PRESQUE ISLE – In an attempt to prepare the city for the biggest school consolidation in more than a decade, SAD 1 officials recently appointed four employees – three of them veteran administrators – to vacant administrative positions.

The district filled each of the positions through employee transfers because of a small applicant pool, Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said Friday.

District officials advertised heavily for the positions but were aware of a “severely distressed” school administration applicant pool throughout the state, Johnson said.

“We’re fortunate that we have a large enough school system so that we have a large pool of administrative staff to fill these positions,” Johnson said. “We’re pleased with this round of administrative moves. They’re all known quantities.”

Two of the appointments will provide the district with the administration necessary to operate Presque Isle Middle School, which will replace Skyway and Cunningham middle schools as the district’s only building for sixth- to eighth-grade pupils.

The $5.4 million project to create the middle school by expanding and renovating Skyway Middle School is slated for completion before the 2005-06 school year begins. The district’s entire sixth- to eighth-grade population, about 500 pupils, will go to the school.

Board members voted Wednesday night to appoint Larry Fox, who is now the principal at Cunningham Middle School, as the principal of Presque Isle Middle School.

The board also voted to appoint Presque Isle High School assistant principal Anne Blanchard as the assistant principal for the new middle school.

At Cunningham and Skyway, the district maintained a principal and an assistant to the principal, a stipend position filled by a full-time teacher, instead of an assistant principal, a full-time administrative position. Because PIMS will have twice the enrollment of either Skyway or Cunningham, the school warranted a second full-time administrator in the building, Johnson said.

Fox and Blanchard will transfer to their new positions July 1.

“This gives us an experienced administrative team that will start work in the spring to prepare for the merging of the two buildings,” Johnson said.

The superintendent said that district officials plan to advertise this spring to fill the position Blanchard is leaving.

The district’s other middle school principal, John Graves, will take on responsibilities as the newly appointed SAD 1 adult education director. Frank Hallett in October submitted his resignation, which will become effective at the end of the year. Graves will transfer to his new position July 1.

In the interim, Johnson said, Graves will continue his work as principal of Skyway Middle School while sharing duties as adult education director with Superintendent Johnson and Assistant Superintendent Jeff Bearden.

In a fourth appointment, the board approved Melissa Vance, a department head and veteran teacher at the Presque Isle Regional Technology Center, as the center’s director. Vance will replace Gene McCluskey, who is retiring after four years in the position and about 25 years as a center teacher.

Vance starts work today as center director. SAD 1 officials plan to fill as soon as possible the teaching position she is leaving.