The School Committee may vote on the nomination Wednesday.
MECHANIC FALLS – William Doughty, a controversial former superintendent from Waldoboro, has been nominated for the No. 2 job in School Union 29.
On Wednesday, the union’s school committee is scheduled to meet and perhaps hire Doughty as the new assistant superintendent. He would be paid an annual salary of $61,000.
The nomination comes despite Doughty’s departure from School Administrative District 40. While superintendent there, he was accused of withholding from his school board details about a deficit totaling nearly $400,000.
The budget discovery led to Doughty’s March resignation, lest he be fired.
For the local job, he already has the endorsement of Nina Schlikin, the recently hired superintendent of Union 29.
Schlikin said Tuesday she knows about the problems Doughty had, has talked with him about them and has talked to people at SAD 40.
No one ever accused him of breaking laws. “He didn’t have a finance director,” she said. And the stories from each source matched, suggesting he wasn’t trying to hide the truth.
“I found him to be a very honest person,” Schlikin said. Besides, the new job would keep him away from budget matters.
Doughty would replace Christine Chamberlain, the former curriculum coordinator.
He would spend most of his time overseeing what is taught in the schools, making sure that classwork is consistent among them and that all meet learning requirements.
“I think he is very, very knowledgeable in these areas,” Schlikin said.
A former principal at Dirigo High School in Dixfield, Doughty served as superintendent for four years at SAD 40. The district includes the towns of Waldoboro, Warren, Washington, Union and Friendship.
The Sun Journal was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach Doughty for comment.
Sam Pennington, who left the SAD 40 board this spring, said he highly recommended Doughty for the new job.
“In some ways, I think he was trying to do more education than we could afford,” he said. Electrical and insurance costs had risen. Money projected to be left over from prior years was spent.
It was Pennington, in his role as the board’s chairman, who brokered a deal for Doughty’s resignation in March. He did it to save the board from firing Doughty, he said.
“He reported the deficit to the state, but he never let the board know,” Pennington said.
In the wake of the money problems, the school department remains unsettled.
A first attempt to pass the proposed budget this spring failed to gain voter support, despite a small requested increase. And attempts to fill Doughty’s former job have been unsuccessful.
Last week, the school department announced that a second search for a replacement failed.
The School Union 29 School Committee is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at the Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls.
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