Squabble on the Lewiston School Committee

The Lewiston School Committee was getting a report from high school Principal Gus LeBlanc on Monday night when a squabble broke out.

Ward 6 committee member Ronella Paradis was questioning LeBlanc when Chairman Jim Handy said the principal had already gone over the information.

“He didn’t answer my question,” she said.

“I’m insulted,” Paradis said, interrupting Handy as he spoke.

“Mrs. Paradis, you’re out of order,” he said.

“I don’t care,” she said.

“Then I’ll have to ask you to leave,” he said.

“I will not leave,” she said.

“Then you’ll have to abide by the rules of the chair,” he said.

“I don’t have to tolerate anything you say, Jim,” she said.

Handy stared at Paradis. Finally, in a calm voice, he said, “I have to call you on your behavior. It’s disappointing.”

Paradis said LeBlanc wasn’t answering her questions. Handy and Paradis talked at the same time in raised voices.

“You are out of order, Mrs. Paradis! Leave!” he shouted, banging his gavel.

“No, Jim, not the way you’re talking,” she said.

He said he had asked her nicely and she ignored that, and she was disrupting the meeting. “I’ve had enough,” Handy said.

Paradis refused to leave, but she did stop talking, and the meeting continued.

Awkward.

— Bonnie Washuk

CNN comes to Auburn for iPads

CNN broadcast a report on Sept. 12 on the rollout of the Auburn School Department’s iPad 2s for kindergartners. Superintendent Katy Grondin said she initially was surprised CNN wanted to come to Auburn. Producer Aaron Cooper told Grondin the School Department had captured CNN’s attention and wanted to be there when students received them for the first time.

Before taping, Grondin and CNN held several conference calls to discuss the intent of the story and whether a teacher would be OK with the Cable News Network in the class.

Grondin found Fairview teacher Kelly McCarthy willing but a little nervous. On Sept. 6, the day of the taping, CNN was in the class all morning. “There was three hours of taping for a 2-minute story,” Grondin said, adding that CNN “made us feel at ease. They did a nice job.”

— Bonnie Washuk

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