Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary departures raise concerns
Six teachers and staffers resigned, effective at the end of the school year
The resignations were announced during the Community School District 13 board meeting on April 13. Photo courtesy of Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School.
April 22, 2026
By John Epstein
DEER ISLE–During the April 13 public meeting of the Community School District 13 Board, co-chair Genevieve McDonald announced the names of six teachers and staffers at the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School who resigned effective at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The list includes: Betsy Woodward, assistant principal; Hayley Landes, therapist and counselor; Mary Witte, grade 5 teacher; Jessica Seiber Grasso, instructional coach; Christina Brewer, English language arts teacher at the middle school; and Torrie Pratt, education technician.
The announcements sparked concern from parents and community members across social media after the meeting.
Reached by telephone, Assistant Principal Betsy Woodward declined to comment on why she is leaving the school. The Rising Tide did not receive replies to telephone messages left at available contact numbers for several of the other teachers and staff departing the school.
Sharon Thoner, who taught special education for grades 3-5, will also not be returning to teach at the DI-Stonington Elementary School, but she wasn’t on the above list. “I decided to retire,” she said in a telephone interview with The Rising Tide. After a 27-year career at the Brooklin School, Thoner had come out of retirement temporarily, at 71, to help fill special education needs at the Island elementary school for the last few years. “Because of the way the Maine pension system works, I had to renew my contract yearly,” she added, “But this year I decided not to: they never found a replacement for me.”
Thoner said the current year had been chaotic and that the younger teachers had not received proper orientation training or the administrative support needed to handle student disciplinary issues.
“There was no mentorship,” Thoner said. She said that teachers in their 2-year probationary period are subject to not having their contracts renewed “for any reason,” and that some were “were encouraged to write letters of resignation.”
In an email to The Rising Tide, CSD 13 Co-Chair McDonald said it would “be inappropriate to confirm if any of our resignations are due to non-renewal.” She added that the staff and teacher departures “are in line with what we see in a typical year” and that the district’s hiring committee has already reviewed “four strong candidates for our open positions.” McDonald also referred questions about student behavior to Tara McKechnie, superintendent of School Union 76.
In an email to The Rising Tide, McKechnie noted that SU76 is “actively recruiting a full-time licensed clinical social worker and a credentialed guidance counselor, positions that directly strengthen student mental health and well-being.” She referred questions about student behavior and discipline at DI-Stonington Elementary to Caitlin Snyder, the school principal.
“I’m not aware of any teachers leaving because of student discipline issues; that’s not a narrative I’ve heard,” Snyder said in a telephone interview with The Rising Tide. She became the principal of the island’s elementary school in early November 2025, after the unexpected resignation of then principal Joseph Sailors. Snyder served previously as a teacher at the Blue Hill Consolidated School.
Taking on the principal position well into the 2025–26 school year meant Snyder did not have the opportunity to participate in or guide teacher orientation. “I’m really excited about doing that this summer,” she said. She is also enthusiastic about helping to implement a state-funded evidence-based program known as BARR (Building Assets and Reducing Risk) whose goal is to strengthen relationships, reduce absenteeism and improve academic outcomes. “We’ll have a coach who will be coming to the school in the summer to train staff and then meet monthly by Zoom for continued training and coaching,” she said.
“Please be kind to our school,” Snyder added, “We’re working very hard for the children.”
