Levant principal retiring after 42 years

LEVANT – Suzanne Smith first came to town in 1963 as an elementary school teacher. That was when the Levant Consolidated School still existed where the post office now stands, and most of the school’s graduates went on to work and raise families right in town.

Years later, Smith became the principal of Levant Elementary School, her position for the past two decades. Now, after more than 40 years at the school, she is retiring.

“I always say I haven’t changed a bit,” Smith said earlier this month during an interview at the school, the halls quiet during morning classes.

Declining health has prompted Smith, 64, of Newport to retire a little earlier than she originally planned.

“Sixty-five was always the age,” Smith said. A lot has changed since 1963, she said, though the school remains a place for residents to gather and connect. Tuesday, the pupils put on their spring concert.

“The world was a much smaller place [in 1963],” Smith said. “The school still is a community center.” She has seen two generations pass through the school under her watch.

“She was my kindergarten teacher once upon a time,” said Town Manager Scott Pullen, whose son now is in the first grade at the elementary school.

The boy first met Smith in the prekindergarten program, where Smith would always say hello and make him feel comfortable, Pullen said.

“It just really made a 4-year-old kid feel like he belonged there,” Pullen said.

Now grown former students sometimes stop in to say hello, though many have moved away, Smith said.

“They do come back. It’s one of the great rewards,” she said. “I guess we do something right.”

She has always tried to keep in touch with students, she said, stopping by the lunchroom or sitting in a nearby chair while the school nurse tends to scraped knees or fevered foreheads.

“Just by sitting in that chair, nine times out of 10 I can get a conversation,” she said.

Smith hopes to continue those conversations after her retirement, though she wants to allow the new principal the time and space to get settled, she said.

Her advice to her future replacement?

“It’s your job and you don’t have to do it Suzanne’s way,” she said.

“She’s going to be greatly missed by the community,” said Superintendent John Backus. “When they think of Levant Elementary School, they think of her.”

Moving on from her career in Levant won’t be easy, but she believes there is a reason for this transition, Smith said.

“It’s been my life,” she said. “So that will leave a tremendously big hole.”

A blood drive and raffle have been scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 23, at the school for the benefit of Smith. Raffle prizes will be drawn that evening.

The Eastern Maine Blood Donor Group will conduct the blood drive, and the Levant PTA will run the raffle.

Items are still being accepted for the raffle, said Kathy McPhearson, who was in Smith’s kindergarten class some years ago.

“I remember her sitting in a rocking chair, reading us books,” McPhearson said fondly. “Her favorite was ‘Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom.'”

“She was my principal, too,” recalled McPhearson’s daughter, Maureen Klink, now a senior at Hermon High School.

To donate raffle items or obtain tickets, call Kathy at 884-7581, Missy at 884-7215 or Sue at 884-8454.