Brewer superintendent Perry Jordan to resign> Longtime educator to leave post after 13 1/2 years

On his drive in to work Monday, Perry Jordan thought that perhaps it was time to resign from his post as superintendent of schools in Brewer. By the end of this week, he had done just that.

“I’m the type of person that if I decide I’m going to do something today, before the sun goes down I do it,” Jordan said Thursday night as he happily sipped a diet soda at Pilots Grill in Bangor.

Jordan, who was taking a break from his duties as master of ceremonies at a retirement party for Bangor High School teacher Gary Gallant, was jovial and expansive and obviously contented with his recent decision.

“I’m at the height of my career, and I think that it’s time, when everything is going so well, that I pursue other interests,” he said.

“This resignation looks right, feels right and I honestly believe it must be right.”

Jordan, 57, who has been superintendent in Brewer for 13 1/2 years, and teacher and principal before that, announced his decision to his administrative team Wednesday. He will ask the Brewer School Committee to accept his resignation at its meeting on Monday, June 3.

Jordan said he would offer to remain as superintendent on a daily basis until his replacement is hired, but that he would not be involved in the hiring process.

He will instead “seek employment doing something not as stressful or as time-consuming or with as much responsibility.

“I have no intention of retiring to a rocking chair,” said the grandfather of five.

Jordan taught English and special education at Fifth Street School in Bangor and fifth grade at Down East School in Bangor in the 1960s. He then became director of special education at Bangor’s Fourteenth Street and Dow Lane schools, both of which were used primarily for students with special needs.

Working with children who were mentally retarded, physically handicapped or emotionally and behaviorally handicapped was inspirational, Jordan recalled.

“I was sure I could help these kids become more responsible for their behavior,” he explained.

Valerie Healey, who taught at Fourteenth Street School when Jordan was principal, said it was common to see Jordan cuddling children in his lap or taking over a class.

“He was always in the classrooms, always visible,” agreed Gallant, who was hired by Jordan in 1971 as a teacher at Fourteenth Street School. “He knew every one of those 120 kids by name.”

“Whenever he knew we had a rough day, he’d relieve us and take over our class,” remembered Healey.

“Perry was with you all the way,” pointed out Michelle McGowan, also a former colleague. “He’d always back his staff. And that takes a lot of courage.”

Jordan refused to enumerate his accomplishments, noting that he “measures his successes with very small bites.” However, he said he was particularly proud of the administrative team approach which he helped develop. The group, including principals from each Brewer school, meets at least twice a month to “try and resolve problems and issues.”

“I believe in shared responsibility in the decision-making process,” Jordan explained.

Jordan “always made the administration feel important and respected,” said Jerry Goss, principal at Brewer High School.

“I will always remember him for allowing Brewer to remain a consistently strong school system at a time when budgets have been steadily decreasing and when people have been asked to do more with less.

“Perry always got the most out of the people who worked with him and for him,” he continued.

“I’d have liked to have had him stay forever,” noted Brewer School Committee member Jane Hinckley.

But Jordan is determined not to look back.

“Now I’m ready to find out what the next phase of my life holds,” he smiled.