Flashback: Kaye May welcomes a youngster back to school in September 2004. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Kaye May, principal of Coleytown Elementary School, will retire at the end of the current school year, ending a 36-year tenure in Westport.
May has spent her entire educational career in the Westport school system, coming here in 1969 fresh from college with a new bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.
She has been Coleytown principal since January 1998 when she replaced an interim principal who had served for six months following the departure of Dan Sullivan.
Prior to stepping into the top position, May had been the assistant principal for three years, following a two-year stint as an instructional specialist there.
“I wish (Kaye May) nothing but the best in her retirement,” said Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon,” but there is no doubt we will miss her leadership and her ‘institutional memory,’ since she is one of the longest-serving administrators in the system.
Board of Education Chairwoman Mary Parmelee, whose children attended Coleytown, said everyone was relieved when May became principal when Sullivan left.
“Her paramount responsibility was to the child,” she said. “She would always do what is right for each child.”
May said her decision to retire was made “with mixed emotions.”
She said she loves the school community and, as she walks through Coleytown and is greeted by children, staff members and parents, she thinks of how much she will miss them all.
As with many long-serving retirees, she hopes now to have time to do some of the other things that make life pleasurable and rewarding.
She noted that she had made her announcement relatively early to give the district plenty of time to find a capable successor.
Landon said he will be convening a committee to search for a candidate to fill May’s position in addition to filling former Long Lots Elementary Principal Barbara Lasher’s position.
Lasher retired at the end of last school year and an interim principal is in place at Long Lots now.
Landon said he hopes to have candidates for the school board to vote on in March.
