RANDOLPH — A Skowhegan native will be the new principal of T.C. Hamlin School this fall.

The Regional School Unit 11 school board recently voted to hire Travis Works, 33, a third-grade teacher at Bloomfield Elementary School in Skowhegan.

Superintendent Pat Hopkins and other members of the search committee recommended Works based on his energy, technical knowledge and a personality that would help him in collaborating with the staff, Hopkins said.

“We felt that, in this day and age, we must have building principals who have a strong vision of what effective teaching looks like,” she said.

Works has not worked as an administrator but has served in leadership positions in RSU 54 and the Hartford, Conn., public schools.

Works grew up in Skowhegan and attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., but said he always intended to return to Maine, inspired by a speech Gov. Angus King gave about young people being Maine’s greatest export.

“That’s when I made the commitment that I’d return to Maine about five years after graduating,” he said.

Works said he became interested in RSU 11 when he and some colleagues from Skowhegan visited Pittston Consolidated School to learn about Spark, a program that involves classroom teachers in physical education.

He said he was impressed by the district’s use of professional learning communities — groups of teachers that meet to review student achievement data — used during his time in Hartford.

“I’d like to make as much time as possible for those dicussions to take place and also increase communication with other buildings,” Works said.

Hamlin has about 120 students in grades pre-kindergarten though fifth, with only one class at each grade level.

That can lead to teachers at the school being isolated from peers at other schools, Hopkins said.

Hamlin’s small size has led to dicussions about eliminating the principal’s position. Works’ predecessor, Dana Folsom, left the school after one year as principal in part because of the uncertainty, Hopkins said.

A committee is examining whether RSU 11 should reorganize its elementary schools.

Susan McMillan — 621-5645

smcmillan@mainetoday.com