Principal Callan will retire with a number of impressive accomplishments and appointments
As a child growing up in Southern Maine, Messalonskee High School principal Paula Callan had no desire to become an educator. No, her original plan, her ambition, was to “make a difference” as a politician.
But that was before the summer she tutored an elementary school child – a third or fourth grader – who struggled with reading. By the end of that summer, the child had made progress.
And Callan was hooked. Her ambition changed. She saw education as her calling.
“I sort of changed the trajectory from where I was going,” she said, sitting behind her Main Office desk, reflecting on a career that began about 38 years ago.
That career comes to a close this month. Callan will retire with a number of impressive accomplishments and appointments, including being named both Maine Principal and Main Assistant Principal of the Year and serving as president of the Maine Principals’ Association Board of Directors.
And yet what she cares about most, what gives her the most professional pride and personal satisfaction, goes back to the child she tutored that summer so many decades ago.
For Callan, making a difference in a student’s life has been first and foremost the purpose, the goal, the mission.
“I hope when I close that door for the last time,” she said, indicating her Main Office door, “I hope the students at Messalonskee will recognize that this is “their” school.”
Jennifer McGee, principal of Atwood Primary School, understands full well Callan’s commitment to students.
“I would definitely say she is a person who truly knows true North more than anybody else,” McGee said. “She has an incredible worth ethic. She is always the first to arrive and the last to leave, and there is no job she is not willing to take on.”
McGee said she has worked with Callan as a colleague for the last 17 years. Over those years, McGee said Callan has always been a person she can count on, especially when the need is greatest.
Such a need arose for McGee a few years ago. She called Callan for help.
“She said, ‘I’ll be in your office in five minutes.’ And she was,” McGee said. “She is such a supportive colleague. She is always the calm in the storm.”
Callan started her career as a special education teacher at Cony High School in Augusta. She first took on an administrative post when she became an assistant headmaster at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle for two years. She went on to serve as an assistant principal at Cony, Morse High School in Bath, and, finally, at Messalonskee, a role she held for 13 years before becoming principal seven years ago.
During her time as principal, Callan said the job has grown more demanding in terms of what is expected of a head administrator.
“As a school leader,” she said. “ You have to be a strategic planner, a financial planner, a counselor, and a parent. The roles are numerous.”
And daunting at times.
But Callan learned early on to take a team approach to the burden. No administrator, she said, can handle it alone.
“I work with the students. I work with the staff. I work with the community. All three have to work together as a team to make the school run,” she said.
That principle has served Callan well. It has prevented her from burning out, so that today, nearly 40 years after entering education as a profession, she still looks forward to coming to school each day.
“I think the time has just flown by,” she said. “I’m at the end of this career, and I have so much I still want to do, but I have no time left.”