Plans call for a $1 million reserve fund, plus items such as hiring two ed techs and aiding school-based health centers.
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.
Maine parents still in the dark about criminal checks on school employees
Delayed setup of a state online database means the public can’t see background and credentials information for school district employees before October.
Portland cruise ship season gets into full swing with some big boats
The city kicks off the busiest part of the season with back-to-back megacruisers in port.
Diaper drive in Ogunquit aims to help Hurricane Harvey victims
The diapers will be collected through Sept. 16 and shipped to the San Antonio-based Texas Diaper Bank.
Biddeford police looking for driver who hit pedestrian, left scene
The incident occurred Sunday afternoon on Elm Street and sent a 63-year-old man to the hospital.
Westbrook man injured in Portland shooting
A Virginia man was arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with the incident at a carwash on Forest Avenue, police say.
Eliot Cutler resigns as head of UMaine System graduate center
The two-time gubernatorial candidate leaves the position two years after he was hired to head the new Portland-based center.
Slot for 10th and final Maine charter school goes unfilled
No one applied this year to open a new charter school in the fall of 2018.
LearningWorks in Portland gets $1 million grant
The federal money will fund an existing construction job training program that helps at-risk students finish high school.
USM receives grant to develop social justice curriculum, courses
The National Education Association grant is intended to give students opportunities and course credit to learn about social justice and diversity.