Wayne Wofford has been appointed to the Maine School Administrative District 54 board of directors. Wofford, who was formerly banned from MSAD 54 meetings, fills the vacancy created by Julian Payne’s resignation in December. Above, Wofford, 47, stands Tuesday at his home in Cornville. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — Cornville officials have filled a vacancy on the Skowhegan-area school board, appointing a former critic of COVID-19 mask mandates who later faced charges for trying to attend meetings in violation of a police order.

The Select Board appointed Wayne Wofford on Monday to fill the seat held previously by Julian Payne on the Maine School Administrative District 54 board of directors, Selectman Derek Kinney confirmed Wednesday.

Wofford’s appointment fills the vacancy created by Payne’s resignation in December. Payne, whose term was to have run through 2026, said he stepped down due to a personal difference of opinion with the superintendent of schools, Jonathan Moody, and frustration over the board’s procedures.

Kinney said the board considered only Wofford because he was the only other candidate who ran in the last election and was still interested in the position.

A Cornville Town Office employee who answered the telephone Tuesday said Wofford and Theresa Howard were the two candidates on the ballot in March 2024, but the employee was not able to immediately locate the exact results. The Town Office was closed unexpectedly due to staff illness later Tuesday and is not open Wednesdays.

The MSAD 54  board of directors has 23 members representing Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Smithfield.

Wofford, 47, said he moved to Cornville four or five years ago. He said he went to college in Pennsylvania, served for three years in the U.S. Army, traveled the country while doing various construction jobs and now works as a construction lab manager.

He has three children, two of whom attend MSAD 54 schools.

Wofford said in an interview Tuesday he hopes to serve his constituents’ needs.

“Use us as a tool,” he said. “We’re an elected official for the people. If we’re not doing the work — it’s just like if you’re working on an engine. If the wrench isn’t working, you go get a new wrench.”

He said he plans to bring the board his concerns about elementary school health class curriculum materials.

“It’s basically cartoon pornography that they’re showing to fourth and third graders,” Wofford said. “Nudity, like full nudity. If I did that outside of school, I’d get in trouble.”

Wofford requested all elementary health curriculum materials Oct. 27, 2022, through a Freedom of Access Act request. He was given a price estimate of $8,600, based on the 344 hours of work needed fulfill the request, according to an emailed response from Moody.

Wofford said he ultimately obtained the alleged materials because he decided to home-school his children and the district supplied him with the curriculum.

“I don’t think kids need to be sexualized at such a young age,” he said.

Wofford also has a lengthy history of clashing with the school board while participating at meetings as a member of the public.

In 2021, Wofford said he attended several MSAD 54 board of directors meetings, and meetings in other Maine school districts, to protest mask mandates at schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. MSAD 54 moved to a policy that made masks optional for those at its schools in March 2022, when public health guidance changed, according to the district’s website.

According to Wofford, he did not get answers to his questions about mask use, and the issue came to a head at a meeting Dec. 16, 2021, when a Skowhegan police officer asked him to leave.

The minutes from the meeting include one sentence pertaining to Wofford. It reads, “Visitor, Wayne Wofford, requested the names of all Board members who voted to have everyone mask in order to press charges against them.”

Wayne Wofford, second from left, holds a sign Jan. 20, 2022, while sitting behind his wife, Vicki, as she speaks during the public comment part of the Maine School Administrative District 54 board of directors meeting at Skowhegan Area High School. Wayne Wofford, a critic of the district’s masking policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, was appointed Monday to be one of Cornville’s representatives on the board. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Two days later, Wofford was served with a lawful order not to enter from the Skowhegan Police Department, according to court records, effectively keeping him out of school board meetings.

Moody, the superintendent, cited Wofford’s behavior as the reason police issued the order, according to emails provided by Wofford. Moody confirmed the emails were accurate copies.

“Although I appreciate your frustration at being served a no-trespass order, this was done as a result of your repeatedly making comments that the board interpreted as threatening,” Moody wrote in an email to Wofford, responding to questions from Wofford about the order.

“You will recall that you have been asked to leave board meetings no less than three times in the past few months for failure to follow the rules including refusing to wear a mask properly or at all. Additionally, you have repeatedly interrupted board meetings outside of the public comment period and were even addressed for openly using chewing tobacco unmasked at one meeting.”

Wofford tried to return to an MSAD 54 board of directors meeting a few months later, on Sept. 15, 2022, he said.

Skowhegan police Officer David Daigneault, who is MSAD 54’s school resource officer and regularly attends school board meetings in uniform as part of his duties, issued Wofford a summons that day for criminal trespass, a misdemeanor-level charge, according to court records on file in Skowhegan.

Wofford was released on personal recognizance, with a condition he stay away from “any property of Skowhegan School District,” according to court records.

On March 23, 2023, Daigneault issued Wofford another summons for violating the bail conditions from the criminal trespass charge, requiring him to stay off of school district property. The trespass charge was still pending at the time.

The Morning Sentinel requested a copy Tuesday of the order issued to Wofford and police reports from the two incidents that led to charges from the Skowhegan Police Department. Police Chief David Bucknam acknowledged the Maine Freedom of Access Act request Thursday morning, but did not respond later in the day to further inquiries about when the department expects to fulfill it.

Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges of criminal trespass and violation of condition of release June 26, 2023. The reason listed for both dismissals was “interest of justice,” according to court records.

The dismissal came the same day a judge rejected a motion from prosecutors asking to prohibit the use of evidence that Wofford wanted to introduce, according to court records. That evidence included testimony from Moody and several school board members, and body camera footage from the Skowhegan Police Department.

Wofford maintains he did nothing wrong.

Lynda Quinn, the chair of the MSAD 54 board of directors, said Tuesday she does not object to Wofford’s serving on the board.

“I like Wayne,” Quinn said. “I’m not concerned. I don’t know why people think I should be.”

Quinn said that when Wofford and others came to board meetings to speak about the masking requirement, Wofford almost always followed the rules required for members of the public to participate. She said the order preventing Wofford from trespassing was related to one incident in which he got excited.

“You respect and you get respect back,” said Quinn, a former teacher and member of the Skowhegan Board of Selectmen and Somerset County Commissioners. “And I understand that everyone has a passion and, the way the world is today, they have to express it. As long as you’re not swearing at me, I’m ready to hear what you have to say.”

Moody, the superintendent, wrote in an email Wednesday: “I’m hopeful that (Wofford) will be an active Board member who chooses to positively engage in the work of the board. There are few roles more important than those who work on behalf of our kids.”

The MSAD 54 board of directors was scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at Skowhegan Area Middle School at 155 Academy Circle.

Wofford’s partial term ends in 2026, and he said he plans to serve for no longer than two terms.

“I’m not doing it forever,” he said.