Carrie Jones

Oct 11, 2025

SOUTHWEST HARBOR—A familiar face will be heading up the Pemetic Elementary School this year.

The school committee unanimously appointed Carolyn Todd as the interim principal earlier this week after Dr. Christine Gray resigned earlier this school year.

“I know its a really big job and I will certainly do my best,” Todd told her school board during its Thursday afternoon meeting.

The unanimous vote was greeted by applause from the public.

Todd has been the guidance counselor at the school and has been supported by the school district’s central office during the transition this week.

“I’ve talked to the staff about three commitments that I really want to fulfill,” she said.

Those commitments include communication, presence, and being available to those who need her.

“And also, acknowledging that sometimes teachers have a lot of things on their plates and being able to give them the gift of time when I can,” Todd said.

In 2014, the Bar Harbor (Mount Desert Island) Rotary Club awarded Todd its 2014 Golden Apple Award for excellence in education.

Then Pemetic Principal Dianne Helprin, told Dick Brook of the Mount Desert Islander, “that in addition to counseling students individually and in small groups, Todd teaches classroom lessons on proper behavior, fairness, honesty and respect for others.”

Sometimes Todd’s role included guiding students and staff through devastating events such as the loss of an eighth grader to cancer.

“She was there every step of the way teaching our children about loss and resilience and helping them deal with their grief in constructive and meaningful ways,” Helprin told Broom. “The lessons they learn from Carolyn they will carry with them throughout their lives.”

“I am in the process of hiring an interim and will do a full search for a new principal at the start of 2026,” Zboray said last month. He briefly spoke to that process again at the school board meeting.

Gray became principal in 2022. She grew up in Connecticut, but summered on Mount Desert Island throughout her childhood. Her father’s family was from Mount Desert Island. Prior to her position as principal at the Southwest Harbor School, she’d had thirteen years of administration experience and a total of more than 22 years in education, teaching first grade through fifth grade. Her position prior to Southwest Harbor was as principal in a Pickerington, Ohio school.

In a letter from Dr. Gray to school board members, she wrote, “This was a very difficult decision to make, but after very careful consideration, I have chosen to move closer to my family and become the caregiver for one of my family members.”

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All photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story

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