, which is kind of exciting and enjoyable,” he added, “but it took awhile for me to give up that idea of having everything planned out.”

Last week, the school board approved Varney’s nomination to be the next principal of the school. Varney said Pinkerton has left him in a good position moving forward.

“I’m lucky to have Jay around until probably the first of July,” he said. “We’ve already started to walk through a couple of things and it’s just been great in that he’s somebody who I really trust his opinion.

“He has a huge amount of experience in the job, so I’ve learned a lot from him this year,” Varney added. “He’s put me in a good spot to take over this position.”

One of his focuses as he takes over as principal will be proficiency-based education.

“I think we’ve taken a good path on that, but I need to continue that, and that’s going to involve a lot of change,” Varney said. “So that will be my primary change as I transition.”

Other priorities include sustaining a continued focus on keeping student attendance high, as well as preparing students for PSATs in 9th, 10th and 11th grade.

“Since we’ve made that investment (in conducting the PSATs, I’d like to) see what else we can do to continue to help our students score higher on those,” said Varney.

He is also taking over at a critical point for the district, as RSU 1 moves forward with the construction of a new high school building. Originally on the sustainability committee, Varney has taken on more responsibility since becoming assistant principal and after Pinkerton announced his retirement.

“It’s really exciting. Every week we’re getting further into the layers of what this is all about,” he said. “It’ll be really exciting bringing some of these traditions that we have into a new building. It’s just going to be a fantastic facility.”

Varney emphasized that his door is open to parents and the community.

“My door’s open if people have comments or they’d like to talk to me as I transition into this role,” he said. “Parents do know me as being the teacher of their children, and that was a responsibility that I really didn’t take lightly and I certainly won’t be taking this lightly.”

nstrout@timesrecord.com