Donahue

GORHAM — The middle school will have its third principal in its 16-year history when school opens next fall.

Quinton Donahue, now principal at Mt. View Middle School in Thorndike, will succeed the retiring Robert Riley, who took the helm in 2007. The Gorham School Committee unanimously hired Donahue on May 22.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Donahue said in a telephone interview.

Donahue impressed Gorham school officials during the hiring process, Superintendent Heather Perry said.  “We believe that Quinton is uniquely poised to lead GMS now and well into the future,”  she said in a press release.

Donahue has been principal for five years at Mt. View Middle School, which has 300 students while Gorham’s middle school has an enrollment of 627. Donahue didn’t have an assistant principal at Mt. View, but Tom Smith continues as the assistant principal at Gorham Middle School.

Donahue has met with students, parents and staff, Perry said.

Donahue said Gorham’s core values – respect, honesty, courage, compassion and responsibility –  match up with his as an educator. While researching the job, “those five values jumped out at me,” he said.

“I’m all about passion, purpose and positivity,” he said.

Donahue was previously a high school math teacher for 10 years at Hampden Academy in RSU 22. He earned a bachelor’s degree in math and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Maine, where he will finish his doctorate work in educational leadership this fall, Perry said.

“While at Mt. View Middle School, he has created a fully modernized advisory program for students, he has brought in rich after school activities, and he has worked diligently to mold a positive school climate within which all staff can work, and all students can learn,” Perry said.

Riley is retiring at the end of this school year after 12 years as principal. Riley had succeeded Dennis Duquette, the school’s first principal when it opened in 2003.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 780-9089 or email rlowell@theforecaster.net