Terri Anthoine, gravely injured just a week ago, is ‘sitting up in bed and cracking jokes,’ says her son, and her family is raising money to make her home wheelchair-accessible.
Noel K. Gallagher
Noel Gallagher covers K-12 and higher education issues statewide. Her stories are a mix of breaking news and trend stories. In recent years, they’ve ranged from why college costs so much, the launch of the state’s first charter schools, how a school welcomed a transgender student and why Maine schools have a hard time finding teachers. She’s enough of a news nerd to enjoy sitting through legislative education committee meetings and hours-long school board meetings so you don’t have to.
The Maine Press Association has honored Noel’s work, but she says she writes for the readers, in the firm belief that an informed citizenry is key to a healthy democracy.
Noel is a California native who has worked at wire services, online websites and newspapers across the country. She was in Washington D.C. during the early Clinton years, covering AIDS activism in 1990s San Francisco, documenting the business of wine in Sonoma County and riding out the boom and bust cycle of the early Internet era in early 2000s Silicon Valley. She arrived in Maine at the beginning of the recession and wrote quite a bit about the downturn here.
In her free time, Noel writes the occasional cookbook review, spends an inordinate amount of time at the Portland Public Library and hangs out with her three fabulous kids and wonderful husband. She is not a former member of the band Oasis.
Wave of immigrants brings ‘richness,’ rapid change to Maine’s classrooms
Data reflect how racial diversity that was initially clustered in bigger cities like Portland and Lewiston is moving into smaller towns and suburbs.
Panel should streamline evaluations of Maine charter schools, experts say
The Maine Charter School Commission also discusses possibly waiting a year to consider a 10th charter school.
Cities, towns paying more for schools as state pays less, study finds
State funding for Maine’s K-12 public schools declined 9 percent from 2008 to 2015.
Portland school board adopts comprehensive transgender policy
It joins about a half-dozen other Maine school districts that have approved such policies since a landmark state supreme court ruling in 2014.
Surge in out-of-state enrollment boosts UMaine System’s finances
The main campus in Orono and the University of Southern Maine both see jumps in revenue from non-state students, who pay much higher tuition.
Lewiston legislator introduces bill to restore student health centers in 15 schools across the state
Rep. Jim Handy’s bill would reverse state budget cuts that defunded clinics serving thousands of students.
Three Maine schools unanimously approved for charter extensions
Baxter and Fiddlehead are renewed for 10 years, and Harpswell for five years, all by 5-0 commission votes.
Out-of-state enrollment in UMaine System soars
The increase is good news for the system’s financial bottom line.
Maine school moves to reverse shortage of rural lawyers
A new program puts aspiring young lawyers in country practices in hopes of increasing access to justice in underserved areas.