Heather Wilmot is starting her first three years as superintendent of Wiscasset schools with gratitude and a plan. The gratitude is for the support she has been getting from staff, students and the community.

The plan is for all that the Brunswick woman wants to accomplish in her first 100 days on the job.

July 1 was day one.

Wilmot joins the 1-year-old school department as it undergoes big transitions, including the new grade ranges that two schools now serve as a result of Wiscasset Primary School’s closure; and the move of the department’s central office from space at the former Wiscasset Middle School, now Wiscasset Elementary School, to a building that once housed Wiscasset’s alternative education program.

The new central office, opposite Wiscasset Middle High School on Gardiner Road, has gotten new carpeting and fresh paint on the walls, Wilmot said. A move-in date was not yet known. In the meantime, Wilmot, Administrative Assistant Stacey Souza and Finance Manager Shelley Schmal are sharing the current space at Wiscasset Elementary. Wilmot takes meetings in another room across the hall.

The three are making the temporary, shared space work by being flexible, Wilmot said.

As for the primary school grades’ move into Wiscasset Elementary, that also is going well thanks to the efforts of movers and the school department’s custodial and other staff, Wilmot said. The move is being done in steps, with arriving items being set up inside before more items arrive, Wilmot said.

“The (staff members) have done a remarkable job to be prepared for this move .... They’ve been really proactive, packing up their spaces,” Wilmot said. Maintenance and Transportation Director John Merry is heading up the move, with help from teacher Sue Townsend.

Wilmot has been working with Merry and Wiscasset Parks & Recreation Director Todd Souza on the makeover to the elementary school’s playground and parking; she also plans to work with the Wiscasset Police Department on traffic flow.

Monitoring the department’s transitions is part of Wilmot’s 100-day “entry plan,” along with looking at student achievement and building a relationship with the school committee.

She started drafting the plan after the school committee named her to the superintendent’s job in February; her last day as assistant superintendent of schools for Lisbon and Lisbon Falls was June 30.

Wilmot wants to have written protocols for handling department business. “Doing that is really helping me to look at how we can be more efficient (and) more resourceful, and our employees can have their time maximized as much as possible.”

Another goal is getting to know the staff and students. She met with both near the close of the past school year and has also been studying yearbooks.

“People have done a great job being patient with me, making sure I’ve got the right name to the right person and their position. I know that people feel valued when you know their name and something personal about them, or something important to them.”

The high school’s student council gave her a school yearbook and an ice cream cake. “It was great. They were very thoughtful.”

Wilmot has also met with Town Manager Marian Anderson. “That was just to get to know each other to begin developing a relationship, because we’ll be working together to best use resources for the school department and the town,” Wilmot said.

Asked for her early observations about Wiscasset, Wilmot said one of the best parts of the experience so far has been how welcoming and supportive the community has been.

“People have really gone out of their way to meet me, and take time out of their busy day to spend with me so I can really develop an understanding ... of the needs of the community. And I can really be more responsive, the better I understand.

“(The support has) been really helpful, and it’s just been simply impressive, going forward.”

In August, Wilmot will receive something not all Maine superintendents have, a doctorate in education. The three years of study she put into it, including research that began last October, will help her serve the school department, she said.

Her nearly 200-page dissertation focused on programs for students with autism. “One of my biggest passions is looking at how to better support students with disabilities. And because there’s been an increased prevalence of autism in the state ... and nationwide, I really wanted to uncover what that looked like for children with autism in (public schools).”

Wilmot surveyed and resurveyed one school department’s teachers, educational technicians and administrators before she identified ways their department and others could better serve students with autism. Among her findings, the department she studied had not been using one behavioral assessment as consistently as educational literature says to use it.

The work has helped show her how to gather information about programs, figure out what’s important and then use that information, Wilmot said. “It goes back that question of ‘So what? Now what do I do, how do I make a difference.’”

Although she didn’t need a doctorate to work as a superintendent, Wilmot said she pursued it as part of her commitment to continuing her education.

“That’s been something I’ve really held, always, as a learner. I’ve always felt that, in order to best lead an organization, you do need to be the leader of learning.”

Wilmot succeeds Lyford Beverage, the second of Wiscasset’s two interim superintendents since planning started in January 2014 for the department’s July 1, 2014 opening.  Residents voted in November 2013 to leave Regional School Unit 12.