HALLOWELL — After “coming home” to Regional School Unit 2 in October to lead on an interim basis, Rick Amero was officially hired Thursday as the district’s superintendent. 

The item was added last minute to the school board’s agenda on Thursday as an executive session. Upon coming out of the closed session, the board voted unanimously in favor of appointing Amero as superintendent, according to a Friday news release from RSU 2. 

Amero started as interim superintendent on Oct. 17 and was contracted to be in the position until June 30, 2023, to give the district enough time to find a replacement. RSU 2 officials had been bracing for a long, drawn-out search for superintendent after former Superintendent Matt Gilbert left, making him the fifth superintendent to leave in three years. 

RSU 2 serves the communities of Hallowell, Farmingdale, Dresden, Monmouth, and Richmond, which voted to leave the district in November to start its own school district starting next school year.

Amero’s salary is $125,000 through June 30 and the board is still working out details regarding Amero’s pay for next year.

The district worked with Maine School Management Association and formed a superintendent search committee of nearly 30 people that represented family, staff, teachers and community members and started the process after the winter holidays. That panel unanimously recommended Amero after a thorough review, officials said. 

“The board created a job description that captured the community’s values and expectations,” Board Chair Donna Seppy said in the news release. 

Amero has spent nearly 30 years in the district, with 10 of the years as principal of Monmouth Academy, until he left in 2021 to become director of the Waldo County Technical Center.

His time in RSU 2 was not forgotten by any staff, student or community member who knew him. When he came back to be interim superintendent in October almost a year after he left, many staff members were overjoyed. With news on Friday of his permanent role, Seppy said she has gotten “lots of positive responses from around the district.” 

Amero said he was “excited, humbled and honored to be chosen to lead” the district, which is also known as the Kennebec Intra-District Schools, or KIDS.

“I look forward to continuing working with our awesome learners, educators, staff, families and communities,” he said.

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