FARMINGTON — Mt. Blue Middle School Principal Gary Oswald, who’s been at the school for 30 years, has announced he will retire when his contract expires at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

“The most difficult piece of making my decision to retire at the conclusion of this school year will be leaving the students and all their energy that they come with each and every day,” Oswald said.

Mt. Blue Middle School Principal Gary Oswald stands outside the school building after a major renovation in 2003. Oswald has announced he will retire at the end of this school year after 30 years at the school, 18 as principal. Staff file photo

Regional School Unit 9 Superintendent Tom Ward accepted Oswald’s intent to retire on Nov. 5. Ward read Oswald’s letter announcing his plans to retire at RSU 9’s school board meeting last week.

Oswald has been the principal at Mt. Blue Middle School for the last 18 years. Before then, he taught physical education and served as assistant principal.

Over his 30 years at Mt. Blue, Oswald said he has seen various education reforms and mandates put in place by lawmakers that he said take the focus off the individual child and attempt to lump the schools together into data.

“The bottom line is that the most important part of teaching cannot be quantified onto spreadsheets or put into a power point focusing on data,” said Oswald. “Those in power do not take into account the individual child, but instead attempt to lump all into one group. These are humans and you cannot expect all to be the same.”

Oswald said that his staff was not surprised to hear he was retiring. Last year his wife, Maureen, who also taught at the middle school for 30 years, retired.

They will be using their retirement to join their family in Florida, where they are expecting the birth of their first grandchild.

Lauren Abbate — 861-9252

labbate@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate

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