Wiscasset is losing its head of special education, Jess Yates. In a brief interview Thursday night minutes after she addressed the School Committee about her resignation, Yates, of Bristol, said she is taking the job of special education director at Regional School Unit 13, which serves Rockland, Thomaston, South Thomaston and Cushing. That’s the district where she served as assistant director of special education until starting the Wiscasset job in July 2014, she said.

Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot told the committee and meeting attendees Yates was probably one of the best special education directors she had ever come across, so she was announcing Yates’ resignation with a heavy heart.

Speaking from the lectern, Yates said the decision to leave was not easy but that she was doing it for her professional growth, taking the unexpected opportunity to have a leadership position in a larger district. She said she was confident that the members of Wiscasset’s special education staff are more than capable of successfully supporting students and students’ families.

The program has been doing so well, she recently heard from one father praising his child’s transition into the program, and asking if the child’s sibling could enter the program as well; and from a mother in another school district asking if her child could enter Wiscasset’s special education program. Yates said she explained to the woman that school districts are required to serve students in their towns and she encouraged the woman to work with that district. But Yates told the committee the point of those examples is, “Our teachers are doing great things, and people are noticing.”

She thanked the committee, school staff, and Wilmot and the department’s past, interim superintendents for their support, and thanked fellow administrators for tolerating her fast pace and non-traditional ideas.

As the committee left the Wiscasset Middle High School library to head into an executive session on staff negotiations, member Chelsea Haggett stopped and thanked Yates for her work in Wiscasset.

Yates is planning her last day in Wiscasset to be Nov. 11. “My time in Wiscasset has truly been a privilege,” she said.

In an email response to questions Friday, Wilmot states she is drafting plans for the search for the next director of special services. “Just as we have done with other leadership positions, we will be using a comprehensive process that will include an advisory committee made up of a cross-section of stakeholders who will review applications and interview prospective candidates.” Then Wilmot will iinterview finalists and a recommendation will go to the school committee, according to the email.

The school department is advertising the opening online and in area newspapers, Wilmot states. Applications close Oct. 14.