GSA head apologizes for ‘unexpected way’ community found he took new job
Applications for superintendent position that school head Dan Welch will take at midcoast school district were accepted last fall
Outgoing school head Dan Welch at a recent press conference at George Stevens Academy. File photo.
Jan. 30, 2026
By Tricia Thomas
BLUE HILL—GSA head Dan Welch told faculty and students in a letter on Jan. 29 that he is leaving the post after two years to be closer to his home and family in Damariscotta. Welch was hired as the new superintendent of RSU 40, based in Union, at a special meeting of the district’s board two days earlier, on Jan. 27. He informed the GSA board of trustees of the hiring the following morning, and issued a statement to the school and the community a day after that.
“While we initially explored the possibility of relocating to the Blue Hill Peninsula, circumstances changed, and we have ultimately decided to remain permanently in the Midcoast region,” Welch said in his Jan. 29 letter, addressed to “students, parents, alumni, and community members.”
According to a GSA spokesperson, Welch did not inform the board or the school of his plans to leave before RSU 40 announced it. Instead, word reached the board via an article in a midcoast news publication, which covered the special RSU 40 meeting at which Welch was officially hired as superintendent. Welch was present at the meeting, and a quote from him was included in a press release that RSU 40 sent out that night.
“It is an honor to be selected as the next Superintendent of RSU 40,” Welch said in the press release from the midcoast school district, which covers Friendship, Union, Waldoboro, Warren, and Washington. “I am looking forward to getting to know the students, staff, families, and community members who make this district strong. RSU 40 has a deep sense of community and a clear commitment to its students, and I am excited to build on that foundation together.”
“I sincerely hope that, in time, the entire peninsula continues to recognize and celebrate the quality educational institution that GSA has long been, and will continue to be.”
According to RSU 40 board chair Danny Jackson, the district began accepting applications for the job last fall.
“I believe RSU 40 accepted applications from Nov. 10-Dec. 10. I don’t have the exact dates in front of me,” Jackson said in a written reply to emailed questions. Jackson did not reply to questions about when negotiations with Welch began, or whether Welch’s hiring was the subject of an executive session on Jan. 20, a week before the vote to hire him.
According to minutes from RSU 40’s meeting on Jan. 27, Welch was hired after a 12-minute executive session. He will earn $150,000 in the first year of a two-year contract.
In his Jan. 29 letter, Welch apologized for the “unexpected way” that GSA learned he was leaving.
“By now, you have likely heard that I will be leaving George Stevens Academy at the end of this school year. I want to begin by offering my sincere apologies that this news reached some people in an unexpected way. It was never my intention to surprise or unsettle anyone, but I recognize how quickly information can travel and regret any concern this may have caused,” Welch wrote.
Welch said his decision had “nothing” to do with his experience at GSA, which has been struggling with waning enrollments and budget shortfalls in recent years.
“I would also like to be very clear that this decision has nothing to do with the school, the Board of Trustees, or any challenges at GSA. Rather, it is a personal decision rooted in family,” he wrote.
Welch was hired by GSA following a lengthy search two years ago, and took the helm of the town academy, which serves as the de facto high school for sending so-called “sending towns,” in July 2024. His last day at GSA will be June 30, and he will begin his new job at RSU 40 on July 1.
Until then, the school plans to ramp up a “leadership committee” that will run the school in place of a head. GSA spokesperson Amy Strother said after an emergency meeting of the GSA board of trustees on Jan. 28 that the board has no immediate plans to hire a replacement for Welch.
The board offered brief details on the new leadership plan in a subsequent written statement issued on Jan. 29.
“The Board is working collaboratively with administration and faculty to establish a leadership transition committee that will guide this process and remain in place throughout the transition period,” the board stated. “Also throughout this transition, our Board of Trustees will be evaluating our governance structure at GSA. We are prioritizing transparency, collaboration, and respect for faculty and staff voices. No information will be shared publicly before our staff is informed first. We are in constant dialogue with both our internal community and the broader public, listening and responding to concerns as partners in this work.”
Welch’s resignation comes less than two weeks after he and the trustees held a press conference to announce that GSA will begin talks with sending towns on proposed enrollment contracts that would guarantee their students attend GSA. While GSA has said that exceptions would be granted, the proposal, if accepted, would effectively end school choice on the peninsula, Welch said at the press conference. Students in Blue Hill, Brooklin, Brooksville, Orland, Penobscot, Sedgwick and Surry now can choose to use their towns’ tax-funded tuition money–about $16,500 per student–to attend schools other than GSA. The proposal has been met with both support and opposition from the community.
RSU 40’s announcement of Welch’s hiring was followed two days later by a Midcoast Villager news report that the longtime educator and administrator, who was named Maine’s top principal in 2017, was charged with an OUI on August 13, 2020. Welch later was charged with violating conditions of release on April 5, 2021. The Lincoln County Court dismissed both charges in 2023, the article states.
Welch said in the Jan. 29 article that he was “transparent” with RSU 40 about the dropped charges, and has since turned his life around.
“I made some bad decisions. That was one of them,” Welch stated in the article. “I regret it deeply and paid some consequences.”
According to board member K. Guiness, who was involved in negotiations surrounding Welch’s hiring in 2024, Welch was similarly transparent about the charges then.
GSA spokesperson Amy Strother said in an earlier interview that Welch’s work to improve the school’s finances will help it weather his departure.
“I think Dan is going to be exiting with a very good foundation laid, and we are very well prepared to move through the next five or 10 years using some of the things that he rebuilt,” Strother said.
Welch, who was unavailable for comment for this article, said in his statement to the school that he would miss GSA.
“Leaving GSA is not easy. Since arriving, I have said many times that this is a special school filled with exceptional people, and I believe that now more than ever. I am deeply grateful for the warmth, kindness, and support shown to me during my time here,” Welch wrote. “I sincerely hope that, in time, the entire peninsula continues to recognize and celebrate the quality educational institution that GSA has long been, and will continue to be.”
