Alan "Hawk" Hawkins, former superintendent of Wiscasset schools, has been appointed RSU 12's interim superintendent.

School board members welcomed Hawkins after unanimously approving his position for the upcoming year at their June 14 meeting at the Windsor Elementary School.

Superintendent Greg Potter will continue to work for the school district, at least until June 30. Staff and school board members gave Potter a fond farewell, sharing gifts and food. With a flushed face, he removed his glasses to wipe his eyes after a staff member performed a hand signing of "Proud to be an American."

"I just know this district is going to thrive," Potter said. He added that the hard work of staff and board members laid a solid foundation on which the school district will continue to build.

Hawkins expressed his optimism regarding forthcoming work in the district, as board members deliberated before voting him in as interim superintendent. According to RSU 12 Board Chair Hillary Holm, he will be paid $109,000 for the year. Potter was paid $107,100 for the 2011-2012 school year.

"I really wanted to come here," Hawkins said, standing outside the school building.

Hawkins served as superintendent of Wiscasset schools for three years. In his final address to Wiscasset residents in the 2004 town report, Hawkins wrote of the decline in student population; a concern that continues in the present.

Hawkins is stepping out of retirement to fulfill the one-year assignment for RSU 12. He has been serving as school district leader in Cape Elizabeth, where he was superintendent from 2005 to 2010.

Before coming to Wiscasset in 2002, Hawkins worked as the principal of the Memorial Middle School in South Portland for 13 years and as principal of the Dora L. Small Elementary School, also in South Portland, for four years before that. Early on in his career, he was an elementary school teacher. Hawkins has more than 40 years of education experience.

He acknowledged that there is a lot of work ahead regarding Wiscasset and Wesport Island's decision to pursue the option of withdrawing from the school unit.

"I knew I would have some challenges," he said. "It will be interesting to see how this all plays out."

Members of the school board will work with committees from both Wiscasset and Westport Island to help develop plans for each town to withdraw from the school unit. Since both towns voted in favor of starting the withdrawal process on June 12, plans must be drawn up that will meet Department of Education standards.

Westport Island board member Richard DeVries said the vote in favor of investigating his town's withdrawal from the district did not arise out of dissatisfaction with the school unit.

As many have expressed over the past year, the overriding concern for towns is the cost, weighed against providing quality education for students. The fiscal year 2013 education budget for the district passed in the June 12 referendum, and the school board managed to keep programs running despite a steep drop in federal funding. Finance Committee members continue to work on a cost sharing plan they hope towns will embrace.

Former board member Ralph Hilton underscored the cost concern at the meeting, speaking from the audience. Remarking on the budget receiving board and town approval, he said, "that's quite an accomplishment," but he added the board needs to address the cost allocation formula. "The change needs to take place now. I implore the board to stop being side-tracked and just do it."

Finance Committee member Jerry Nault said he and the others would be addressing local cost allocation and calculating cost per student during upcoming meetings. Their next meeting is scheduled for the RSU 12 central office in Whitefield on Thursday, July 5, at 5 p.m.