By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
EASTON, Maine — Georgette Ireland, a third-generation educator, is settling in quite nicely as superintendent of the Easton School Department.
Ireland, whose first day was Aug. 1, replaces Frank Keenan who retired earlier this summer.
The Fort Fairfield native is no stranger to Easton schools as she has been — and continues to be — the principal of the Easton Junior-Senior High School.
“I’m entering my fifth year as an administrator in Easton,” said Ireland.
Ireland’s mother and grandmother were both teachers.
“My mother was an English teacher for 40 years in Limestone and my grandmother was a teacher in Fort Fairfield,” she said. “As a teenager in high school, teaching was something I never thought would be a good career option for me because I felt that perhaps the pay was low, the work was hard and the appreciation wasn’t there.
“One day a teacher at the high school asked me to help some of my fellow classmates with math. When you explain something to somebody and you’re able to turn on that light bulb and you see this gratitude in their face, I was bit,” said Ireland. “I was bit by the teaching bug. I thought, ‘Wow, that was fun’ and I haven’t regretted it since. It’s been amazing.”
After graduating from Fort Fairfield High School, Ireland received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education in mathematics from the University of Maine at Orono.
“I spent 15 years teaching math at Presque Isle High School and was also the department chair before coming to Easton in 2007,” said Ireland. “I started my master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Southern Maine not with the intention of becoming an administrator.
“I did it because it was a cohort of local colleagues that worked through the program together and I was looking to further my education and challenge myself,” she said. “The more I learned about administration, the less I thought I would end up in that position. However, when I came to Easton, it was the right timing, the right district and it turned out to be the best decision for me.”
Ireland said she was welcomed as superintendent with open arms.
“It’s been a fantastic start to the school year,” she said. “I’ve been welcomed by the staff and students and we have an incredible team of people here who work hard together to make sure that everything goes smoothly. I’m still smiling.”
As superintendent, Ireland’s main goal is to get Response to Intervention (RTI) plan in place. The program integrates assessment and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavioral problems. With RTI, schools use data to identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or other disabilities.
“It’s a federal mandate that schools have these in place within the next couple of years,” said Ireland. “It’s a lot of work and it’s particularly difficult for small schools because we don’t have the large staff to draw upon, but we’ve been working hard. We’ve brought trainers in for professional development days with the teachers and we’ve attended summer institutes. That’s the biggest goal this year — to make sure we have the RTI plan in place.
“Building facilities is a new role for me and something I have to consider, as well. Luckily the school board members have been on for a number of years and have a wealth of knowledge to draw upon. We have a priority list of what needs to be done,” she said, “so we’ll continue to work through the list of items that need to be addressed and repaired.”
In her free time, Ireland enjoys photography, bicycling and kayaking. She and her husband, Todd, have two children, Devin and Kendra.
