Democratic legislators, school officials cry foul over Gov. Paul LePage’s education initiative.
Noel K. Gallagher
Noel Gallagher covers K-12 and higher education issues statewide. Her stories are a mix of breaking news and trend stories. In recent years, they’ve ranged from why college costs so much, the launch of the state’s first charter schools, how a school welcomed a transgender student and why Maine schools have a hard time finding teachers. She’s enough of a news nerd to enjoy sitting through legislative education committee meetings and hours-long school board meetings so you don’t have to.
The Maine Press Association has honored Noel’s work, but she says she writes for the readers, in the firm belief that an informed citizenry is key to a healthy democracy.
Noel is a California native who has worked at wire services, online websites and newspapers across the country. She was in Washington D.C. during the early Clinton years, covering AIDS activism in 1990s San Francisco, documenting the business of wine in Sonoma County and riding out the boom and bust cycle of the early Internet era in early 2000s Silicon Valley. She arrived in Maine at the beginning of the recession and wrote quite a bit about the downturn here.
In her free time, Noel writes the occasional cookbook review, spends an inordinate amount of time at the Portland Public Library and hangs out with her three fabulous kids and wonderful husband. She is not a former member of the band Oasis.
Posted inNews
Sign-ups for first Portland charter school falling short
Baxter Academy still expects to enroll the 140-plus students projected in its request to open, but has only 105 now.
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Posted inNation & World, News
Portland schools’ 55 staff cuts bemoaned
The school board OKs spending that seeks a tax hike while hoping for relief from the Legislature.
Posted inNews
Maine students place a long distance call: Hello space station
The conversation is part of a Bates College Museum of Art exhibition.
Posted inNews
Marathon bombings class topic in Maine schools
Portland-area teachers toss out their lesson plans and discuss last week’s attack with their students.
Posted inNews
Districts pinched by charter schools
Public school superintendents struggle to calculate and accommodate the cost of charter schools on their budgets.
Posted inNews
Teachers at hearing decry plan to cut Portland jobs
The union offers other ways to save so the budget can minimize the impact on Portland students.
Posted inNews
Portland charter school, ousted founder settle legal dispute
The terms are confidential, but there still could be a state investigation of the Baxter Academy application.
Posted inNews
Vote allows Portland charter school to proceed
Parents and prospective Baxter Academy students are thrilled, but several hurdles still remain.
Posted inNews
Maine parents support morning-after pill ruling
A federal judge says the 17-or-older age restriction on sales of the pill is ‘arbitrary’ and ‘capricious.’