Maine School Administrative District 11 school board student members Keira Blodgett, left, and Sage Sculli pose Tuesday at Gardiner Area High School in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

GARDINER — The two students who were approached by school board candidate Michelle Tucker want to share their side of what happened and say they will not let her actions ruin their devotion to serving on the school board.

Tucker approached the two girls after student representative Sage Sculli shared a story about her transgender family member at the tense Sept. 5 Maine School Administrative District 11 board of directors meeting where a transgender policy was set to be approved. Fellow student member Keira Blodgett abstained from the vote.

The interaction prompted school administration to file a police report, but no charges were filed.

Tucker, who is running for a spot to represent Gardiner on the MSAD 11 school board, told the Kennebec Journal a few weeks ago that she did not wait for the girls, but, the girls say that’s not the case: they want to speak out about what they say really happened.

“One of the big misconceptions was that she congratulated me and said ‘Good job,’ but she did not,” Sculli said. “I wrote to Pat (Hopkins) that she said to me, ‘If you want to be taken seriously in the future, you need to learn how to control yourself. It’s not a personal matter unless it directly affects you. It was not professional. Next meeting, you need to pull yourself together and hopefully in the future, you can learn to be more respectful.”

The September board meeting was tense, as several members of the public attended and decided to speak either for or against the transgender policy that allows the school leeway to figure out a plan with the student if they are not out to their parents. The policy is under the Maine Human Rights Act and more recently, part of the updated Title IX guidelines schools across the country adopted in August. Tucker spoke at the meeting against the policy.

Sculli, a senior, and Blodgett, a junior, are student representatives on the school board. They have a vote, but their vote is merely symbolic.

As student representatives, they can bring student issues to the board and provide a student perspective, which is what Sculli did when, though tears, she spoke in favor of protecting the mental health of students and used her family member as an example. Adult board members applauded her courage for speaking up.

After the vote and when the meeting ended, the girls, who rode together, took their time going back to Sculli’s car.

That’s when they were approached by Tucker, who the girls said went right up to them when they walked out. Blodgett said that Tucker turned to her first and said she applauded her professionalism in abstaining from a vote, then turned to Sculli.

“I was stunned. It was heartbreaking,” Blodgett said. “Sage is like the nicest person ever and to see a stranger disrespect her, it was so sad. While my opinion had already been said by other board members, Sage had the courage to speak up and add to the controversy and tell her story.”

Neither one of the girls had seen Tucker before and Sculli said she had to go back to the YouTube recording of the board meeting to get her name from when she spoke during public comment. Blodgett said that Tucker went up to her boyfriend, too, and he never saw Tucker before, either.

Stunned, they emailed Superintendent Pat Hopkins, who spoke about the situation with School Resource Officer Jordan Gaudet from Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office who filed a police report. Hopkins told the board about the incident at the Oct. 2 meeting where several members of the board expressed outrage and offered to chaperone the girls to their vehicles next time.

Though no charges were filed against Tucker, Sculli’s mother said it doesn’t mean Tucker’s actions are justified.

“I think she thought it was more, ‘I didn’t do anything illegal,’ but sometimes police reports are to document,” Jen Sculli, Sage’s mother, said.

And though the incident stunned, shocked and scared the girls, they both said they will not let Tucker hinder their love of serving on the board.

Blodgett said not only has being on the board inspired her to have an interest in lawmaking, but she’s grown to love attending meetings. She also likes seeing how schools run from the government side and recently, was ecstatic to be a part of approving the new unified volleyball team at Gardiner Area High School.

“The school board runs based on cooperation with board members and runs on respect for other board members and the ability to be reasonable and listen to all sides. When you are someone so emotionally involved in student representatives who don’t even have a legal vote and so involved on Facebook and took the time to wait for us, shows you aren’t a reasonable person and it’s very, it’s very inappropriate,” Blodgett said. “For the board to get anything done, they have to be open-minded, calm, and even if not, they have to be open to other perspectives.”

Sculli got involved through the interact club, a volunteer-based club, and loves being able to represent students. As a senior, she applied early decision to Dartmouth College to study neuroscience. 

“When you’re on the school board, your job is to be thinking of every single one of the kids. If your true intent is to put the kids first, I don’t think anyone would have that kind of reaction to someone speaking up at the school board meeting,” Sculli said.

Tucker did not respond to a request for a new comment and Hopkins and Board Chair Becky Fles abstained from commenting on the matter.