Changes in leadership abound as the Fayette School Department again strikes out on its own.

At the Fayette School Committee’s last meeting under the auspices of an Alternative Organizational Structure, it hired former Regional School Unit 9 superintendent Michael Cormier as Fayette’s part-time superintendent.

Cormier will be paid $450 per day for 40 days of work per year.

Cormier was superintendent of Farmington-based Regional School Unit 9, the Mt. Blue Regional School District, for 20 years before retiring in 2013. Last year he worked as the interim superintendent of Union-based RSU 40.

Cormier said the Fayette job appealed to him because he was looking for part-time work and it’s closer to his home in Wilton. He also teaches graduate courses on school law and finance at the University of Maine in Farmington.

Cormier will meet with the full Fayette School Committee for the first time at its meeting Thursday, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Fayette Central School library.

Two of the committee’s tasks will be to elect a new chairperson and to distribute committee assignments.

It will be the first meeting in the term of Katherine Ayer, who won one of two seats in a four-way race last month. Member Elaine Wilcox was re-elected, while former Chairman Dick Darling lost his bid for re-election.

The school committee is also advertising for a new principal for Fayette Central School.

The school committee earlier eliminated the position held by Nancy Godfrey, which was for a teaching principal. AOS 97 Superintendent Gary Rosenthal said the committee decided, based on input from community members and school staff, that the school should have a full-time principal.

Susan McMillan — 621-5645

smcmillan@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @s_e_mcmillan