Although there have been some challenges, Ruth Fitzpatrick is happy to be back working with kids full time.

Fitzpatrick was hired a few weeks ago to take over the position of dean of students and co-curricular coordinator at Searsport High School.

“A dean of students [position] is something that I’ve thought about for a long time,” Fitzpatrick said. “The bonus piece is the athletics.”

Fitzpatrick was working as a long-term substitute and advisor for the student leadership team at Hampden Academy when the Searsport job was advertised.

She replaced Brian Corrigan, who was the Searsport athletic director last year and is now the middle school principal.

Fitzpatrick said starting a new position well into the school year hasn’t been easy.

“Coming in in the middle was the biggest challenge, because everything was already moving,” she said. “And so the learning curve is huge right now as opposed to coming in at the beginning of the year when you have time to look at all the policies and procedures. But I’m catching up.”

Fitzpatrick will become more familiar with the school’s workings, but right now she’s enjoying the people she’s met at Searsport.

“The kids here and staff have been absolutely fabulous,” she said. “When you look at kids and how much they enjoy sports, and how much they want to be involved in sports, that’s what it’s all about.”

A Winterport resident, Fitzpatrick spent 20 years coaching the Hampden field hockey team and also served as the school’s athletic director for one year.

Fitzpatrick coached the Husson College field hockey program and was named the Maine Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2001.

Fitzpatrick also served as a field specialist for UMaine’s Center for Student Aspirations.

There has been a considerable amount of turnover in the athletic director position in the past three years as well as on the coaching staff, which is something she plans to address. Last week the school hired its second boys basketball coach this fall, a move for which Fitzpatrick came in at the tail end.

“It’s tough on everybody, on the students and the administration,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think it’s worth taking a look at what is happening, and why, and the first stakeholders I want to talk to are the students.”

Naming of DeMuro pool set

There’s no meet scheduled, but the pool at the Mount Desert Island YMCA will be hopping Wednesday, Dec. 28, when the high school Trojans and YMCA League Sharks gather to honor Lenny DeMuro.

The pool will be named in honor of DeMuro, a longtime coach of both teams.

DeMuro’s son Tony, who is the high school team coach, said the phrasing of the pool’s name hasn’t been decided yet. But there’s no doubt about Lenny DeMuro’s accomplishments and impact he has had on both the island’s school and Y programs.

The elder Demuro was the two-time state swimming coach of the year and served as the Maine zone coach for a total of 13 years. He was the state coach of the year in 1996.

Sharks swimmers won four New England divisional team titles and more than 30 New England individual championships while 25 swimmers qualified for YMCA nationals under DeMuro’s tutelage.

He also coached the MDI High School boys and girls from 1981-86 and 1996-98. The MDI girls won Class B state titles in 1982 and 1987, and DeMuro served as an assistant coach to his son, Tony DeMuro, who led the MDI boys to a Class B state crown in 2004. Lenny DeMuro was named Coach of the Year in 1982 and 1984.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.