Miller School Principal Julia Levensaler (left) and Medomak Valley High School Principal Linda Pease attend an end-of-school-year celebration. The two principals both started their teaching careers in 1985, and both are finishing up their time at the district this year. (Christine Simmonds photo)
In 1985, Madonna and Whitney Houston dominated the airwaves, “Back to the Future” and “The Goonies” hit the box office, and the latest fashion trends were parachute pants, legwarmers, and shoulder pads.
The same year, Linda Pease and Julia Levensaler started their careers in education.
Forty years later, these two women are bookends to each other, as the elementary school principal from the Bronx and the high school principal from Waldoboro transition out of RSU 40 and on to the next part of their lives.
Levensaler, of Waldoboro, said she never wanted to be a teacher while growing up. After graduating from college with a degree in history, her plan was to take a year off and then attend law school.
“My mother was a teacher, which was one of the reasons I never wanted to be a teacher,” Levensaler said.
During her gap year, Levensaler started substitute teaching at the school where her mother worked.
At the end of the school year, gone. Levensaler said she had really enjoyed the work.
“They were like, ‘Hmm, maybe this is what you’re supposed to be doing?’ So, I signed up,” Levensaler said.
Pease said she never wanted to be anything but a teacher. As a child growing up Waldoboro, she would come home from school and set up a play classroom with her dolls and bears.
“I would make papers and then I would correct the papers and I would stand up in front of the class and hand them out,” Pease said. “I would do this all by myself. So I know that (teaching) is what I always wanted to do.”
Education has become something of a family tradition for Pease, who now resides in Warren. Her brother and sister both became educators, as did her daughter-in-law and two of her nieces.
Her father, Ronald E. Dolloff, taught math at Waldoboro High School and later became principal of Medomak Valley High School. The school’s auditorium is named for him because he was an avid supporter of the arts.
Pease said she could remember walking around with her dad at the age of 5 when MVHS first opened.
“I remember being in this school when it was brand spanking new. I still remember what it smelled like and how it felt,” she said.
Pease said she was so proud to have taught and made a difference in the same school and the same office as her father.
“How can I not feel a sense of pride following what was 24 years of my dad, being in the same office as him,” she said.
Levensaler started her career teaching second grade in New York. When she married her husband Dana and moved to Waldoboro in 1990, she started substitute teaching again. She would then go on to get her master’s in special education and became a special education teacher at Miller School.
Levensaler said she became a special education teacher because she found it interesting and rewarding.
“Working in small groups, you could really feel the impact you were making,” Levensaler said.
But she wanted to have an impact on the wider school community and make Miller School a better place for everybody. Levensaler said that is why she became a school administrator.
“We have a fantastic climate, and we have staff who care about kids, and it is about our focus on students and making parents feel welcome,” Levensaler said. “I don’t want this to sound conceited, but I feel like because of all of us, Miller is a better place than when I started.”
Levensaler said as principal she has tried to make a real effort to connect with all of the other staff in the building, and to promote shared leadership.
“There are places, I imagine, the principal doesn’t even know some of the ed techs or support staff,” she said.
Pease said each time she moved in her career, it was because she followed an opportunity.
She started out teaching sixth grade at Prescott Memorial School in Washington. From there she moved to Miller School in Waldoboro, then A.D. Gray in Waldoboro, then transitioned to the Mid-Coast School of Technology in Owls Head, where she taught English.
Her next move was to Medomak Valley High School in 2005, where she led the freshman academy program, a program for first-year high school students, for six years before transitioning to teaching Advanced Placement English.
She said her next opportunity surprised even her.
“I never thought I would go into administration,” she said.
In 2015, both her father and longtime MVHS Principal Harold Wilson were diagnosed with cancer and died shortly after. Pease said both men had an enormous impact on her life, and both encouraged her to pursue a leadership role in the schools while they were still alive.
“Something clicked, and I thought maybe at some point in my life I will regret not ever having gone into administration,” she said.
Pease was assistant principal from 2015-2017, at which time she became acting principal after the person in the role resigned. She was officially named principal in May 2018, a role she’s held ever since.
Pease, who participated in her last graduation in June, said it has been a privilege to award diplomas to young people for the last eight years. She has truly loved the kids and the community, and she felt a lot of pride she was able to make a difference in her community.
Pease said the upcoming renovations at the high school were what prompted her decision to finish her time at RSU 40.
“I really felt strongly that somebody else should come in and just take hold of the reins and go for this and see it through to the end and celebrate,” Pease said.
Levensaler said she was most proud of her work bringing the special education programs to Miller School, and how she had been able to increase student attendance.
She is also very proud of the Miller School staff, and they were why she felt comfortable retiring. She said the school had strong educational leaders who would carry on with the good things they had been doing, like improving attendance and academic achievements.
“One of the reasons I feel like I can retire now is because we have such a fantastic staff,” Levensaler said.
Levensaler said it was a decision she had been thinking about for years, but it was still a hard one to make.
“I am going to really miss being part of this group on a daily basis,” Levensaler said.
The RSU 40 Board of Directors honored Levensaler and Pease for their years of work on June 4. Interim Superintendent Tom Ambrose read statements from the two principals’ staff, praising their professionalism, dedication to students, and leadership.
For more information about RSU 40, call 785-2277 or go to rsu40.org.
