Lisa Clarke surprised parents and students earlier this year when she decided to step down as principal of Edgecomb Eddy School to take the open position of teaching principal at Southport Central School. Many have been wondering why, exactly, Clarke made the switch.

Clarke started at Edgecomb Eddy straight out of college, but her wanderlust and desire for experience led her to swap positions with a teacher in Honolulu, Hawaii for a year. She went overseas to teach in Southern Africa— Botswana— and came back to the region to start a family. While her daughters were growing up, Clarke served for a year as an educational technician at Southport Central and then, for two years, she shared a classroom and worked halftime as a kindergarten teacher at Edgecomb Eddy.

“The principal’s position opened up, so I applied for it and got it,” Clarke said. “I was there doing administration for about 10 years, so I really worked at Edgecomb Eddy for most of my adult life.”

Clarke acknowledged her bachelor’s in elementary education from the University of Maine at Farmington, but said Edgecomb Eddy was really where she learned to teach.

“It’s not really until you have your own classroom and can work with other colleagues and learn from them that you really hone your skills. There’s a great group of people who work there and I remain very close with a lot of them.”

Some of Clarke’s fondest memories of Edgecomb Eddy go way back. Starting her first job as a teacher at the age of 22, she had some of the best support from administration and colleagues which definitely left an impression on her, she said; and it’s why she kept going back.

“I would go away fortunate enough to come back and have a job again in the same school that I knew and loved.”

So why did Clarke decide to leave?

“I’ve had a hard time answering that question because I wasn’t looking to leave Edgecomb Eddy, but when this job opened, I saw it as an opportunity that wouldn’t surface again, probably, in a while.”

She said Southport is a unique and special place rife with community pride and support especially for the school. That was the drawing card — that, and her affinity for small schools.

“It was hard to leave Edgecomb Eddy,” Clarke said. “In some ways I felt like I was letting some people down there, I wasn’t unhappy ... and I wasn’t looking to leave ... Some people assumed that maybe I was looking for an easier commute — that didn’t really have anything to do with my decision, but I am really happy to be working in the school in the town where I reside. I feel a really nice connection to the community in that way.”

Clarke now teaches second grade full time — something she was not able to do at Edgecomb Eddy due to the nature of administrative work in a larger school. Now she wears both hats making herself accessible as a principal when she is not occupied as a teacher.

“I do as I can,” said Clarke. “That was an adjustment, but it was fine. I’m happy to be doing it.”

Now, Clarke is able to lead more whole-school activities — assemblies and meetings, teaching in the outdoor classroom, and walking down to the beach just to name a few. Intermingling between age groups and school grades, said Clarke, helps to focus everyone’s energies to the same ends — learning and growing.

“It’s great teaching that goes on, here … a nice environment — a nice, warm, friendly, welcoming environment. But, so is Edgecomb. It was a tough decision to leave but I always embrace change, so I’m happy with this change.”