Brian Campbell, the newly hired superintendent of Bonny Eagle school district. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer)

Brian Campbell will take over for Clay Gleason next month as the superintendent of Maine Administrative School District 6.

Campbell will leave his current role as assistant superintendent of School Administrative Unit 29 in Keene, New Hampshire, which he has held for almost seven years. He grew up in Vermont, but has lived and worked in Maine, having served as principal of Saco Middle School, Freeport High School and Searsport middle and high schools. He was also a teacher, athletic director and dean of students early in his career.

Campbell holds a bachelor’s in English and business from Albany State University, a master’s in educational administration from Capella University and a certificate of advanced graduate study with a concentration in district leadership from the same institution.

The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Why did you decide to return to Maine and take on the superintendent role now?

It was equal parts personal and professional. I’ve been fortunate to work in my current role for the past seven years, after 20 years as a building principal. I’ve had a couple of opportunities over the past couple of years in New Hampshire, but turned those down with a sole focus on the position at Bonny Eagle, if it was ever open and I was afforded the opportunity, because of my roots in Buxton. I have a daughter who’s currently a freshman at Bonny Eagle. If I’m superintendent, I can see her more regularly, which is really important.

(New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 29) has a very similar structure to MSAD 6, and so I think it’s equipped me with a skill set where I can help support what currently exists in MSAD 6, and hopefully with a collaboration of the other district administrators, we can continue to move the district forward.

Tell me more about how MSAD 6 is similar to New Hampshire’s School Administrative Unit 29.

It consists of multiple towns. We have seven autonomous districts that feed into what we in New Hampshire call an SAU, a supervisory unit. The districts have their own board, develop their own budgets, but they work under the umbrella of the SAU. I’m able to develop relationships with multiple communities and hopefully forge this collective effort to build academic, curricular coherence, because all the kids filter into one high school.

I think I’ve worked really hard. I oversee the five largest buildings, including the high school, Keene Middle School and the three K-8 schools, and I’ve been fortunate to work with really great administrators who wanted to align themselves with the best interests of the kids so that they have equal footing as they move into high school. MSAD 6 is structured in a similar fashion. I can work with the other administrators, to build a really strong, cohesive system that benefits kids throughout their high school experience.

What do you think is uniquely challenging about running a district that’s so large, and what do you think are the best ways to address those challenges?

Where I currently am is one of the larger districts in the state with 4,500 total students, and geographically, I don’t think you can be more expansive than we are. We have a 40-minute ride from one end of the district to the other.

It’s finding what matters in each community. What are their strengths? What are their areas where we can focus to strengthen? It’s really finding what the community desires for their students, and working to maintain the excellence that they’re seeing, and the traditions within the district.

I’m not really overly concerned about the expansiveness of the district. It’s more about building relationships within each of those communities.

Almost two years ago, Superintendent Clay Gleason proposed a $400M makeover for the district called ‘One Bonny Eagle.’ What are your thoughts on moving that proposal forward?

To be honest, I don’t (have thoughts) at this point. I’m meeting with Mr. Gleason (this) week, and the other administrators at the central office at each of the schools. (I will) really (be) tapping into Mr. Gleason’s knowledge and expertise in finding out more. I can’t pass a judgment on a proposal until I understand the details of the proposal, so for me to make assumptions … and identify next steps would be inappropriate at this time.

Is there anything that you’re particularly interested in helping the district work toward?

I gave the school board an initial 100-day plan that may obviously extend … longer than that. For me, it’s about initially developing relationships. I understand that the current superintendent has been in the district for 21 years or so, and has developed those relationships.

I’ve always been hyper-focused, probably to a fault, on educational outcomes. Where are we at academically? Where are our kids at? What opportunities are they going to have post-Bonny Eagle? I’ve been focused on making sure that they are equipped to tackle whatever endeavor they want. I think more so going into this position, I’ll really be focusing on developing relationships and building trust and people understanding that I’m ultimately a servant leader, that I’m there as a superintendent to make sure that the administrators and the teachers have what they need to support student growth.

I want our students to be successful academically, and data is important, and it tells a story. But I really want the story to be told that Bonny Eagle is a close-knit community and that we’re all focused on individual growth as teachers and administrators and support staff, and on student growth. I look forward to building those relationships, so there is this synergy that is pervasive across the district and we’re there for our kids.

What else can you share about your 100-day plan?

The 100-day plan is to meet face-to-face with all the important stakeholders in the district across Buxton and the other communities — law enforcement, emergency personnel, school administrators, support staff, teachers, each individual board member. I’ll be meeting with all those stakeholders to understand what the support system is and how we can work together and just continue to build on the successes of MSAD 6 and make it a great place for all kids. My initial 100 days is a listening session for me. It’s building my knowledge, building my understanding, so I can best support each individual.

How do you think your previous experience as a teacher and athletic director influences your work as an administrator?

I was a teacher for just five years before I was given the opportunity to work as part of a design team to create Rivendell Academy in Orford, New Hampshire. There, I had a really short tenure as assistant principal and athletic director, which were cool roles. While I was assistant principal, I was also athletic director. I think a strength was building relationships with kids and gaining the trust of their parents. I miss that. I look forward to rebuilding the relationships that I’ve had in the past with students.

Artificial intelligence is a major topic of discussion in education right now. What do you see as its role at Bonny Eagle?

In our district (in New Hampshire), we use a program called MagicSchool AI to help build cohesive curriculum and assessment. Using the system, you can adjust the depth of knowledge and the rigor associated with the instruction as well as assessment. All teachers use that AI by grade level and by content area, and it’s really supported us in developing a cohesive structure, but also having commonly aligned assessments so that we are mining data around student growth not just based on the state test, which only gives you a snapshot of where the students are at. That is really the only AI that I use.

I will introduce (MagicSchool AI) to the instructional coaches (at MSAD 6) and the curriculum director, and the assistant superintendent, and then we’ll decide collectively if that’s something that we want to introduce to the staff.

Tell me more about your connection to Buxton.

I grew up in Vermont, and then that’s where I started my educational journey. Then I married, started a family and moved to Maine in 2006. We moved around from central Maine to Saco and then built a house in Buxton.

I took this position in Keene to build my central office toolkit and hopefully gain additional leadership skills and a more well-rounded perspective of education. Once I was afforded this opportunity (at MSAD 6), it’s really been about getting back to Maine. It was very personal for me. I’m living in Biddeford in the short-term, and then I’ll make a longer-term decision.