A hearing regarding the Wiscasset Middle High School Principal Gina Stevens will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 3:30 p.m., according to Wiscasset School Committee Chair Jason Putnam.
The school committee will ultimately vote to decide if Stevens will be dismissed from her position as principal on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Stevens has been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 30, following an investigation into a hidden camera placed in a WMHS classroom without knowledge of the current or past superintendent, according to Wiscasset School Superintendent Kim Andersson.
The school committee met to discuss a personnel matter involving Stevens on Nov. 13. At the end of this meeting, the school committee voted to hold a hearing “regarding the dismissal of” Stevens, a motion made by committee member Victoria Hugo-Vidal.
The committee planned to hold separate executive sessions to discuss the personnel matter with legal counsel and to discuss the matter with Stevens directly. Personnel matters are normally handled confidentially, but Stevens requested that it be handled in the public eye, as is her right under Maine law governing executive sessions.
While the meeting was open to public attendance, public comment was not allowed. The district’s public participation at committee meetings policy, which is posted at wiscassetschools.org, states, “No complaints or allegations will be allowed at Committee meetings concerning any person employed by the school system or against particular students.”
Following the confidential executive session with legal counsel, Wiscasset Schools Superintendent Kim Andersson read aloud a memo she addressed to the school committee, describing her reasoning for advising the committee to dismiss Stevens as principal. The memo was dated Nov. 13.
Gregg Frame, of Taylor McCormack & Frame LLC in Portland, said at the special school committee meeting that he and his client, Stevens, will compile documentation and a list of witnesses that can corroborate Stevens’ actions for the hearing.
“We have evidence that the superintendent was aware (of the hidden camera) as early as Aug. 30,” he said on Monday, Nov. 13 of the accusations made against Stevens.
Wiscasset Middle High School students held a walkout on Monday, Nov. 20 in support of Stevens.
WMHS Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Sarah Hubert accompanied the students on their walkout to ensure their safety, according to a statement posted on the school website.
The hearing will take place in the Wiscasset Elementary School library before the regularly scheduled meeting of the school committee.
