On eve of layoffs, students ask GSA not to dismantle French program
Staff notified of layoffs but school says details on affected positions would be ‘premature’
March 3, 2026
By Tricia Thomas
GSA students say that moving French classes online would diminish reasons for coming to the school. Photo by Unsplash.
BLUE HILL—Students taking French at George Stevens Academy asked the school’s board of trustees on Feb. 26 to consider keeping the class after learning that the program would be dismantled at the end of this school year. They also presented the board with signatures of other students who likewise want the program maintained.
Freshmen students Story Blodgett, Kiley Parker and Gilbert Rieff said at the board’s regular meeting that French teacher Maria Razi told them the news after they returned from a mid-February break. Razi also told them that, starting in September, only two years of the language would be offered, and only offered online, the students said. There seems to be no plan to offer French, online or otherwise, beyond those two years, they added.
Razi, who has taught at GSA since 2022 and also teaches middle-school French at some peninsula schools, was unavailable for comment.
The students’ plea comes at a moment when GSA faces having to cut $325,000 from the school’s budget caused by declining enrollment—or find off-setting revenue. The school has not released details on the cuts, and it is unclear if Razi is one of an unknown number of GSA staff who may lose their jobs this year.
Responding to questions on behalf of the board, school trustee Lisa Arhontes-Marshall confirmed by emailed response that they had “completed the notification process” on Feb. 27 concerning staff layoffs. The school has not yet made public what those cuts entail.
“We are still actively working through this process and it would be premature for us to share more than this at this time,” Arhontes-Marshall said. Asked when the public will be provided details of the layoffs, Arhontes-Marshall said, “No comment at this time.”
Arhontes-Marshall also shared parts of a message sent to faculty and staff that said, “We recognize that this has been an incredibly difficult and uncertain time for our school community. Decisions like these are never made lightly, and we understand the impact they have on colleagues, teams, and the broader campus environment.”
The school is anticipating enrollment of 195-205 students this fall, Arthontes-Marshall said. It currently has 208 students.
Rieff, one of the students who came before the board, said that while he understood the need to cut costs, taking French was a major factor in his decision to attend GSA.
“[French] was one of the things that made me choose GSA in the first place. That’s why I’m here.”
“It was one of the things that made me choose GSA in the first place. That’s why I’m here. I’ve always wanted to learn the French language, and it has been so enriching for me these past seven months,” Rieff said. (Full disclosure: Rieff is a freelance sports reporter for The Rising Tide.)
Parker agreed, telling the board that GSA’s French program “excels” over her previous school.
Blodgett said that, like many on the peninsula, she’s been a student of Razi’s since middle school. Reducing the program at GSA to two years online and letting Razi go would hurt rising freshmen who want to continue with French—with her—in high school, Blodgett said.
Not offering four years of French also could hurt students when applying to college, Parker said, as many colleges require applicants to have four years of the same language.
Parker, an Orland resident who chose GSA over Bucksport High School, said the online courses would not benefit her, as she already is at the French II level. She’d need to either switch to Spanish or end her French education after this school year, she said.
Parker also said that online learning is “not the same” as in-person education.
“I really want to continue with French, and a lot of the options that are being given to us, the substitutions, are not equivalent to having an in-person French teacher. Online is not the equivalent to having somebody speak French to you and you being able to talk back to them. It’s not the same thing,” Parker said.
Parker likened the potential lack of choice in four-year language education to GSA’s recent announcement that it would seek enrollment contracts with sending towns to guarantee firmer matriculation numbers moving forward. While GSA has put the initiative on hold for now, enrollment contracts could effectively end “school choice” in Blue Hill, Brooklin, Brooksville, Castine, Penobscot, Sedgwick and Surry.
“I know we’re discussing school choice with the initiatives. Language choice is another thing,” she said. “If people are coming and choosing GSA, and they went to ‘Step Up Day’ [for incoming freshmen], they saw language choice. That choice is kind of being ripped away from them right now, which makes me kind of sad.”
“We all know we’re struggling to have a larger student body here. Don’t kill what might be a ‘golden goose’ for you guys.”
Barbara Bramble, a Blue Hill resident, said that nixing the program wouldn’t help the school attract more students or solve its enrollment challenges.
“I don’t have the statistics, which must be very important to you, about the reasons that young people choose GSA, but I want you to really pay attention to that, and not kill, inadvertently, something that is really a magnet for this school,” she said. “We all know we’re struggling to have a larger student body here. Don’t kill what might be a ‘golden goose’ for you guys.”
Board members thanked the students for speaking at the meeting, and said they’d consider their comments during a later closed session.
“It’s timely, because we will be talking about this tonight,” said board member Kate Stookey.
Board members K Guiness and Chris Gleason agreed.
“It’s so important, as a board member, that we hear directly from you guys. Everybody at this table is hearing what you’re saying,” Guiness told the students. “Always realize that what we do is about you guys.”
“Sometimes decisions get made based on demand for the program but, what we have a harder time assessing is the passion that the students who do demand it bring with them,” Gleason said.
“It’s so important...that we hear directly from you guys. Everybody at this table is hearing what you’re saying. Always realize that what we do is about you guys.”
“I feel like the board sees the numbers and the statistics, but we want to bring our passion and feelings into it,” Parker added.
Board member Arhontes-Marshall said that message came through.
“[T]he students made a powerful presentation,” she said in her emailed responses to The Rising Tide. “Their perspective is valuable and we appreciated their perspective.”
