Math scores, however, still reflect only 39 percent of students test at grade level.
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.
State wants to shift special education for 3- to 5-year-olds to school districts
The current system has overruns and a shortage of providers, but it’s unclear whether school districts will have the resources to do the job.
Backyard Farms resumes production after facility upgrades
The tomato grower had stopped production in August to make improvements under its new owner, Mastronardi Produce.
Maine school districts offer incentives to get drivers on the bus
A chronic lack of bus drivers, which has gotten worse in recent years, is prompting districts to provide free training, bonuses and guaranteed work weeks with medical and dental benefits.
Alfond Foundation pays off $685,000 in student loan debt for 20 Maine graduates
The funds are the first round of payments in a program intended to eliminate $5 million in debt for Maine residents working in STEM fields.
Lawmaker calls DHHS response to federal audit ‘vague and unsatisfactory’
Commissioner Ricker Hamilton’s report to the Health and Human Services Committee lacks critical information, says Rep. Patty Hymanson.
DHHS responds to Maine lawmakers’ questions about treatment of disabled adults
But the letter to a legislative committee seeking answers to findings that the department failed to protect adults with developmental disabilities is not immediately made public.
Racist, homophobic graffiti found in building on Bowdoin campus
The graffiti, which included a swastika, was believed to have been left on a white board between midnight and 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Lawmakers press DHHS to explain how it failed to protect developmentally disabled adults
A committee asks the current commissioner to answer pointed questions by Tuesday, including why the agency didn’t investigate the deaths of 133 people receiving services.
Bowdoin receives $10 million donation for Coastal Studies Center
The gift, from a senior vice president at Apple, will go for new facilities at the center on Orr’s Island.