LEBANON — The sudden departure of Colleen McIntyre earlier this week has left the district in search of a new middle school principal.

McIntyre, whose last day at the school was Monday, “has taken personal leave for the rest of the academic year and will not be returning to the school next year,” Superintendent Amy Allen said in a letter to parents and guardians on Tuesday. McIntyre’s salary for the current school year is $100,006.

McIntyre came to Lebanon in 2022 from Mascoma Valley Regional High School, where she was associate principal for two years. She replaced John D’Entrement, who had held the post since 2017. He is now the Lyme School’s principal.

District leadership is focusing on day-to-day operations and “maintaining a stable and supportive environment for our students, parents, and staff,” Allen wrote. The middle school serves approximately 500 students in grades 5-8.

Student Services Coordinator Erin Mills will be the point of contact for the middle school until an interim appointment is made, and she will be supported by district leadership, Allen said.

Emails to McIntyre’s school address were not returned by deadline on Friday. Allen declined to detail the reasons for McIntyre’s departure, saying that her “personal leave is her personal matter, which we do not comment on.”

The district has launched searches for both an interim principal and permanent replacement, with a target start date of Feb. 12 for the interim role. If the interim hire is a good fit, that person may be considered for the permanent position, Allen said.

“Any transition is difficult,” but Lebanon is fortunate to have a large district with a deep bench of qualified staff, Lebanon Education Association Member Coordinator Elizabeth Jones said Thursday.

Emails to the middle school Parent Teacher Organization were not returned by deadline Friday.

A parent meeting will take place on Monday at 6 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria to address questions and concerns about the leadership transition there.

Lebanon is not the only Upper Valley school district to have lost its leader mid-year.

Interim Principal Justin Bouvier left Hartford Memorial Middle School in early December, citing health concerns. A petition last month urging the district to persuade Bouvier to reconsider received more than 200 signatures, as parents expressed concerns about an increase in bullying in his absence.

Brian Boardman, a teacher at Samuel Morey Elementary School in Fairlee, will assume the interim role in February, with a search for a permanent replacement to begin shortly, Hartford Education Association President Nichole Vielleux said.

Administrators have been shifting locations within the district to fill staffing gaps, but the presence of unfamiliar adult faces undermines efforts to present a united front on behavioral expectations, according to a Jan. 24 letter the Hartford Education Association wrote to the Hartford School Board.

“The students have taken advantage of that confusion” by refusing to listen to adults they don’t know, the association wrote. The inconsistency has compromised the safety and morale of staff and students, the letter said. Staff have reported feeling unsafe at work due to “highly sexualized student behavior, inappropriate language” and general harassment.

Being a principal is a “tough job,” Bridey Bellemare, executive director of the New Hampshire Association of School Principals, said on Wednesday.

Even before the pandemic, schools were seeing an increase in volatile and dysregulated behaviors in children as early as preschool, she said: “You can’t quite put your finger on it, (but) kids are falling apart in a school setting no matter how creative we are in trying to support them.”

For school administrators, these challenges require patience, trust and relationship building, “and all of that is emotionally taxing. You have to give of yourself constantly,” Bellemare said.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.