New Edgecomb Eddy Elementary School Principal Tom Landberg stands outside the school on Thursday, Aug. 11. Landberg said he looks to instill confidence in students and give them the opportunity to have input on their education. (Alec Welsh photo)
New Edgecomb Eddy School principal Tom Landberg is looking to bring community learning back to school this year.
The Edgecomb School Committee unanimously approved Landberg’s hiring in July. He comes to the school having worked as an assistant principal with MSAD 11 for the previous 13 years. He took the position in Edgecomb, Landberg said, for an opportunity to make a bigger impact on education and help guide students like teachers did for him during his school years.
“The people that helped mold me and help guide me in my early years as a youth lead me to have a passion for doing the same for others,” Landberg said. “As a principal I am able to do that on a large scale.”
Landberg’s approach to education starts with building relationships among the community, he said. He hopes building positive relationships will cultivate confidence in students.
“If students can get learning early on and become confident human beings and confident in their learning, the sky is the limit for them,” Landberg said.
The relationships Landberg hopes to build are not just between students and teachers but within all the community.
“I think building relationships is the most important thing in schools, not just teacher to student, but between students and the school, and between families and the school,” Landberg said. “It really helps create a positive learning environment,”
As the nation pivots from the COVID-19 pandemic Landberg is eager to let students socialize as a community.
“The last few years have been really difficult on schools,” Landberg said. “We lost our social connection due to remote learning and Zoom meetings, which was necessary, but unfortunately kept us apart.”
In his new role Landberg will be responsible for how students reach their goals by the end of the year. He hopes to establish an inclusive educational approach that welcomes students and allows them to have some influence over how they learn.
“We do not just let them have input over how they learn a lesson but also what outcome they want from the lesson,” Landberg said. “So that means if they want to do a project, or written word, or spoken word, students can demonstrate to the teacher how they learn in their own way.”
Prior to working as an assistant principal Landberg taught 10 years as a classroom teacher. One of his favorite things about teaching is working with kids, he said.
“Every learner, every child, every person is unique, and to be able to work with that uniqueness leads to things you wouldn’t expect,” Landberg said.
Landberg earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education and a minor in history from the University of Maine. He received his master’s in educational leadership from University of Orono in 2009.
Currently, Landberg lives in Durham with his wife of over 20 years, his daughter, a senior in high school and his son, a seventh grader.
The first day of school for Edgecomb Eddy students is Tuesday, Sept. 6.
