School board race takes yet another turn after candidate halts campaign
Bucksport candidate Emily Fitzgerald says state law prohibits her from being on the school board because her husband is the robotics coach. But she will still be on the ballot, and the outcome is still uncertain.
The Nov. 6 recount for a seat on the RSU 25 school board ended in a tie, leading officials to schedule a Dec. 30 run-off election. Now one of the two candidates says she will not accept the position if she wins. File photo.
By Emily Baer
The RSU 25 school board race took yet another unexpected turn this week as candidate Emily Fitzgerald announced that, if elected, she would be ineligible to take office unless her husband stepped down as the coach of the robotics team.
Given those circumstances, Fitzgerald announced on Dec. 8 that she would not accept the position if elected. But now it’s too late to have her removed from the ballot, and the election must still proceed, according to town officials.
“It was brought to my attention by the district that there is a state statute that prohibits school board members’ spouses from being school employees or supervisory volunteers,” she said in an email.
If Fitzgerald were to win the election and wanted to take the seat, her husband would first need to find a replacement coach. Fitzgerald doubts that as a possibility.
“It has been extremely hard to find volunteers [for the team],” she wrote.
Fitzgerald also added that putting the school board seat above the robotics team is not something she can do.
“It is also unfair to ask my husband to step down,” she said. “He loves what he’s doing and has goals for the future of the program.There are a lot of children that benefit from the program.”
The statute Fitzgerald cited, Title 20-A, §1002, was initially passed in the 1990s and has been modified over the years to prevent conflicts of interest when school boards vote on annual employee contracts. While the intent of the law is to prevent bias, it poses a particular challenge in small communities. The case in RSU 25, which covers Bucksport, Orland, Prospect and Verona Island, is not the first instance where it has interfered with candidate eligibility.
“It has created challenges for other districts throughout the state,” said Bucksport Town Manager Jacob Gran. “Especially in smaller districts and smaller towns where the volunteer pool is already very, very small.”
According to state law, prospective municipal office candidates must affirm to the town that they are 18 years old, that they are eligible to vote in that town, and that they are residents of the United States. Once they have met those basic requirements, it is incumbent upon the candidate and, in this instance, the school board, to ensure further compliance with state and local statutes.
This latest development comes after an historic school board race on Nov. 4 in RSU 25 in which both Fitzgerald was initially told she had lost the race to her opponent, Keith Kneeland. That changed after absentee ballots, which election workers had forgotten to count, were tallied. Fitzgerald was declared the winner by three votes.
A voter sign inside G.H. Jewett Elementary School in Bucksport, which is used as a polling station. Photo by Emily Baer.
But in the close race, Kneeland called for a recount. Days later, on Nov. 6, election officials and volunteers met in the town’s council chambers to conduct a hand recount. The recount stalled when staff discovered that there was a missing tie-breaking ballot. The missing ballot was soon located but led to an agonizing realization: it was blank.
As such, a run-off election was called and scheduled for Dec. 30.
In the intervening weeks, both Fitzgerald and Kneeland have been campaigning in the hopes of increasing voter turnout. Given her ineligibility status, Fitzgerald said she will no longer be actively campaigning in the weeks leading up to the election.
“It is my intention to not accept,” she said.
However, state law says the election must still proceed.
“I am absolutely going to continue fighting for this seat,” Kneeland told The Rising Tide by email. ”I am still pushing forward with my ‘get out the vote’ campaign.”
If Fitzgerald were to win and decline the seat, it would create a vacancy on the board and the town council would appoint an interim school board member until the next election. It is likely, but not guaranteed, that that would be Kneeland.
“I am feeling mixed emotions,” he says. “This election process has taught me to expect the unexpected. I am certain there will be at least one more curveball thrown my way before it’s over.”
