BHCS principal to take position in Ellsworth

Dan Ormsby has been principal at Blue Hill’s elementary school for four years; Kyle Snow to become interim principal.

BHCS assistant principal Kyle Snow has been approved as interim principal beginning July 1. Photo by Emily Baer.

This story has been updated.

June 29, 2026

By John Boit

BLUE HILL–The principal of Blue Hill Consolidated School is taking a position as the assistant principal of Ellsworth High School.

Dan Ormsby has been principal at Blue Hill’s elementary school for four years. The school serves 250 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and is the largest of Union 93’s five elementary schools.

Ormsby said taking the new job was “a really, really hard decision.”

Dan Ormsby with his son, Beck, and BHCS mascot Bobby the Bobcat. Photo courtesy of Dan Ormsby.

“I really feel Blue Hill is literally one of the greatest schools in Maine,” said Ormsby, who spoke to The Rising Tide while driving back from Pennsylvania to visit family. “The staff is fantastic. They are on another level. The students and families are fantastic. Blue Hill’s community comes together for its school. They want everything about the students to go well, and for students to achieve and succeed.”

A driving force behind his decision, he said, was to spend more time with his 15-month-old son, Beck, something than an assistant-level position allows him to do.

The school’s assistant principal, Kyle Snow, has been unanimously approved as interim principal by a vote of the School Union 93 board held on June 29.

Snow will officially begin his job as interim principal on July 1 and overlap with Ormsby until July 10. The board approved Snow’s interim position through July 10.

Union 93 administrators received Ormsby’s resignation over the weekend and called an emergency board meeting on June 29. The board voted to accept Ormsby’s resignation, hire Snow as interim principal, and launch a search to fill the position permanently. 

“We’re going to have a busy summer,” school superintendent Derek Perkins said.

Snow is a familiar face at the school, where he has worked for 15 years. His first job there was teaching seventh and eight grade social studies and math, which he did for 10 years. He has also coached soccer, track and cross-country.

Prior to teaching, Snow served in the U.S. Army, where he was an artillery officer, attaining the rank of captain. He is a graduate of the University of Maine, where he also completed the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), which awarded him an officer’s commission.

In a brief interview with The Rising Tide, Snow said his time in the military taught him “how to support people so they can be successful.”

Ormsby said he had full confidence in Snow, calling him a “fantastic leader.”

“He said to me my first year, ‘I’m a true believer in public education,’” Ormsby said of Snow. “And he’s right. We’re true believers in public education, and I know I’m leaving it in really good hands. He knows where we’re going.”