Wiscasset Police Chief Larry Hesseltine and the also new Wiscasset Middle High School principal, Chuck Lomonte, worked together to interview candidates to re-staff the police department, including the school resource officer, last week.

“We interviewed five candidates,” Hesseltine said. “Two ... were very strong.” Hesseltine said he hopes the process will move forward quickly, in two to three weeks. “In the meantime, we’ve got our part-time officers,” he said. Both of the strong candidates can preservice part-timers, too, but at some point will have to attend the police academy, he said.

Lomonte said he was grateful the chief reached out collaboratively to place the school in the process. “We had a really thoughtful process, thinking about the needs of our students,” he said. “We also spent time defining the role of the SRO during the interview process. We got some good insight about what the candidates thought about working with students.”

Because the school and the police department both have new administrators, Hesseltine and Lomonte said there was nothing to overcome to work together collaboratively. “We started working together in a cooperative way from the outset,” Hesseltine said.

“We are all working together for the kids’ future,” Lomonte said. “There’s a new sun rising over the Sheepscot River in Wiscasset, and it’s all looking good.”