HERMON, Maine — The Hermon School Department’s former director of transportation, maintenance and facilities is the focus of an investigation by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, the town’s school superintendent has confirmed.
The employee has resigned and his duties have been divided between two other School Department staff members, Superintendent Patricia Duran said after a school committee meeting Tuesday night.
Though Duran said she was unable to discuss the nature of the investigation or identify the employee by name because it is a personnel matter, an online staff directory as well as school committee documents indicated that the former employee at issue is Larry Dearborn.
Dearborn, who reportedly stepped down last month, had been employed by the School Department for nearly 20 years, according to a local official who did not wish to be identified.
Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Wednesday that he is aware of the investigation but he would not elaborate on what investigators are looking into.
Dearborn is the owner of Dearborn Energy Solutions, a limited liability corporation based in Hermon, and developer of heat capture technology called Heat S.T.O.P. for which he obtained a trademark on Aug. 18, 2010.
Dearborn also ran for a Town Council position in 2009 but lost to Douglas Sinclair, who is completing his first three-year term.
Hmmm, Director of Transportation under investigation by Sheriff’s Department, 6th grade English teacher under investigation for assaulting two students, Town Manager moving funds around without approval – sounds like a pattern here.
maintenance…. not transportation
He held both jobs.
A maintenance director, a teacher and town manager all from different towns. What’s the pattern that you see?
Same town!
OPM
Well to be honest they should keep digging, more is afoot than what they’ve discovered so far and it’s historically been a problem for years
Care to share details Claire?
Hermon is a dirty little town. They cover up the truth.
you live there?
where’s the beef? The author should include specific info or wait till he/she has same
Just doing a little research this morning I found a site that rates the schools. Herman High School is rated a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best. Within a very short radius are 5 other school systems. Brewer High School is rated a 6; Hampden is rated an 8, and Bangor is rated a 9. My biggest concern is that there are 6 separate school systems within a 10 mile radius with 27 school buildings to staff and maintain! WOW, could the state save some MAJOR bucks if they concolidated not only their services but their buildings as well!! On the subject of the misconduct that is going on in this school system, I am pretty sure that if you really knew what went on in every school system in this state and I am not talking about what goes on between students and teachers, but also what goes on between supervisors and supervisees, some of you would be very surprised!!
I do not buy into all the school rating BS. Bangor may be rated 9 but has one of the highest drop out rates in the state of Maine. Most Any school could get rated 9 or 10 if they let have a large drop out rate of disadvantaged kids and high enough spending per kid.
The school rating is BS.
This is such irresponsible reporting. No one should have their name printed in the media until there is enough information to demonstrate one’s guilt. The superintendent had the professionalism of not divulging the name of the individual. The media should show the same discretion.
The media needs to be held to a higher degree of accountability. A friend of mine had his career ruined because the media went crazy on reporting an accusation against him. He was later proven not guilty of the charges against him. Most media today is full of gossip columns.
Don’t blame the media for printing a person’s name. It is the media’s job to find facts. The FACT is, this person is being investigated. Nowhere does it say this person is guilty of anything. Anytime someone goes on trial they are INNOCENT until proven guilty. Does that mean the media shouldn’t report on trials until they are over? It is within the superintendent’s right to not disclose the name of the person involved. But don’t blame the media for stating the facts.
The problem with this approach is that once a person’s name has been plastered in the media while they are being investigated, their reputation has been tarnished simply because the public has made up their mind about the individual. When my friends innocence was made public, it received very little coverage. The investigation was on every news channel and every local form of printed media. He was set up buy a cop and the cop was not penalized for ruining this person’s life. That is irresponsible. Why is it that every time someone is being “investigated” the media seemingly makes assumptions until one’s guilt has been proven.
And I bet the media never printed the fact that he was found not guilty or acknowledged it!
This story is only going to get to be more common as our economy heads down its current path.
Why is that?? This guy had a job.
Becasue they owe more than they can pay and do not have the opportunity to print money and pass us the debt like our government. Therefore they steal it. The government is stealing it from us too but when a large group steals ithatholds the purse strings the lines get blurry.
“Where Do I Go To Get My Reputation Back?”
That was the question asked by Ray Donovan, Ronald Reagan’s Labor
Secretary, after he was found not guilty of corruption charges.
I was pretty young when this took place but I will always remember this
question,and the events leading to it.It was going on,in part, when I
was in high school and was discussed in class from time to time. It
was part of my introduction to politics,and to a degree, the media.It
was much later in life when I realized it’s importance.
After the tantalizing story line,once everything is sorted out and a
person is cleared of the wrong doings which were alluded to in a
newspaper story,or that they we officially charged and cleared, where do they go? Who do
they see?
Sometimes we do stupid things or make mistakes that we must account
for, and that is the way it should be I guess. But other times things
are not so, sometimes just a whisper in the right ear motivated by
hurt feelings, fear or jealousy can set things in motion that, true or
not, can change a persons life for ever.
No matter how this turns out, a misunderstanding of some sort I hope,
things have changed. Folks have heard things ,true or not,and will
remember them.Things have been seen , stories and names in the paper.
Unfortunately, minds have already been made and truth decided and talked
about by some.
Sometimes these little tabloid type articles lead some where ,and most
of the time the authorities , Courts and such sort them out the way
they need to be. But sometimes it all turns out to be some sort of
misunderstanding. If that ends up being the case in this instance,the latter of the two,who
should Larry go see?How will he get his reputation back? Or have
headlines and “getting the scoop ” been decided as more important? I’m just wondering.
I agree – they shouldn’t run an article accusing someone of a crime until they are actually charged. There will always be doubts in the community now – even if they find no evidence.
It is nice to see that two other people can share the workload left by the person who resigned. If they are capable of doing this now then it shoule become part of their permanent workload and do away with the vacant position and same some money. Also there would be no harm in compensating those two individuals for the increased workload and there would still be a savings. Should be a no brainer.
Interesting, the school committee minutes cannot be accessed now. Yup, slide it under the rug. Sneaky and deceptive.