Maine schools have been graded on their performance, and next week they will receive report cards as part of the state’s new initiative.
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.
Marathon bombings class topic in Maine schools
Portland-area teachers toss out their lesson plans and discuss last week’s attack with their students.
Districts pinched by charter schools
Public school superintendents struggle to calculate and accommodate the cost of charter schools on their budgets.
Portland charter school, ousted founder settle legal dispute
The terms are confidential, but there still could be a state investigation of the Baxter Academy application.
Vote allows Portland charter school to proceed
Parents and prospective Baxter Academy students are thrilled, but several hurdles still remain.
Area parents support expanding access to morning-after pill to young teens
Local parents say they support a ruling Friday that would allow women younger than 17 to purchase the morning-after pill without a prescription. They just hope their own daughters never find themselves facing that situation alone.
Maine charter school bills called ‘death by cuts’
Three proposals would separate funding from public schools; critics are not happy with the plans.
Charter panel questions Baxter board in aftermath of firing
Members of the Maine Charter School Commission press the board to explain how the firing of the school’s founder might affect the school’s financial standing, academic plan and possible enrollment.
More Advanced Placement classes to be offered online
Thanks to a funding increase, a program providing universal access to advanced classes can also take more students.
Baxter charter school leaders face key meeting with commissioners
Baxter Academy’s board will be asked for updates on school curriculum, staffing and finances.