TOPSHAM — After four years in Yarmouth, Josh Ottow has returned to School Administrative District 75.

Ottow, 36, started as Mt. Ararat Middle School principal Aug. 24, one day before the teachers returned for staff development.

He replaces Bill Zima. Megan Hayes-Teague, the school’s new assistant principal, filled the principal’s role in an interim capacity.

Ottow first joined SAD 75 in 2003 as a history teacher at Mt. Ararat High School, and became an assistant principal there four years later. He left in 2011 to become assistant principal at Yarmouth High School.

“This … is a phenomenal school district,” he said Sept. 10. “I really appreciate the sense of pride and community that exists with the four towns that send their children here. I really enjoyed working in this district, and found it to be a pretty supportive place for educational professionals.”

Even while working in Yarmouth, he said, “it was pretty clear that (Mt. Ararat Middle School) has a really strong reputation for being a forward-thinking, innovative school. The faculty of this school is just phenomenal … so supportive, and clearly I have a lot of learning I need to do in starting so close to the start of school.

“But they’ve got a lot of great initiatives and programs going here; my job is to support those,” Ottow added, “and so in that way it’s been a great transition, just learning about all the great things we’re doing at this school, and seeing what I can do to support them right off the bat.”

Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

Josh Ottow

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