Orono High principal takes Greenville superintendent post

By Nok-Noi Ricker
BDN Staff

GREENVILLE — “Bittersweet” is how Orono High School Principal Jim Chasse describes his decision to leave his position for a superintendent’s job in Greenville.

“It is like sending a loved one away to college. It hurts,” said Chasse, who has been a principal for 16 years, the last seven in Orono.

Chasse was hired by the Union 60 School Committee earlier this month and will start the part-time position on July 1. Orono is in the process of searching for his replacement.

“It’s exciting, but I’m a little bit nervous,” Chasse said of the promotion to superintendent.

He is replacing Superintendent Dave Morrill, who is retiring after holding the post for two years and teaching in Greenville for nearly 40 years. Chasse’s salary is $50,000, and he will get an additional $12,000 for being the adult education director.

The list of people and things he’ll miss at Orono High is long, he said. “I’m going to miss the student body,” the veteran principal said. “It’s been a bit hectic with these talented kids. We have an amazing ratio of 80 to 85 percent involvement in co-curricular activities. It’s a 24-7 job. It’s event after event.”

Orono has “a very skilled teaching staff” and excellent leadership in Superintendent Joanne Harriman and Dean of Students Samantha Runco, Chasse said.

He also is proud of the “phenomenal” athletic program and other recent accolades for speech and debate, drama and performing arts, as well as being recognized by the state and Newsweek magazine as a high-performing school. He said he has worked to increase the number of Advanced Placement classes and doubled the number of students who take them, has improved the CORE Alternative Education Program, and added an international program, as well as improved the tennis courts.

He said there are a number of reasons for his decision, but the most important is to have more time to spend with his ailing father.

“The change to part-time will afford me the time and schedule to take care of some family details that I have neglected a bit,” Chasse said. “I’ll only be up there [in Greenville] two or three times a week.”

He arrived in Orono after three years at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford and time at Bangor Christian School and Carmel before that. He also was a teacher and coach for Hermon, Bangor and in Connecticut at the beginning of his career in education. Chasse grew up in the areas of Lewiston, Wilton and Farmington and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Maine. His executive leadership studies were done at the University of Connecticut.

His wife, Char Chasse, who is a special education teacher at Asa Adams Elementary School, will retain her job. The couple’s youngest daughter, who is now a junior, will return in the fall to finish high school in Orono, Jim Chasse said.

Another advantage of his new job is that Chasse loves the outdoors and is looking forward to the rural nature of the Piscataquis County area.

“It doesn’t get any more outdoors than Greenville,” he said.