3 SAD 33 educators to retire

ST. AGATHA – On June 30, Jerry White will end a 34-year career in education when he steps down as superintendent of SAD 33. The next day, Fern Desjardins will begin her new career in the same position after a one-year sabbatical from the district.

White, who has taught in SAD 24 at Van Buren and has been superintendent in North Haven, will retire to his garden, the waters of the Allagash River and a home he still owns in North Haven.

Desjardins, whose career spans 26 years in education, all in SAD 33, will take over his duties. Before this year’s leave to work on a doctorate, Desjardins was principal in the district’s Dr. Levesque Elementary School. Before that, she taught for 11 years in the Montfort Elementary School and the Dr. Levesque Elementary School.

White’s retirement, which he said he had been considering for a while, was among three retirements announced Monday night at an SAD 33 board meeting. Also retiring are teachers Claire Pelletier and Greg Ouellette. The three retiring educators had 104 years of experience.

Pelletier, a fifth-grade teacher at the Dr. Levesque Elementary School, has been teaching for 32 years, all in SAD 33.

Ouellette, a social studies teacher at Wisdom High School, has been teaching in SAD 33 for his entire 38-year career.

“We’ve done a lot of good things in SAD 33 in the last 11 years, and things will continue to be done,” White said. “It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s time to make a change.

“I’m not upset or anything, but 11 years as superintendent in any one district is plenty. We’ve made a lot of changes, and education has been moving forward because of these changes.”

White, who already has built several canoes with his sons, said he probably will build another one and go on the Allagash River more often. He plans to tend his flower garden more, and he hopes to have the time to get his annual garden going and to care for it. He also hopes to write about education, and he may take a position as an interim superintendent in Maine as vacancies become available from time to time.

The 57-year-old educator did a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force and started teaching in SAD 24 in 1967. He was vice principal by the time he left there for SAD 7 in North Haven. He returned to Aroostook County in 1990 at St. Agatha.

In other personnel action Monday night, SAD 33 directors continued the contracts for Lester Michaud, principal at Wisdom High School, Jane Smith as principal of the Dr. Levesque Elementary School and David Keaton as principal of the St. John Valley Technology Center in Frenchville.