But community-wide support was on Farrell’s side, and he now looks back at the experience with a different perspective.He said Aspen’s hard-edged political scene, and the newcomers who attempt to inject their opinions, is the polar opposite of the predominantly Buddhist and always respectful Kaohsiung community.”To me, it’s much more peaceful,” he said. “There has not been one discipline problem here.”That’s a far cry from Aspen, where students sometimes fall into the party culture or are distracted by recreational opportunities.Prior to Farrell’s departure, he was the target of two women who had organized a campaign to get him fired because they felt the district’s academic standards weren’t sufficiently high. The K-12, tuition-based school has 400 students and nearly all of them are Asians who plan to attend Ivy League universities in the United States.”These kids are very committed,” Farrell said, adding all of them are bilingual.
“As soon as we got off the plane we fell in love with the place.”He and Debbie enjoy every bit of life in the city of 1.8 million people, most of whom are hard-working individuals putting in 15- to 16-hour work days six or seven days a week, Farrell said.His students take their educational careers just as seriously.
“I never thought I would be here.”But it’s a real hoot,” Farrell added. Farrell said the sunsets are spectacular and the temperature is typically in the 80s, and never falls below 60 degrees.He has views of the ocean, is within minutes of several beaches and islands, and places like China, Japan and Cambodia are reachable with a short plane ride.”I thought I was going to retire and have a good life,” he said. He mulled it over briefly with his wife, Debbie, and they made a quick decision to go international.”I said, ‘Debbie, get a map out, where the hell is Taiwan?'” he said from his 26th floor apartment in Kaohsiung, a major port city in Southwestern Taiwan. As you’ll hear from the people we did find, Aspen tends to stay with people, in one way or another.Enjoy.īy Carolyn SackariasonFormer Aspen Schools Superintendent Tom Farrell has traded the frigid weather of the Rocky Mountains for flip flops, sunsets and ocean views in Taiwan.Farrell, who left Aspen in 2003 after 15 years in the community, moved to Taiwan two years ago to be the director of Kaohsiung American School in Kaohsiung City.In between Aspen and Taiwan, Farrell spent five years in his home state of Maine, where he was the superintendent of schools in Kennebunkport.He thought that would be the end of the run, but he was convinced by a group of fellow educators during a work trip in Turkey to apply for an international job.Farrell got the job within a week of applying.
Perhaps they’ll return our phone calls later, or drop in some time. We tracked down a few of them and wrote down what they told us.Of course, we reached dead ends with a number of others. Workers stream in and out of town with the seasons, second-home owners stay for brief intervals of time before leaving again, and many professionals seem to come to town, make a splash and then move on to other ventures in other places.In the newsroom, we often find ourselves asking, “What ever happened to so-and-so?” Recently we assembled a list of Aspenites who had an impact at one time, but seemed to have vanished from the scene. ASPEN – Aspen has long been a transient place.
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