Ira Michaud chosen as new VCS principal

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO, ME — At a brief special meeting May 10, Vassalboro School Board members unanimously hired Ira Michaud as the new principal at Vassalboro Community School (VCS).

Michaud will take office July 1, succeeding Megan Allen, who resigned earlier this spring and plans to return to teaching.

He is currently ending his first year as principal at Nobleboro Central School, in Alternative Educational Structure (AOS) #93, which serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Before that, he said, he was principal for four years at Edgecomb Eddy Elementary, a pre-school through sixth-grade school in AOS #98.

Michaud was born in Windsor, some of his family lived in Vassalboro, and, he told school board members, 23 years ago he did his practicum (his first, supervised practice teaching) in Vassalboro. Now, he said, he is excited at this new opportunity.

Vassalboro’s 16-person search team chose Michaud from more than a dozen candidates, about half of whom they interviewed. The team included school officials and staff and town representatives, some of them parents of VCS students.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and school board member Jessica Clark said the search team members were unanimous and enthusiastic in their choice. Clark said when she asked for negative comments, she got none.

Pfeiffer said the same search team, with Michaud involved, has begun the process of finding a new assistant principal to succeed Greg Hughes, who resigned shortly after Allen did.

Pfeiffer has already begun talking with his opposite number in AOS #93 about making Michaud’s transition as smooth as possible from the Nobleboro end.