POLAND – At the beginning of his fifth year as superintendent of Regional School Unit 16, Kenneth Healey told school board members Monday that he will step down next summer, clearing the way for a new education leader in the three-town district.

RSU 16 Superintendent Kenneth Healey Submitted photo

Healey said he plans to retire when his contract expires at the end of June.

The school board unanimously accepted his resignation letter “with regret” and agreed to establish a new search committee to begin looking for his successor.

“I would just put an exclamation mark on that ‘regret,’” Mary Martin, board chairwoman, said. Healey “certainly served us well” during a period that included two years when educators had to deal with the worst pandemic in at least a century, she said.

Healey thanked the board “and the entire RSU 16 community for the incredible opportunity that being their superintendent has provided me.”

He offered to assist the panel in any way it sees fit to help hire his replacement.

Healey, a former principal at Lisbon High School, was hired as superintendent of RSU 73 in Livermore Falls in 2014 before taking the job with RSU 16 four years later.

Healey replaced Tina Meserve, who left to become superintendent of RSU 9 in Farmington.

Martin said she will likely get a search committee together soon that will include representation from the district towns: Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot.

“That will be our first step,” Martin said.