Wilton resident and Mt. Blue grad hired as middle school principal

FARMINGTON – A new principal for the Mt. Blue Middle School will start Monday, after the Regional School Unit 9 board unanimously approved his hiring at this week’s board meeting.

James Black, a Wilton resident and graduate of both Mt. Blue High School and the University of Maine at Farmington, will take over the position from outgoing Principal Jason Bellerose, who left the district to take a position in Skowhegan’s RSU 54. According to Superintendent Tom Ward, Black was one of two applicants interviewed by the district’s administrator evaluation committee. The district received approximately five applications in total.

“We’re very pleased to hire someone who was a former Mt. Blue graduate,” Ward said Wednesday, “and we’re looking forward to having him work for us for many years.”

Black most recently worked in RSU 73 as Spruce Mountain High School’s assistant principal/athletic director. Prior to that he worked at MSAD 58’s Mt. Abram High School as the dean of students/athletic director. He also has a teaching background, having spent roughly 10 years at Skowhegan Area High School as a social studies teacher.

He was also a RSU 9 school board director for approximately a year and a half starting in 2013, prior to accepting the administrator position in MSAD 58.

Black was hired under a two-year probationary contract. The position’s salary is $87,500, the same as when Bellerose was the principal.