The Bangor School Committee will launch a nationwide search for a new superintendent and hopes to hire one by July 1 to replace its retiring leader.
Bangor School Superintendent James Tager announced in a Friday email to families that he will retire on June 30 after three years with the department, capping a 42-year career in education. Tager said he plans to first return to Florida to care for his elderly parents and spend time with his three grandchildren.
“The three years here have been the best of my career because this is a community that really cares about education,” Tager said Tuesday during a press conference. “I came here for good reasons, and it has been a great ride.”
Marwa Hassanien, Bangor school committee chair, said the department is enlisting the help of the Maine School Management Board to search for a new superintendent based on a series of criteria the committee creates. The school committee is also looking into ways to allow the community to offer feedback during the hiring process.
Hassanien said the school committee wants the next superintendent to hold many of the same qualities as Tager, namely his “humility, integrity and calm leadership,” which helps the department tackle issues with “composure and compassion.”
Tager’s stability also helped the school department reestablish trust with its students following a culturally tumultuous few years prior to his hiring.
Tager joined the department in April 2021 after longtime superintendent Betsy Webb stepped down in June 2020. Webb’s resignation announcement came one day after she and the school committee apologized to students of color for their experiences with racism at Bangor High School, which school department leaders learned about through a Bangor Daily News article published that week.
The racism included white students calling them the N-word and defending slavery and white supremacy in class discussions, which were later confirmed by an independent investigation.
The revelation led to the creation of a 40-person diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging committee, which evaluates ways the department can ensure all students and staff feel respected and valued.
Webb and school school administrators had also come under fire in late 2019 for their response to a student’s suicide, which the high school principal announced to students over the loudspeaker, going against expert advice for schools on responding to suicides.
Tager acknowledged the “racial issues” present in the district when he arrived, which he believes school administrators “took on headlong” during his tenure.
Tager said one of his proudest achievements was the creation of a new in-school health clinic in Bangor High School in 2022. The clinic is operated by Penobscot Community Health Care and offers students mental and physical health care, which helps keep students in school and off months-long waitlists for care.
“Kids are hurting and you need to have mental and physical services in schools,” Tager said. “Having these PCHC health clinics is a game changer because when students aren’t feeling well, either physically or mentally, they can get help right there in school.”
Though Tager is certain this is the right time to retire, his one regret about leaving at this time is knowing how it could interrupt the trust he built with students and staff. To combat this, Tager wants his successor to continue exploring how all school community members feel valued and respected.
While the school department has made strides in its diversity, equity and inclusion work, it now faces a shortage of applicants for open teaching positions. The department would previously see 20 to 30 people apply for an open teaching position, but now they see fewer than five applicants.
Upon his departure, Tager said he wants the new superintendent and school committee to maintain their high standards for applicants despite the limited options.
“To get academic excellence and support all students, we need to hire the best people,” Tager said. “I would tell whoever is in my place next to be patient when hiring because any time you make a bad hire, it hurts kids for an entire school year. I would rather have a good substitute until you can get the right person in front of our students.”
Hassanien said she knows students will notice Tager’s absence, as he tried to go to as many sports and arts events as possible and was visible and available to students.
“We continue to reassure students that we will make sure the next superintendent is as compassionate, kind, nurturing and caring as Jim,” Hassanien said. “We wouldn’t hire someone who wasn’t.”
