BIDDEFORD, Maine — A teacher accused of leaking test questions from the Maine Educational Assessment has been suspended without pay for a year. It remains to be seen whether the state will punish the teacher, as well.
The Maine Department of Education began investigating Biddeford’s eighth-grade MEA science scores over the summer. It later invalidated some of Biddeford’s MEA scores.
The weekly Biddeford-Saco-Old Orchard Beach Courier identified the teacher as Barbara Fortier. The editor notified police after Fortier’s mother, School Committee member Peggy Bean, threatened a reporter, telling her “you’re dead” if the name was published. Bean didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
Joanne Twomey, Biddeford’s mayor and School Committee chairwoman, tells the Portland Press Herald that the panel hasn’t addressed Bean’s “you’re dead” comment.