The Wiscasset School Committee decided to fire Principal Gina Stevens of Wiscasset Middle-High School after a two-day public hearing that concluded Thursday following weeks of heated debate in the midcoast community about her fate.
Before the vote, committee members sat through more than 12 hours of testimony by witnesses who were called by attorneys for the school district and Stevens, who has sought to keep her job. At times, it felt more like a courtroom drama than a school board meeting.
The hearings in the gymnasium of the district’s elementary school were the culmination of a tense series of proceedings since Stevens was placed on administrative leave at the end of October and, two weeks later, her firing was recommended by Superintendent Kim Andersson.
Based on an investigation by the district’s attorney, Andersson has claimed that Stevens installed a hidden camera in a food pantry closet at Wiscasset Middle-High School without permission and accused students of vaping without evidence, among other violations.
The school district presented its case for the firing during the first night of hearings, with an attorney calling witnesses that included Andersson and employees familiar with the camera incident, including a special education teacher, Lindsay Larrabbee, who testified that Stevens screamed at her during a conversation and prompted her to cry.
Larrabbee said since two students changed clothes in the closet while the camera was installed, she was shocked when she found it.
“I feel like I started having a panic attack, honestly, because the first thing I thought of was my two students,” Larrabbee said during her testimony. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I let them change in there. How long has this camera been in there?’”
Stevens has denied the claims against her. During the hearings, her attorney, Gregg Frame of Portland, cross-examined the school district’s witnesses and then called some of his own.
Those witnesses included Jonathan Barnes, the school resource officer, Shari Templeton, a high school teacher at WMHS and Tanya Robinson, who was formerly in charge of the food pantry before the camera was placed there.
“I would place anything and everything that I’ve done here at Wiscasset Middle High School, just like I had at every other campus and district that I worked at, on the line,” Stevens said during her testimony. “I’m here because I care about the students, the faculty and the staff that support me.”
After the hearing was over, the school committee held its vote to approve the firing of Stevens — much as a jury might do in a trial.
“Gina Stevens’ conduct has led to a loss of confidence by the superintendent and the school committee, and demonstrates a lack of fitness and ability to serve as an administrator for the Wiscasset School Department,” said school committee chair Jason Putnam.
While such hearings often happen behind closed doors, Stevens has opted for her termination proceedings to happen in the open, offering an unusually public glimpse into how the matter is being handled.
About 70 people attended the first day of the hearings, which were also viewable online. The majority of attendees were adults. Chairs were set up on the floor of the gymnasium where some people sat, and others sat in the bleachers off to the side. Unlike previous school board meetings about Stevens, nobody brought signs.
Stevens has had many outspoken supporters during the controversy, with several teachers and parents saying she boosted morale and held people accountable in the school. Some school employees have threatened to quit if she’s fired, and about a dozen students walked out of class to protest the firing in November.