The Scarborough School Board named Assistant Superintendent Diane Nadeau as the district’s new superintendent last week.

Nadeau told the Leader on Wednesday she is excited to put her skills to the test and will have her experience and connections in the school system to lean on.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity that this presents for the district to have continuity,” Nadeau said. “We have had multiple superintendents in the last several years and I’m excited to be able to keep us moving forward in a seamless way and leveraging the relationships that I’ve been able to establish here.”

She named addressing space constraints and aging school facilities, collaborating with town officials and connecting with the community as a whole – beyond students and parents – as three of her priorities as she enters the new position.

“We are very fortunate in this community to have strong community support for the work of our schools, and also highly skilled staff across all segments of our organization,” Nadeau said. “We have some real strengths to work from to help us be able to meet our goals.”

The unanimous decision to appoint Nadeau at the May 2 board meeting received a round of applause by those in attendance.

“I think in every step of the process, since I’ve known you, you’ve demonstrated capable leadership,” board member Frayla Tarpinian said at the meeting. “You’re prepared, you know the facts, you’re educated, you’re respectful, you listen; that shone through the application process and I cannot be more happy to see you take this role.”

Board Chair Shannon Lindstrom reflected on her first time meeting Nadeau, then middle school principal. When Nadeau greeted Lindstrom’s child by name before school one day, she was, at first, concerned that the principal was familiar with him for the wrong reasons.

“He said, ‘No, no, no. She knows everyone’s name,'” Lindstrom said. “It was new for me … There’s nobody better suited for this role than you.”

Board member Carolyn Gammon indicated Nadeau was strongly considered ever since Superintendent Geoff Bruno announced his resignation.

“When we first got the news about Geoff leaving us,” Gammon said, “My first thought was, ‘Oh, Diane.'”

Bruno led the school district for three years. He will depart at the end of the school year to become superintendent of the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District in Massachusetts.