Tyler Eldridge took the public comment podium at the start of the Feb. 5 Gardiner-area school board meeting to accuse board member Kate Merrill of moving away from West Gardiner, the town she represents.

Eldridge said he’d heard from “numerous members of the community of West Gardiner” that Merrill actually resides in Litchfield, a town outside of Maine School Administrative District 11. Merrill was appointed by the West Gardiner Select Board in September to fill a vacant seat until the next election, in June.

“I would like to have the school board take this up as a very important matter,” Eldridge said. “There shouldn’t be somebody outside of our town representing our town or making decisions for our town or our children.”

In response to Eldridge, board Chair Becky Fles said she had consulted the district’s attorney twice on the issue.

“I follow the law,” Fles said. “And in this particular case, the law is not on your side.”

Fles said there would be no public statement from the attorney, and she would allow Merrill to speak for herself on the issue. Merrill remained silent during that portion of the meeting.

Questions over Merrill’s residency have since reached statewide conservative social media groups, including Maine X Community on Facebook, where more than 30,000 people have viewed Eldridge’s public comments.

The Kennebec Journal messaged Merrill asking where she is living. Merrill did not answer the question and instead released a statement Tuesday stating “the atmosphere of the board has been increasingly divisive for some time.”

“I’m not interested in engaging in personal or political maneuvering,” Merrill continued in her statement. “I believe allegations should be addressed through established procedures and professional channels, not through public narrative. My focus remains on students and the work of the district.”

Fles said Tuesday the evidence is clear: Merrill is a registered voter in West Gardiner, and she’s eligible to hold her position on the board.

State law dictates that a school board member vacates a seat when the member changes their “residency from the municipality or subdistrict from which elected.” It also notes that being a registered voter in a given town is sufficient evidence of residency in that town for the purposes of the statute.

“She is a resident of West Gardiner,” Fles said. “Her voting is there. Her mail goes there. The car that she drives is registered there. That’s the law.”

The MSAD 11 board has been marred by controversy over the past two years.

Debate over a school-based health center at Gardiner Area High School spun into more conflict during public meetings, with out-of-state conservative parents’ rights groups purposefully stonewalling action, a monthslong Kennebec Journal investigation showed.

Board members have split along political and cultural lines, and meetings have often devolved into shouting over the past several years.

Questions about Merrill’s residency marked another point of public conflict during MSAD 11 meetings and signaled continued tensions between board members.

Fles referenced questions about the residency of another board member, Michelle Tucker, in an exchange with Eldridge during the board meeting. Fles said she didn’t want Merrill to undergo the same personal scrutiny that Tucker did.

That statement did not go over well with Tucker, who said it was “very inappropriate” for Fles to compare Merrill’s situation to hers. Tucker had previously been accused of living outside of Gardiner.

Tucker placed herself at the center of the debate over the school-based health center with her vehement opposition and called for Fles’ censure in December over comments made during a Maine School Management Association workshop.

Merrill remains a member of the board, which next meets March 5 at the district’s central office at 150 Highland Ave. in Gardiner.