By Renee Worthing
Staff writer

Sanford School Department Superintendent Jack Turcotte resigned his position shortly after the May 27 Town Meeting.
Turcotte said it is “just time” and although it was a difficult decision, it was one he had been weighing for some time.
 “It’s been a tough year all the way around in education,” he said.
He said the Sanford School Department has worked hard to get the “bare minimum” in funding and he “didn’t enjoy taking the budget apart,” but he said the recent $1.4 million reduction in the school budget was not the reason for his resignation.
“The teaching staff is phenomenal,” he said. “They do their job without bells and whistles, but they are committed.”
He said only a few people knew he was considering resigning.
 “Every two hours, I had a different plan,” he said. “I guess it was better that a lot of people didn’t know.”
Turcotte, who has been employed in the education field for 40 years, began his career teaching fifth grade at Market Street School in Fort Kent in 1969 before becoming a teaching principal in Wayne.
  He said he has mixed emotions about his decision, but feels some goals have been reached during his three-year tenure, which will end June 30.
  He said he feels good about two federal grants Sanford School Department recently received, including “Safe Schools Healthy Students,” a multi-tiered project to connect and support students, families, schools and the community, and a grant to participate in Dr. Ross Greene’s program, “Problem Solving – How to Help Staff and Students Deal with Interruptive Behavior.”
  Turcotte said he was also encouraged by talk of a four-year high school vocational program initiative modeled after vocational high schools in Massachusetts.
He said he’s going to enjoy the down time and may drive school buses or even limousines.
“I want to figure out what I want to do when I grow up,” he laughed.
Sanford School Board Chairman Marguerite Herlihy said she was “kind of forewarned” of Turcotte’s possible resignation.
“Being a hard budget year, he wanted to go through the budget process without his resignation being in the forefront of everybody’s mind,” Herlihy said.
She said the school board would probably begin a search for an interim superintendent. She said after the consolidation of the 280 school districts to 80 School Administrative Units, there will be a pool of superintendents to recruit from.
She said she would add the search to the board’s June 9 workshop.
“We have a lot of things on our plate and we’ll look for leadership to guide us,”  Herlihy said.