By David Harry

Staff Writer

The search will soon be on for the next principal of Scarborough High School, according to School Superintendent David Doyle.

Doyle said this week efforts to replace Patricia Conant will include input from staff, students and parents.

Conant, whose annual contract was not renewed for 2011, said she will assist if needed to find her replacement.

“The quality will continue to be outstanding – I have a great deal of respect for what happens here,” Conant said.

Doyle and Board of Education Chairman Brian Dell’Olio declined to comment on specifics of the decision to not renew Conant’s contract. Doyle said he received a letter Feb. 12 from Conant acknowledging she will leave the school June 30.

Conant said she was offered the option of resigning and had no idea why her contract will not be renewed.

Principal since 2006, Conant said she understands a change in goals by the Board of Education could lead to a change in administrators as well. But she said she was never asked to participate in any executive sessions with the board to evaluate her job performance and still wonders if a Feb. 4 executive session concerned her work.

The Scarborough School Department grants yearly contracts to its administrators and the decision to retain them is made by the superintendent, said Dell’Olio. While the board will officially be notified of Conant’s letter saying she won’t return, it does not need to vote to accept the letter, Dell’Olio said.

As a search commences, Dell’Oilio said the school administrative structure may change as the board considers eliminating one of two assistant principal positions in the fiscal 2011 budget. The preliminary budget was presented at a public hearing Thursday, after the Leader deadline.

Before submitting the letter confirming her departure, Conant met with the board’s finance committee to discuss budget scenarios for the next fiscal year that begins July 1.

Conant proposed new anatomy and physiology courses at the school, and two of her three budget scenarios eliminated as many as six teaching positions and reduced upper-level French offerings.

Conant replaced Andrew Dolloff as principal when Dolloff was promoted to assistant superintendent for Scarborough schools in 2006. He is now superintendent of Regional School Unit 21, which comprises Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

Conant was formerly a principal at Falmouth High School, Dirigo High School in Dixfield, athletic administrator at Livermore Falls High School and an English and math teacher at Dirigo.

Once a colleague of Dolloff’s at Dirigo High School, the two were reunited in 2003 when Conant became a guidance counselor at Scarborough High School. She said had been retired from education for about two years and was actually applying for a job as a secretary at the school when Dolloff told her about the guidance counselor opening.

“I was impressed with the way the kids handled themselves and the open building,” she said.

Conant is uncertain what she’ll do next after she leaves in June, but anticipates more time to spend with her 2-year-old granddaughter.

“I have always longed for a job with a definitive start and end time,” she said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219