New MSAD #75 Superintendent Steven B. Connolly. Maria Skillings/Times Record

The new superintendent of Topsham-area schools wants to make sure the district has a solid design for the future and plans to help draft an official strategic plan.

On April 14, the Maine School Administrative District 75 School Board appointed Steven B. Connolly as the district’s new superintendent. He assumes his new post on July 1.

This is the fifth time in four years the MSAD 75 school board has had to fill the superintendent position. Connolly has signed a two-year contract with the district and will receive a starting yearly salary of $145,000.

Current Interim Superintendent Robert Lucy replaced former Interim Superintendent Dan Chuta, who assumed the role for a few months before leaving in February 2019 to become Maine’s deputy education commissioner. Chuta acted as placeholder for Superintendent Shawn Chabot, who was hired in 2019 but officially resigned June 30, 2021, after his deployment with the National Guard was extended. Previously, Chabot had replaced Superintendent Brad Smith who had held the position from 2011-2018, according to previous Times Record reports.

After two years under a pandemic, Connolly said he looks forward to providing stability to the district.

“I think everyone benefits from good leadership and stability. The last years particularly have been the most difficult two years in the history of American education,” said Connolly. He said it has been difficult for schools to figure out how to educate effectively without having students physically in the building.

“I think they are going to be in a better spot in 2022,” said Connolly.

Renovations to Mt. Ararat Middle School and repairs to school roads in the district were elements Connolly liked but, “I looked for a strategic plan and I didn’t find one,” he said. Connolly believes his experience working on strategic planning with MSAD 60 will prove useful for his new post at MSAD 75.

What interested Connolly in the Topsham-based school district was the unique mix of coastal towns and deeply rooted family history. Topsham, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and Harpswell hold sentimental value for Connolly. He said his maternal grandmother originally came from Cundy’s Harbor in Harpswell and spent her early years on Bailey Island. When he was a teenager, he volunteered to drive his grandmother through Midcoast towns and found them intriguing, he said.

Connolly previously served as superintendent for North Berwick-based Maine School Administrative District 60 for eight years, announcing his retirement in November of 2019 and leaving June 30, 2020. He has also served as principal of Cape Elizabeth Middle School, assistant principal of Portland High School and principal of Baxter Elementary and Pleasant Hill Primary in Scarborough. He has also worked as a teacher at both the elementary and middle school levels. Connolly said he retired from education in June 2020 but had no intention of being fully retired.

In July 2020, Connolly was hired for a position with the Maine School Safety Center. The safety center provides school emergency management training for all Maine schools. Connolly also worked alongside the York County Emergency Management Agency.

Connolly said he used his position at the safety center to bridge the gap between York County EMA and the York County superintendent.

“There is no college programing for school safety. It is not something people naturally come to the job ready to deal with,” he said.

Connolly began working with EMA Director Arthur Cleaves, school superintendents, the FBI and homeland security regarding school safety. In comparison with other school safety centers across the United States, “Maine was really behind,” Connolly said.

Other states like Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma made significant changes to their legislation in the wake of school shootings, he said.

“We never want to see anything like this happen in the state of Maine,” he added.