GARDINER — After months of uncertainty, the Gardiner-area school board could make a decision this week on the proposed school-based health center.

Although the issue was not on Thursday’s agenda, Superintendent Patricia Hopkins scheduled a time for the board to discuss the proposed health center in an executive session at this week’s meeting so the board can hash out its legal questions. A vote may take place that night if board members are prepared to make a motion following the executive session to add it to the agenda for approval.

For months, the school-based health center proposal has been the focus of conflict in the southern Kennebec County school district. Those who are for it argue it will provide free, affordable healthcare to students in Maine School Administrative District 11. Those who oppose it claim the health center will provide care for students without parental permission.

The project has attracted the attention of people outside of the district, including some who traveled to Gardiner to attend Thursday’s meeting. School officials said they received 190 emails regarding the school-based health center, most of which were from people outside of the district, county or state.

Emma Doxsee, a Pittston resident, spoke about people outside the school district attempting to influence policy and proposals in MSAD 11. When she used a pseudonym for Timothy Bodnar, calling him “Louie Bodnar,” Bodnar yelled at the board to have her stop talking.

“Stop! That’s a disparaging comment. Shut that down. She’s talking to me, not you. It’s not OK,” said Bodnar, a resident of Newport who regularly livestreams school board meetings on his X account under the name Truth Slinger.

Hopkins attempted to tell Bodnar to stop interrupting Doxsee, as it was her turn to speak, but Bodnar kept demanding her comments be shut down. The board recessed for several minutes as a Gardiner police officer, who was already at the meeting, escorted Bodnar out of the room.

“You’re wrong. All of you. Shame on you. Shame on you for shutting down free speech. Screw you all,” Bodnar said as he left the board room in the administrative offices on Highland Avenue.

School boards routinely set the rules for public comment, and policies may vary between school districts across the state.

For the Gardiner-area district, the policy gives priority to those who live  in the district’s communities of Gardiner, Pittston, Randolph and West Gardiner, and allows those who live outside the district to speak if all of the residents have spoken and there is time left. The board chair is responsible for maintaining order.

On Thursday, the board set aside 20 minutes, as it usually does, for public comment. Just before that time expired, board member Michelle Tucker, who represents Gardiner, attempted to extend the comment period but her motion failed.

The public comment period ended with Matthew Lillibridge, a former school board member representing West Gardiner. Lillibridge ran for reelection in April, but lost in a very close race to Janelle McKinnon. 

Lillibridge voiced his support for the school-based health center and urged parents who don’t agree with it to not send their children to it. He said he was speaking for the parents with two to three jobs trying to support their families who can’t make time to be at the board meetings in the way that he can.

“If you don’t live in the district, if you don’t vote in this district, if you don’t pay taxes in this district, then you shouldn’t speak at our district meetings,” he said. “You should not waste the time of the school board with your virulent words. Stick to the internet. Don’t tell parents what to think in a place that you do not live in.”

As the public comment period concluded, Allen Sarvinas, a Topsham resident and director of the Maine chapter of the nonprofit Parents Rights in Education, approached the board with paper handouts and took a picture with his phone of Hopkins and Board Chair Becky Fles as they both told him to stop what he was doing. The police officer then escorted Sarvinas out.

Sarvinas was removed last month from an Augusta School Department meeting.

No one was arrested at the Gardiner school board meeting, the officer confirmed.

Following the outbursts during public comment at the start of the meeting, nearly all 30 attendees left.

Hopkins updated the board on the school-based health center in her last school board report before she retires at the end of June.

The board asked Hopkins to work with HealthReach, the nonprofit that would run the health center, to create a memorandum of agreement before the board votes to approve the proposal.

“Between our insurance and theirs, it took 12 weeks. That’s three months,” Hopkins said. “This has taken longer than intended. I apologize, I know it’s been frustrating.”

Board members will have the chance to review the MOA at Thursday’s meeting and speak with legal experts in an executive session. They may add the vote to the agenda if the board wants to take the next steps in approving the health center.  If approved he center would likely not be open until September 2026.

If it is approved, the center would provide free or affordable health care to students and teachers in the area, with or without insurance. HealthReach has said it will follow Maine law that allows minors who are at least 16 years of age to receive care relating to reproductive health, mental health, or prescribing medicine, just as doctors in private practice must do.

In her report to the board, Fles said if the board’s behavior at meetings and on social media does not improve, the board will have to take action to censure that member or remove them from a committee. She referred to social media posts shared by unnamed board members who she said have spread misinformation about the school district and the school-based health center, and twisted what members of the public have said during public comment.

Board member Jeff Hanley, who represents Pittston, said that he is “sick of being lectured and pontificated at” and wondered why he did not have the ability to speak for 20 minutes “like (Fles) does.”

“The behavior doesn’t change, and that is a problem,” Fles responded.