System officials say the Machias campus will not be financially viable unless it is restructured to cut administrative costs.
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.
Maine Charter School Commission member resigns because of conflict
Ande Smith, a member of both the Maine State Board of Education and the charter school panel, stepped down because only three commissioners can also serve on the education board.
Maine parents embracing the lessons of homeschooling
Driven in large part by conservative Christians and by others resistant to ‘industrialized’ education, what had been an unconventional choice for many parents in Maine and the nation has progressively moved into the mainstream.
Proposal would give more school funds to struggling mill towns, at other districts’ expense
L.D. 281, currently being debated in the Maine State House, would reallocate state education funding to give more money to districts that have suffered from big losses in taxable valuation.
Panel backs bill that would give Maine residents a break on student loans
The measure would offer interest-free loans to those who study STEM courses and go on to work in a related job in Maine.
‘Potential nor’easter’ tracking toward Maine for first day of spring
A storm that will drop ‘plowable amounts’ of snow on most of the state is likely Sunday, the weather service says.
With spike in applications, University of Maine starts wait list
In the wake of a marketing campaign, the university in Orono has received 14,205 applications for admission this fall, a 17 percent increase over last year.
Home-schooling community gets ready for 3-day conference
The annual gathering will begin Thursday in Rockport.
Legislative committee votes to phase in new graduation standards
Legislators say proficiency requirements in a 2012 law are too stringent for many students – and schools.
Bangor High School senior wins $150,000 in national science talent competition
Paige Brown, 17, is working on developing a cost-effective filter to remove phosphate from stormwater systems.