For Mary Porter-Price, It's 'Happy Trails'

For Mary Porter-Price, the end of this school year marks not only the beginning of summer but the end of her career as the principal of Gales Ferry School and Juliet W Long School. After June draws to close, she looks forward to a summer of ease, beaches and books, and then a new direction in life.

This will be the 39th school year she has seen to the end as a teacher or a principal. She had been interested in teaching since she began tutoring her brother at 10 years old. In 1972, she began teaching social studies.

She later became the leader of her school's teachers’ union. Her work with the union prompted her principal to suggest that she try administration. She then began to work both as a teacher and an adminstrator.

By 1990, Porter-Price had three young sons. “My husband stayed home with the kids,” she said. “He’s wonderful at home.” She moved to Clark Lane Middle School in Waterford, hoping to be able to spend more time at home.

It was there she met Michael Graner, Ledyard’s Superindant of Schools. In 1994, Graner told her about a job opening in Ledyard. “I had always heard good things about the Ledyard school system, that it was a very caring school system,” she said.

She started as an Assistant Principal, and became the principal of Gales Ferry School in 1995.

The new school was built under her administration, and in 2006, when Steve Panticoff, the principal of Juliet W. Long School, went to Gallup Hill, Juliet Long passed to Porter-Price, who has since been responsible for both of Gales Ferry’s elementary schools.

Now that her time as principal is ending, Porter-Price says she is looking forward to the next chapter in her life. “I’m looking at my life in five-year segments,” she said. For the next five years she plans to work, but hasn’t decided quite what she will do.

She may work as an academic consultant. She also considered becoming an archaeologist, she said, “But I wanted to be an archaeologist who finds things, not an archaeologist who just digs and digs.” She also thought of restoring old homes.

Whatever she does, she knows what she’s looking for in her next career. “I want some flexibility. I don’t want necessarily to work every day,” she said.

She also hopes to spend winters somewhere warmer. “I hate New England winters,” she said, and she has her heart set on a place where pansies bloom in winter.

“My husband and I fell in love with Charleston, South Carolina… We really love it because of the history. It’s by the water, and we’re water people, and the culture,” she said.

She also plans to write.

“At some point I want to write a book,” she said. She will title it What I Know Best and she thinks it may become a series.

“I want to put my 39 years in education into a book,” she said. She may write another about her experiencea as a parent. She’d like to write another book about her mother. “So much of who I am is from my mom, and she’s a remarkable person,” Porter-Price said.

But as much as she may look forward to the rest of her life, Ledyard’s schools will be sad to see her go.

“Mary has been a huge asset to the district for many years," said Graner. "Mary is well respected for her excellent organizational skills and for her leadership of the instructional program that has produced such outstanding results in student learning.”

He added, “Over the last several years, the administrative team at Gales Ferry-Juliet Long has undergone a lot of changes, but Mary has been the consistent force to ensure the primary focus of the schools has been student achievement.”