CAMDEN — Just a short weekend away and school halls will again fill with students. Camden Rockport Middle School has a new interim principal, Thomas Ingraham, after Maria Libby accepted a position as Assistant Superintendent of Camden-Rockport K-8 schools and Camden Hills Regional High School.

Ingraham lives in Hope, having built a house there. He and his wife, Betty, moved there last March. Betty is a research associate in chemical engineering at the University of Maine.

Prior to moving to Hope, Ingraham was the principal at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden and served in that position for nine years. And before that, he served as assistant principal at Orono High School for two years and taught English for 14 years at Orono. He agreed to a short interview with Penobscot Bay Pilot.

How do you feel about coming into Camden Rockport Middle School and what challenges do you see?

"There's always a challenge in learning the context of a new place. Certainly this is a great school not only by looking at the data available, but by the great people that I've met and started to work with. I come from a great school and one of the things I was amazed by when I was thinking about applying for the position here was how similar they looked on paper. They were virtually identical, so I knew that on paper, I would have some understanding of the environment I was walking into."

What do you see as important for the school to focus on?

"I think it's always important to focus on reading and math, certainly sciences and writing are very important, all those things are important or you wouldn't be doing them.

“I think, too, that we always need to remember that young people, middle school being a perfect example, need help from educators learning how to behave in appropriate ways, how to cooperate with other people in ways that would make things work more effectively. I want to feel here that when the year is done that we have done that, keeping in mind the actual skills, experience and knowledge for each individual student in the school. These are the people we are responsible for, their growth, to ensure their safety and learning and I know from my years working in school the major impact that great teachers and staff members have on the lives of people they work with. It's real, it's substantial and I want to feel like my work with other people, here, makes it just that much better, even better than it is right now."

Of the staff you have met, how do you feel about their qualifications?

"I haven't met everybody, that's for sure. As a matter of fact, we're still trying to hire a math teacher for this coming year, but I will say that every single person whom I've met has been clearly passionate about his or her work, is clearly dedicated to the school and the young people. As a principal, you look at those qualities when you hire someone, so I kind of lucked out here in that they're already hired. Everybody has been very gracious and helpful and that too shows the kind of people they are. And I'm sure that that translates into every single minute of every single day working with kids. "

The people here are very community oriented and very passionate about their children's education. How do feel about the community you've moved into?

"I retired a year ago and made the conscious decision to move here. I had lived in Orono for 27 years. We are excited and continue to be excited about the prospect of living here. The benefit for me of working at the middle school for this coming year is that it's a great way for me to get to know the people of the community, the beauty of the area and the cultural opportunities that are offered here. I'm looking forward to meeting folks and growing with them."

You are a family man. How many children? Where are they now? Are they in the middle school?

"They are not in the middle school. My wife and I together raised five children. We were one of those mixed families coming together and most of them are well into their adult lives. I have a son who was in the financial business, and who just last year went back to the University of Maine so he could become a math teacher.

“I have a son who is a doctor in California. I have a daughter who is a child protective worker in Florida. I have a son who is a financial advisor. And my youngest is in college now. My mother was a teacher, principal and a superintendent in the education system.

“Interesting and you might want to know this if we're talking about my family: my father lives just a block over from the school at 63 Washington Street and gained some notoriety by sitting at the curb in his wheelchair and waving to people. Since I was 17, I've never lived geographically close to my father and now here he is and here I am. I couldn't have predicted this, but it's true."