Bangor announces 2 new principals

BANGOR – Last month the Bangor School Committee voted to hire Theolyn Staples as principal of Downeast School and Lynne Coy-Ogan as principal of Vine Street School. On Monday, the committee formally welcomed the system’s newest elementary school administrators.

Staples, who will replace Dorothy Pratt, was principal of Leroy Smith School in Winterport for the last seven years, and principal of Newburgh Elementary School for a year and a half before that.

She began her career in Bangor 22 years ago, teaching first and third grades at Mary Snow, Abraham Lincoln and Fruit Street schools, Staples said during an interview.

“It’s nice to come back to Bangor. This is my home community. My children went to school here,” said Staples, the mother of two grown daughters who are also teachers.

With about 300 students, Downeast is similar in size to Smith School, Staples said. Her new school also has the same “comfortable, homey” atmosphere.

Pointing out that she’s “not coming in as a change agent,” Staples said she’s looking forward to being involved in the special education programs based at Downeast as well as the school’s Reading Recovery program.

The new principal, who has focused on classroom literacy programs throughout much of her career, said she worked years ago with Superintendent Robert Ervin to create Bangor’s literary assessment, which has become a model for other districts.

Staples is a member of the Northeast Regional Principal’s Group out of Brown University, where she and other principals from across the country converge each year to discuss innovative practices in administration.

She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in language arts and a certificate of advanced study in literacy, all from the University of Maine.

Lynne Coy-Ogan, 37, who is replacing Charles Thayer, served most recently as principal in Dover-Foxcroft, where she ran all three elementary schools as well as the middle school.

She also worked in Montgomery County, Md., as an elementary school principal, K-5 curriculum specialist and first- and second-grade teacher.

Named this year’s National Distinguished Principal for the state of Maine by the National Association of Elementary Principals, Coy-Ogan said she wanted to come to Bangor because of the system’s “outstanding reputation.”

She also jumped at the opportunity to be in a K-3 school. “Early childhood is my favorite part of the educational spectrum,” said the mother of two small children.

Coy-Ogan welcomes the chance to work with fewer students at Vine Street, where about 400 young people study. In Dover-Foxcroft she supervised twice that number and in Maryland she dealt with three times that number.

“This will be a wonderful opportunity to work with students and families on an individual basis,” she said.

Her initial plans are to “work closely with the staff and community” to find out what’s worked well and what could be improved.

Coy-Ogan has a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education from Boston University and a master’s degree in guidance counseling and administration from Johns Hopkins University.