Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell’s name appears hundreds of times in a new batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, prompting difficult discussions at institutions that use Mitchell’s name, including Bowdoin, his alma mater.
Riley Board
Staff Writer
Riley covers education for the Press Herald. Before moving to Portland, she spent two years in Kenai, Alaska, reporting on local government, schools and natural resources for the public radio station KDLL as part of the Report for America program. Riley originally hails from Sarasota, Florida, and is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the college’s student newspaper, The Campus. She has interned at the Burlington Free Press, and at the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Magazine in Washington, D.C. Outside of work, Riley is passionate about roller skating, cooking and her cat, Edgar.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics, Schools and Education
Lawmakers initiate reform of Maine’s fraught school funding formula
The Education Committee is introducing a bill based on researcher recommendations that include integrating local poverty rates and reforming the special education model.
advertisement
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
Thousands of Maine kids missed school as ICE carried out heightened operations
Absence rates for multilingual students were near or over 50% in some school districts where immigration enforcement spiked, and educators describe empty classrooms and fearful students.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Families, lawyers work to locate Maine immigrants moved out of state
Lawyers say it has become harder to locate detainees arrested and flown out of New England since ICE’s recent enforcement surge.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime, News, Schools and Education
Maine to get $4M in private funds to improve education, work options in correctional facilities
Only 4 states were selected by a national nonprofit to receive grant money and technological assistance to create education, job training and workforce pathways for current and formerly incarcerated people.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics, Schools and Education
Gov. Mills is calling for a bell-to-bell school cellphone ban. What does that mean?
Maine would join more than 20 states that ban cellphones for the entire school day. Several districts have already adopted their own policies, but statewide mandates of any kind often meet resistance.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
As Maine student enrollment declines, districts face consequences, and seek opportunities
The 2025-26 data shows a drop of more than 2,000 students statewide since last year. The decline has ripple effects for Maine’s school funding formula and construction backlog.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
7th school district added to Maine lawsuit challenging transgender policies
The Maine Human Rights Commission is suing districts over policies about transgender athlete participation in sports, which it say conflicts with state law.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics, Schools and Education
Maine schools react to increased ICE enforcement
Thousands of students have been absent as a federal immigration enforcement operation descended on Maine, and the state’s largest district is considering a remote learning plans for different grade levels.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
Despite outcry, UMaine will demolish its oldest building
A campaign to save Crossland Hall focused on its role as a home for the Franco-American Centre, but officials said the building has outlived its useful life.