Bangor’s new school superintendent shares her plans

Bangor’s new school superintendent has her eyes set on improving the high school’s graduation rate, reducing chronic absenteeism and making school a welcoming and supportive place for all students.

Marie Robinson was appointed the new superintendent of the Bangor School Department last month. She took over for retired superintendent James Tager on Monday, July, 1.

Robinson’s first day on the job came less than two weeks after Tager said unnamed administrators who resisted his efforts to make all students feel welcome, safe and accepted at school partially spurred his retirement .

In response, a group of Bangor administrators penned a scathing letter in which they vehemently opposed Tager’s comments and said if he had remained in the job, the group would have taken a unanimous vote of no confidence in his leadership.

Robinson said Tager’s concerns weren’t a topic the two discussed during meetings on the transition and she didn’t have a lot to share on them or the administrators’ response.

While Robinson said Tager’s comments and the heated reply from administrators didn’t put her in a difficult position in her first week, it did reveal a potential need to build a strong, trusting relationship with school administrators and teachers.

“I’m starting fresh,” Robinson said. “I’m a different person with a different skill set and I’m ready to start the job.”

With just 30 work days between the last day of school and the start of a new academic year in the fall, Robinson said she’s working hard to learn the department, build connections with teachers and administrators, and hire new staff.

Robinson is also making time to visit every Bangor school, stop into local businesses to introduce herself and gather ideas and feedback from the community, and learn her way around the city.

Though she’s only a week into her new position, Robinson said she has lofty goals for her first year as superintendent. Among them are boosting the high school’s graduation rate and cutting chronic absenteeism , as she said those are “key indicators that we still have work to do, even though there are great things happening and so many successes.”

Bangor High School’s class of 2024 boasted a 92 percent graduation rate – the highest in the school’s history.

About one out of every four Bangor students — or 25.5 percent — were considered chronically absent last year, marking an increase from 2022 when about 22.6 percent of Bangor’s students were considered chronically absent, according to state data.

In her previous role as superintendent of RSU 89 in northern Penobscot County, Katahdin Middle High School achieved a 100 percent graduation rate for three of the past six years and attendance rose by five percent in the last year.

Robinson said she’d like to replicate the 100 percent graduation rate achievement in Bangor.

“We should always have lofty goals,” Robinson said. “Otherwise, we’re leaving someone out and public schools, in my opinion, are for all students, not just some.”

Aside from academics, Robinson said she’s particularly invested in addressing students’ mental health needs. To do this, she said she’ll be evaluating the results of the 2023 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, to see how Bangor students are feeling.

“Students are way more than reading and math scores,” Robinson said. “My goal is to create an environment that is welcoming, inclusive and allows all people — children and adults — to be empowered to reach their highest potential.”

The Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, or MIYHS, is a voluntary questionnaire the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Maine Department of Education administer to public middle and high school students across the state every other year.

The survey gathers information on students’ physical and mental health, including topics such as substance use, bullying and violence, sexual behavior, health status, nutrition, suicide and depression.

In the 2023 Penobscot County results , 23 percent of high schoolers who participated reported being bullied on school property in the last 12 months and 34 percent said they’ve felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row in the last year.

Though public education has been politicized in recent years, Robinson said she recognizes public schools welcome all students and therefore needs to be prepared to serve all students, regardless of their background.

“Anyone and everyone comes through the doors of public schools,” she said. “It’s our job to put the proper supports in place so they can achieve their own success and reach their highest potential.”

If challenges or missteps arise during her tenure, Robinson said she’s prepared to address them and honestly discuss what the department learned from it and how it’s going to do better.

“Things are always going to happen,” she said. “You can’t walk into a situation and say things are always going to be butterflies and roses. If your expectations are that, you’re always going to be disappointed.”