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Daniel Ross, superintendent of Deer Isle schools who was placed on administrative leave after two votes of no-confidence, submitted his resignation on Saturday, effective Dec. 17.
“For the sake of the students in School Union 76, I wish you luck in taking on the many challenges ahead of you.” Ross wrote in a two sentence resignation letter to the School Union 76 board that ended with “Merry Christmas.”
In late November, school staff in the towns of School Union 76, Deer Isle, Stonington, Sedgwick and Brooklin, voted in large numbers that they had no confidence in Ross.
In an email obtained by the Bangor Daily News, Phyllis Hunter of the Maine Education Association said district employees had made numerous accusations against Ross, including that he does not always tell the truth, is rarely present in the school buildings, that they felt unsupported and “targeted” by him, and that students had been negatively affected.
Hunter also said Ross had threatened “to use law enforcement as [a] disciplinary measure or to have people removed from buildings when they have every right to be there.”
On Monday, Sedgwick’s school board voted unanimously that Ross be instructed “to refrain from conducting any business” for the town’s elementary school — which serves students from pre-K to 8th grades — until further notice.
On Thursday, a board overseeing the full district placed Ross on paid administrative leave.
