Members of the Maine School Administrative District 11 School Board listen to public comment Thursday night on a proposal to add a school-based health center at Gardiner Area High School. After two hours of discussion, board members voted to explore the proposal further. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

GARDINER — After a lengthy and heated discussion, the Maine School Administrative District 11 School Board decided Thursday night to move forward with a proposal to add a school-based health center at Gardiner Area High School.

The health center would provide services for school staff members and students similar to a primary care physician’s office, according to officials. It would be run by HealthReach, a Maine-based provider of community health centers, and open for the 2025-26 school year.

The cost to operate the health center would be paid by a mix of patient fees, insurance reimbursement and potential grants, officials said.

The board, which oversees public schools in Gardiner, Pittston, Randolph and West Gardiner, is divided on the proposal and took two hours to put it to a vote Thursday night. Eight of 12 members voted to continue researching the details of the health center.

Board members Becky Fles, Anthony Veit, Linda Caputo, Meaghan Carlson, Joanne O’Brien, Molly Rogers, Elissa Tracey and Barry Manning voted in favor of moving forward with the school-based health center, while Michelle Tucker and Sean Focht voted against the proposal and Jeff Hanley abstained from voting. Board member Matthew Lillibridge did not attend the meeting.

The board’s two student representatives, Sage Sculli and Keira Blodgett, both cast nonbinding votes in favor of the proposal.

Amended by Tracey, the motion did not include a proposal to formally approve a school-based health center. Instead, it called for allowing the board to move forward with gathering documents, contracts and policies to explore the next steps in adding a health center at the high school at 40 West Hill Road.

To date, 26 school-based health centers have been established in Maine to expand medical access for teachers, administrators and students, including at Cony High School in Augusta and Lawrence High School in Fairfield. Twenty are paid for with federal money and six are state-funded.

Before the board began its discussion, more than 30 minutes was given to hearing comments from the public. Each speaker was limited to 90 seconds to make sure all 25 people who had signed up to speak could be heard. Around 50 people attended in person and over 100 people watched online.

Of those who spoke, it appeared 19 supported a school-based health center, three were against the proposal and three said they had questions or wanted more information.

Members of the Maine School Administrative District 11 School Board vote Thursday night on whether to move forward with the possibility of adding a school-based health center at Gardiner Area High School. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

The school-based health center was brought forward by nurses in the school district when they saw a need in the community for a place where students can get physicals, vaccinations and other services they might not be able to access without insurance or a long wait period. A school-based health center can also provide lab work, care for acute services and mental health services. 

The board’s student representatives shared survey results they gathered from students. Of 189 students who responded, they said, 43.8% of students said they would use the center, 24.3% said they might and 31.6% said they wouldn’t use the school-based health center. 

Before Sculli shared the results she responded to Tucker, who had said that parents know their students best and therefore should be involved in medical office visits and in medical decisions.  

“I would like to argue that students know students best. We are human beings,” Sculli said. “I’m not sure where the infantilization of high school students is coming from, but I’m applying for college and eight days away from finding out if I get into Dartmouth College. We can make our own informed decisions.” 

After Sculli spoke, Manning responded with, “That was cute,” and mocked the way Sculli spoke. 

“We treat each other with respect here,” said Fles, the board chairwoman, before calling a five-minute recess in response to Manning’s conduct.

OPPOSITION FROM OUTSIDERS  

Superintendent Pat Hopkins shared that leading up to Thursday’s meeting she received 633 emails, 542 of which were in opposition to the school-based health center. Of the 542 emails, she said 521 had no connection to the school district and a majority came from an automated email from a political campaign site. 

Hopkins said 12 of the emails in opposition to the health center came from people living inside the school district.

The district has also experienced an influx of Freedom of Access Act requests from people outside of the school district, including from conservative political groups and individuals, which Hopkins has since made public on the school website.

Several board members were in opposition to the health center, with social media posts from Tucker and Manning alleging that doctors would provide “mild altering drugs” and “transgender drugs” to students without parental knowledge.

Members of the Maine School Administrative District 11 School Board, including Jeff Hanley, foreground, vote during a meeting Thursday in Gardiner. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Hanley and Focht also tried several times to delay the approval of the center for “lack of information.” They alleged that the proposal for the center was pushed through to the board prematurely without a contract or discussion.

Hopkins said the board was following the right process: to approve the school-based health center to show interest, then come up with a policy and contract. 

“That is usually done after the board gives go ahead to move forward,” Hopkins said. “We don’t spend time developing (memorandums of understanding) or policy until we know there is some level of support at board level.”

At an open forum Oct. 29, HealthReach said its nurses would follow state law on gender-affirming care, the same as any primary care provider in the state. Representatives explained that the only way a student would receive services for mental health, substance use or reproductive health without a parent’s consent is if the student is older than 16, which is Maine law. 

“HealthReach staff’s goal is the same as parents’: to include parents in medical decisioning for their children. Our clinician at our existing SBHC regularly calls parents to provide updates and collaborate on care plans, and she encourages minor patients to involve their parents. There may be a small number of cases where confidential care is provided based on what is best for the minor, but parents are involved in care decisions greater than 95% of the time,” said Edward Molleo, director of communications for HealthReach.

“These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and include consideration for fragile and highly difficult situations. In these cases, state law prescribes a process for determining if a minor can make an informed choice about their own care,” Molleo said.

“This is not a process we take lightly. Again, in these regards, this practice is no different than any other family medical practice operating within the state of Maine.”