South Bristol Schools new principal, Laurie Stiles, stands in front of the schools sign on Friday, Aug. 16. Stiles said she looks forward to helping SBS continue forward in a good direction while developing and deepening the communitys connection with the school. (Johnathan Riley photo)
The South Bristol School Mariners have a new, but familiar, face at the helm in Laurie Stiles who is excited to take over as principal for the upcoming school year.
Stiles, who taught math and social studies at the school for the past year, said she’s looking forward to working with the staff, students, and the community in a different capacity.
“I’m excited for the opportunity, it’s scary,” Stiles said, laughing. “I don’t think I’ve even been more scared for a first day of school, which is so funny because I’ve been in school for 24 years as a teacher.”
In a special meeting held via Zoom on June 10, South Bristol School Committee members voted unanimously to hire Stiles as the school’s principal at the recommendation of former AOS 93 Superintendent Lynsey Johnston.
Stiles, who grew up in Warren, graduated from Medomak Valley High School with the class of 1995 and went to the University of Maine where she and discovered her passion for being in education.
“It’s exactly what I have always been supposed to do,” she said.
Stiles entire teaching career has taken place in the Midcoast, starting at Woolwich Central School in 2000, where she taught seventh and eighth grade social studies for six years.
After taking a break from education to raise her kids, Stiles returned to the fold at Wiscasset Middle High School in 2008 as an ed tech but within the year became the social studies and English language arts teacher. She then worked at Nobleboro Central School from 2010 until 2022 where she taught math for the first time while continuing to social studies and English language arts. She was also the eighth grade advisor and the girls varsity basketball coach.
In 2023 she started teaching at SBS as the middle school math and social studies teacher.
During her time in education, the principals Stiles has worked for have asked why she hasn’t gone in school administration. Stiles said she replied that she loves teaching too much.
“My favorite time is when I shut my door and I’m in my classroom,” Stiles said. “That’s what I love, teaching.”
Stiles said that when she started at SBS in 2023, the principal, Charles “Chuck” Hamm echoed the belief she would be a good administrator and urged her to take the courses required of an administration certificate.
“I got started and didn’t slow down,” she said.
Stiles said she was very happy teaching at the school but when Hamm began considering retirement due to health issues related to COVID-19, she said she knew she needed to apply for the principalship.
“I was very happy teaching, but because he got sick and retired early, I knew I needed to apply,” Stiles said.
Now at the helm for SBS, Stiles said she’s excited to step into a role for a school whose future she’s excited about.
“I like the direction the school is going in,” she said. “I know the school inside and out even though I’ve only been here two years.”
Stiles and her family have been residents of Walpole since 2002 and both her kids attended SBS.
In her role as principal, Stiles will look to continue to facilitate a healthy community inside and outside of the school, something she said she said she learned about in her time at NCS.
“I think I really learned an awful lot about how important the community is in your building,” she said. “I felt like the community is the school. Without the community we don’t have a school. Without the school we don’t have community.”
In an effort to involve the community of South Bristol with the school more, Stiles said she’s putting together a senior buddies program that will pair South Bristol community members with students in a mentorship role, something that she saw work well at NCS.
“It just reaffirmed how I felt about the community and its importance in our schools,” she said.
One of the aspects of the school that Stiles is excited about as an administrator is the current staff, which she said has a thirst for learning and understands the importance of educational growth.
“We have a staff that is really interested in learning and growing and developing, and I feel excited that it’s this staff that I get to take this journey with, because it’s not like I’m going to have to convince anyone that this is important,” she said.
Stiles said the staff voluntarily did a book study last year on using everyday events to cultivate emotional intelligence, just because “they wanted to learn more.”
“I’m excited, I’m nervous, but I couldn’t be happier with the group of people I’m doing this with,” Stiles said.
Those interested in taking part of the buddy program at SBS can email southbristolschool@aos93.org or call 644-8177.
