Baxter and Fiddlehead are renewed for 10 years, and Harpswell for five years, all by 5-0 commission votes.
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.
Out-of-state enrollment in UMaine System soars
The increase is good news for the system’s financial bottom line.
Maine school moves to reverse shortage of rural lawyers
A new program puts aspiring young lawyers in country practices in hopes of increasing access to justice in underserved areas.
Education committee endorses board members for Maine Maritime, UMaine system
Ande Smith, who narrowly lost a 2016 bid for Congress, will head to MMA, pending Senate approval.
Long-debated Portland issue coming to vote: Pay to fix 2 elementary schools, or 4?
Proponents of one borrowing plan say it’s not fair to renovate two schools but not others, but the two-school advocates want to wait and see if the state will cover the cost of replacing some facilities.
Portland school bond Q and A
Q: How much would the $64 million bond to fix all four schools cost taxpayers? A: Borrowed in stages over the next six years, the bond would result in $91 million in debt after interest. Property taxes are projected to increase by 3.1 percent over a 26-year period, adding an average of $104 a year […]
South Portland veterans to honor long-lost Medal of Honor recipient
They will gather Sunday at the grave of Emile Lejeune, whose final resting place was a mystery until the Congressional Medal of Honor Society found it in Forest City Cemetery.
Descendants of woman misused by doctors speak at USM on medical ethics
Henrietta Lacks’ cancer cells were taken without her consent and led to many medical advances. A grandson says, ‘There was an injustice done in 1951.’
Mold discovered at second Portland elementary school
The mold was discovered about three weeks ago at the Reiche school, and work has begun to remove it and fix a leaky pipe that caused it, according to School Superintendent Xavier Botana.
UMaine System getting rid of tuition, fees for some students at 4 campuses
The financial aid program is open to students at the Presque Isle, Fort Kent, Augusta and Machias campuses who qualify for federal Pell grants.