OXFORD HILLS — “Educators like you are laying the foundation for our future by recognizing the limitless potential in every young person,” writes President Barack Obama in a Nov. 3 letter to Don Gouin.
A lovely sentiment from the nation’s president, but in this case an understatement.
Donald Gouin, 85, of Norway has been serving the children of the Oxford Hills for 62 years as a coach, teacher, administrator and school board member. And he has no plans to stop.
“In the fall of ’53,” he recalls, “I was hired as a coach. I taught phys. ed. and biology in the Paris school system.
“I don’t know if it’s because I was such a good phys. ed. teacher or such a bad biology teacher but they had me go to full time phys. ed.”
At that time, he says, there was the Norway school system, which included Norway and Oxford, and the Paris school system, which included Paris and West Paris.
“In 1962 Paris and Norway got together and built a new high school on the former Oxford County fairgrounds. The vote was almost 3 to 1 in favor,” Gouin says. “The new school was much smaller than the one there now.
“Then in 1994 or 1995, we merged the technical school with the high school,” he adds.
For years, he explains, the tech students would be bused to Bridgton or behind Grover Gundrilling.
“They would get home so late,” he laments, “it was not a good setup for the program or the kids. So we created a comprehensive high school.”
What Gouin isn’t saying is that he was instrumental in bringing that to fruition.
“It was the most expensive high school in the state at that time!” he exclaims.
In order to get state approval, Gouin drove a bus full of local adults to go before the state Legislature. Included among those adults was then-editor of the Advertiser Democrat, Susan Arena.
“Only two were allowed to speak so we chose Don Mayberry and a young lady who worked at Norway Savings Bank,” he remembers. “Both were former students and they spoke to how important this was to people.”
It got approved.
Gouin has spent 36 years as an educator before retiring. He became an assistant principal at Oxford Hills High School and has been a teacher, coach and athletic director. As athletic director, he says, he spent most of his time raising money for equipment.
“Back then there was no budget for athletics.”
But retirement is a misnomer when it comes to Gouin.
He retired in June and promptly went on the district board of directors in July. He’s been on ever since.
This year at the start of the school year in September, Gouin was recognized with the Mary Lou Burns Educational Service Award.
The Mary Lou Burns educational award goes to a teacher, staff member or community member for their years of service and exemplary work, and for being a lifelong learner. It was established in 2000 to honor Burns, of Paris, who retired in 1999 after 41 years with SAD 17 as a teacher, principal and personnel director.
And in November, Gouin received a letter from The White House recognizing his service.
He has also received recognition in the form of letters from Thomas A. Desjardin, state commissioner of education, and U.S. Senator Susan Collins.
It is difficult to get Gouin to talk about his achievements.
Sitting in Gouin’s sunny kitchen recently, with Superintendent of Schools Rick Colpitts, to talk about his presidential letter, Colpitts keeps saying, “We’re here to talk about you Don.”
But Gouin is not to be dissuaded.
“Don Gouin by himself wouldn’t amount to a hoot,” he responds. “We had a team … superintendents and more.”
And, in fact, that is really who Gouin is. Not willing to take credit, insisting that it was always the whole not the individuals who brought the district to where it is today.
“Sometimes,” he concedes, “we would be in the middle of a project and a superintendent would leave and I was the only one to pick it [the project] up.”
And Gouin should know – he has worked with 10 superintendents so far, he says.
He comments that he was “fortunate enough to have people like Rick, Mark Eastman and Mary Jane McCalmon” to work with.
“They care about kids and people and they made me look good!”
Colpitts notes that educators from around New England have asked over the years to come and learn how the district makes things work – especially with the combining of the technical school and high school.
“You can’t tell if kids are vocational or not,” explains Gouin, “and that’s just the way we want it.” Forty percent of the OHCHS students are enrolled in vocational training.
“Kids come out of our programs,” Gouin says proudly, “and go right to work alongside college grads and do better!”
“Our kids get jobs just like that,” his fingers snap. He points out that many degree holders struggle in the job market. He notes that OHCHS graduates can mesh real-life experience with a degree and go even further
Working with Gouin
“There is no one that knows this community better,” says Colpitts. “Don grew up on Whitman Street and has been through the school system.”
In fact, he only left the area to attend college in Orono. And then he came right back.
“I like those things people say I have done,” Gouin interrupts, “but I didn’t do all that stuff by myself. I just understood, way back in the day, what the pitfalls were.”
Colpitts points out that Gouin and his cohorts have influenced 12,400 students over the 62 years.
“Don was the chair of the school board when I was hired,” says former Superintendent of Schools for SAD 17 Mark Eastman. “I remember he wanted to make sure I knew the community and met with all the community leaders. He oriented me to the area, took me around to meet business leaders, members of the public, the whole community … so that I knew people and they knew me.
“He had a vision of how I would connect with the community. He gave me an opportunity to be successful,” Eastman continues. “Even after he was board chair he was always an advocate for the district. He knew it needed to be all about the kids and he made sure they were our focus. He was a relentless advocate for the kids … one of the architects of the district.
“Whenever I had a tough decision,” Eastman laughs, “he’d have a story to tell and he’d say, ‘You know Mark, you need to tell them we’re not hauling pulp wood!'”
To this day, says Eastman, “He is an incredible advocate for the Oxford Hills community as a whole and the school system in particular … and a joy to work with.”
They didn’t always agree, notes Eastman, but “he’d say to me, ‘We hired you to lead this school district and whether I agree or not, I’m behind you.’ And he was.”
Another former superintendent, Mary Jane McCalmon, calls Gouin the “best person and best board member I’ve ever worked with. He has no ego. His only interest is that children get the best possible education.”
McCalmon says Gouin has a wonderful “down Maine sense of humor.”
“I remember when I had a bad day, everything going wrong, he’d pat my hand and say, ‘Well, Mary Jane, it’s just another page for your book,'” she says.
McCalmon explains that here was her first superintendency and that Gouin was chairman of the board during her tenure.
“He was so supportive and he was critical to getting the bond issue passed [going to a comprehensive district],” she says. “He is a genuinely, authentic, committed individual … a treasure … one of my favorite human beings.”
Current chairman of the school board Ron Kugell shares some of Gouin’s longevity with the district.
“We started teaching together,” he says, “at Paris Elementary when it was on Pine Street. Then in the mid-’70s, we became assistant principals at the high school and worked there several years.
“In the mid-’80s, I retired and got elected to the school board. A few years later Don retired and was elected to the school board. We’ve worked together ever since.
“Over the years I have found him to be compassionate, sensitive, caring, dedicated, loyal,dependable, astute, articulate and, most of all, a good friend.”
Gouin, who still serves on the board of directors, says he has no intention of stopping his work with the district in spite of recent health issues.
“I’m not stopping for a while,” he promises.
“It is very rare to find someone willing to commit 62 years to a school district and a community,” Colpitts concludes. “And if schools are, in fact, a reflection of a community, then ours is a reflection of Don Gouin.”