Regional School Unit 21 teachers and community members showed up wearing “Red for Ed” at last week’s school board meeting. Contributed / Haydee Kyriakides

Sea Road School teacher Rachel McCarthy said teachers are leaving RSU 21 not only because of the money, but because of the culture.

“We used to have a good culture,” McCarthy said. “Our culture right now is awful. No one wants to come work here.”

McCarthy was one of about 50 RSU 21 teachers and parents who showed up to voice concerns at a Sept. 17 school board meeting.

Many wearing red as a nod to the “Red for Ed” teacher strikes that took place in 2018 and 2019, speakers touched on issues like the ongoing contract negotiation and a high number of teacher departures, even though district officials says the number of staff departures is on par with neighboring districts.

Negotiations for a new contract between the Kennebunk Arundel Kennebunkport Educators Association and the RSU 21 School Board began in December 2023.

Recently, both sides agreed to bring in an outside mediator to help resolve the negotiation.

“We spent several hours yesterday with the teacher’s union, and I’m happy to report we made lots of progress,” board Chair Lesley Stoeffler said last week. “And by the way, just as a reminder, it takes two to tango.”

Stoeffler’s statements last week were met with disappointed sighs from the crowd of teachers and parents, some who say they feel unsupported by the board.

Kennebunk High School teacher Paula Reetz shows a sign comparing teacher salaries in Kennebunk and Falmouth. Contributed / Melissa McCue-McGrath

“I’m just saying it takes two parties to get to the end of the program,” Stoeffler said. “We are making our best effort to get this resolved.”

Teachers have been working without a contract since Aug. 31.

“We had something special. We had administrators that supported us,” McCarthy said. “We know we have the backing of our building administration at Sea Road School, but we are missing the backing of the central office administration.”

McCarthy’s statements were echoed by other teachers and parents last week.

Erin Boggs, a teacher at Kennebunk High School, said she is comforting students on a daily basis about the changes in schools, the loss of high level STEM classes that can’t be staffed, the loss of experienced teachers in the district, and the loss of guidance counselors that spent years building relationships with students.

Over the summer, all three guidance counselors at Kennebunk High School resigned, leaving some in the community worried and wondering why.

“I’m constantly left wondering what kind of message we’re sending to the kids about the value of education and those who provide that service,” Boggs said.

Paula Reetz, a teacher at Kennebunk High School, said many of her colleagues are leaving the district to make $10,000 to $20,000 more in neighboring districts, with prep time that is written into their contracts.

In recent weeks, some teachers have voiced concerns that prep time has been cut back in the district. Boggs said she is now spending extra unpaid time setting up her classroom, planning new content for classes that were previously taught by other teachers, and writing college recommendations for seniors.

“I don’t know how we’re supposed to foster a culture of continuous growth and innovation if we don’t make education a priority,” Boggs said.

After an extended 45 minutes of public comment, Stoeffler ended the Sept. 17 meeting.

On Sept. 19, the board scheduled an emergency meeting that was held in executive session.

Before executive session, board member Kirstin Shapiro used public comment time to accuse educators of retaliating against her 4-year-old daughter due to ongoing contract negotiations.

“On multiple occasions, educators in this district have used my daughter to retaliate against my family,” Shapiro said via Zoom. “That is wildly inappropriate and illegal.”

Shapiro did not specify what happened involving her daughter and her demeanor escalated as she spoke, ultimately ending her comments in tears, shouting an expletive. Shapiro has attempted to shut down public comment at past meetings, including on Sept. 17.

Following Shapiro’s comments, the board went into executive session to discuss contract negotiations with their lawyer and the teachers’ union. The outcome of that executive session has not been shared with the public as of Monday afternoon.