GRAY — A Gray-New Gloucester Middle School band teacher, who was on her way to work this morning, was killed after she lost control of her car on a slushy road and hit a pickup truck on Route 100, which is also known as Portland Road.

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department identified the victim as 26-year-old Elizabeth Polletto of Portland.  Poletto has been teaching band – for three days a week – at the school for three years. She also teaches music on her off days at the Georgetown Central School.

Police investigators said Polletto was travelling north when she lost control of her 1999 Ford Escort and slid into the path of a 2007 Toyota Tundra pickup truck operated by 57-year-old John Hanley of Raymond.

Hanley was transported by ambulance to Maine Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The cause of the accident remains under investigation. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts.

Bruce Beasley, superintendent of the Gray-New Gloucester school district, said several counselors spent Tuesday with grieiving students.

“She was a wonderful teacher, adored by her colleagues and her students,” said middle school principal, Sherry Levesque.


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