Regional School Unit 21 School Board Chair Erin Nadeau has resigned after posting a Facebook comment in which she appeared to compare teachers who are unhappy with some school budget decisions to the KKK.
On Monday, over 200 parents, residents and teachers showed up to a district budget meeting – some of whom were wearing red in a nod to the “Red for Ed” teacher strikes that took place in 2018 and 2019. Many had come to register discontent with portions of the fiscal year 2025 budget, including money earmarked for system administration.
At one point, a speaker named Nick Wright said he supported removing the superintendent herself.
A post on Facebook denounced Wright’s remarks, tying it to a contentious recall effort two years ago. In a comment on that post, Nadeau wrote on May 7, “the cowards in the back row cheering like they were at a … rally. Except instead of sheets they wore red.”
The original poster said they thought not everyone wearing red necessarily agreed with Wright’s anti-superintendent remarks. Nadeau responded “fair point.”
In a statement dated May 8, Nadeau said that she is tendering her resignation effective immediately. She expressed regret for the post, which she called “too strong” and comments she made on behalf of herself as an individual, not in any official capacity and not on behalf of the full School Board, friends or colleagues.
“My comment, specifically, alluded to a group of educators dressed in red, in a group, using demeaning comments,” she wrote.
Matthew Shinberg, the district’s communications specialist, said Thursday that the district had no further comment.
During the Monday budget meeting, a motion was made by Kennebunkport resident Amy Johnson to reduce the $2.12 million earmarked for system administration – which includes communications, finance, human resources, the superintendent’s office, the School Board, legal expenses, audit services, and insurance – by $400,000, which was voted through by over a 100 people in attendance, according to meeting minutes.
During the budget season, the system administration portion of the budget emerged as a sticking point, with some meeting attendees saying they felt spending allocated toward certain categories has grown too quickly in the past few years. The School Board has defended its spending choices, particularly its investments in HR and communications, calling them necessary.
During the budget meeting Monday, Wright spoke saying that he could not support such a high system administration budget until the superintendent herself is replaced.
“As a taxpayer, it is almost impossible to support any increase in the administration budget when we have gotten zero of our money’s worth in the last four years,” Wright said. The crowd applauded following his comments.
Superintendent Dr. Terri Cooper, who is Black, came to RSU 21 in 2020 from a school district in North Carolina. Under her leadership, the district has made diversity, equity and inclusion a focus – which some applaud – but she has also fielded criticism and pushback from the community on multiple occasions, including through a lawsuit regarding disability accommodations.
“The response from the chair on social media was not only disappointing, but deeply concerning,” wrote Kyle Keenan, a former principal of Mildred L. Day School in an email to the full board addressing Nadeau’s comments. Mildred L. Day School is a school in Arundel, which is part of RSU 21.
”Comparing our teachers to “cowards” and equating their peaceful assembly at a public meeting to a Klan rally is not only a gross misrepresentation but an inflammatory and offensive assertion that undermines the integrity of our educational community,” Keenan wrote.
Shinberg, the communications specialist, did not respond to a question asking whether the district leadership believes that events at the Monday budget meeting were animated by racism against Cooper.
Keenan was one of the people who spoke up at a previous budget meeting about the system administration budget.
This week’s events are the latest chapter in a tumultuous few years in the district.
Nadeau is the third School Board member to resign within 15 months. Former board member Ryan McQueen departed in March 2023 after he posted offensive content online, generating backlash. And Jameson Davis chose to step down in August 2023, saying that she felt the district was too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
In 2022, a group of citizens orchestrated an unsuccessful recall effort against multiple board members. Some say that racism was at play in the recall attempt.
“Their ultimate publicly stated goal is to remove Dr. Terri Cooper, the only Black superintendent in Maine, only a year and a half into her leadership tenure, because they have prejudged her as ‘unfit to lead,’” said School Board Member Claudia Sayre at the time, referencing a letter written by a proponent of the recall effort that was widely circulated.
Diversity, equity and inclusion has been a consistent feature of public conversation in the district during the past few years, in part due to a complaint filed by a former Kennebunk High School social studies teacher, Rosa Slack, in 2018. The complaint alleged she was retaliated against by the district for expressing concerns about two racist incidents.
In the ensuing settlement with Slack, the district agreed to work with the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, an organization that helps educators when it comes to improving dialogue around race, equity and inclusion.
An emergency School Board meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday, May 10.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
