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ACUSHNET -- Superintendent Stephen B. Hosmer resigned last night just 15 days prior to the start of school.
Mr. Hosmer will become superintendent of public schools in Pomfert and Eastford, Conn., where class starts this morning.
Mr. Hosmer's action was a surprise to the School Committee, which accepted the resignation with regret and started thinking about a search for both a new superintendent and Middle School principal.
Teachers, meanwhile, report to school on Sept. 3 and students return to class on Sept. 5.
Mr. Hosmer has made arrangements for opening months of the new scholastic year. He hired former interim Superintendent John McCarthy to guide Acushnet Middle School on a per diem basis.
Mr. McCarthy is retired, but he may be approached to act as interim superintendent again in the town, which just over two years ago, recalled the entire school committee.
Mr. Hosmer stressed the point that the opening of school is covered. "Everything is in place and set,'' he said. "And ready to go.''
He will shuttle between northeastern Connecticut and Acushnet to assure a smooth back-to-school period in all communities.
Mr. Hosmer also said he advised state education Commissioner Robert V. Antonucci of his resignation. He said Mr. Antonucci may "put out some feelers'' for Acushnet superintendent candidates.
"There are some people in the market available who do their own (job) searches,'' Mr. Hosmer said.
Luis G. DaRosa, school committee chairman, said Mr. Hosmer's departure is a matter of finances.
"It's an issue of money,'' he said. "Acushnet can't match (superintendent) salaries other towns pay.''
Mr. Hosmer earned $70,00 a year here. Mr. DaRosa said he is not sure whether a superintendent can be hired for that pay at the start of a new school year.
"Can we find one? I don't know,'' he said. "Superintendents have a high mortality rate. It is a trying job. When everything is going fine, they get no credit. When everything is going wrong, they get all the blame.''
Mr. DaRosa said he is also not sure what kind of search the school panel will initiate for a new superintendent. It was a full search panel two years ago with a large screening contingent. That search, he said, cost about $7,000.
"Politically, at that time it was a good move,'' he said. "It was a difficult time after the recall. The community was involved. There was bitterness in staff, and the support staff was unionizing. But we achieved some change. People don't like change. But Mr. Hosmer helped us with many projects and we fixed the roofs on the two schools''
School panel member Mary Ellen Viera was visibly shaken by last night's development.
New member Patricia Scott had just joined the committee. "The party's over, and I missed it,'' she said.
Mr. Hosmer spent two years here. He said he departs with "mixed emotions. Opportunities come up and you have to seize those opportunities,'' he said. "We have accomplished an awful lot in Acushnet. I had a good time; I enjoyed my stay here, but I look forward to my future.''
He said he will help the school committee find a new superintendent. He also recommends that the panel search for and hire a vice-principal for curriculum on the Grades 8-8 level.
Funding for that position, he said, must be secured at the September town meeting, which will be held Sept. 11 if the town's financial records are reconciled for the past fiscal year by Aug. 26.
Mr. Hosmer was appointed in late August 1994. He was a deputy superintendent in Vermont. He grew up in Waterford, Conn.
Finalists for the position were Michael Frechette, then an assistant superintendent in Strafford, N.H., and Dr. Robert White from Wareham, a principal in Medway.
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