
Lewiston High School alumnus (Class of 1978) and longtime LHS teacher Mike Bernier talks Tuesday about why he retired earlier than he wanted during an interview at the Sun Journal office in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
LEWISTON — A viral video of retired Lewiston High School teacher Mike Bernier has sparked a conversation about the ongoing challenges in the district, with his candid remarks on discipline and academic struggles striking a chord with many.
In the video, Bernier, who retired in June 2024 after 36 years of teaching English, explains why he walked away from the district: “I quit Lewiston Public Schools because I got tired of going home every day or almost every day feeling like a failure,” he said, referring to the challenges educators face in the district. The video has since been widely shared in local social media groups.
Bernier, 65, said the district’s policies, particularly around attendance, grading and discipline, have led to a decline in educational quality.
In an interview with the Sun Journal, Bernier said he felt compelled to speak out about the district policies that have been undermining the quality of education.
“We once had an attendance policy,” Bernier said. “It basically said that if a student missed 12 or more days per semester, they wouldn’t get credit for that one half of semester. They had to retake the class through adult ed,” he explained. “That policy was eliminated by this administration.”
“We have no teeth in our attendance policy and the kids know it,” Bernier continued. “Why would any employer want to move into a community that doesn’t hold students accountable for soft skills, for showing up to work on time, showing up at all? Why would they want to relocate to a community which allows this to happen?”
“If you missed more than 12 days per semester, even if you were passing, you were failing because attendance was part of the learning process. Today, kids will go online, because many of us post our homework assignments online. They’ll complete them and not show up,” Bernier said. “Oftentimes, they’ll copy and paste from another individual’s homework and submit it to me as their own. And yet, I have to give them a score for that.”
“To me, it translates into a lack of readiness for the real world or even college,” he said.

Lewiston High School alumnus (Class of 1978) and longtime LHS teacher Mike Bernier talks Tuesday about why he retired earlier than he wanted during an interview at the Sun Journal office in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Bernier said the workload educators are allowed to assign under the current policy is inadequate, as it often falls short of preparing students for college and beyond.
“I don’t feel like I’ve been a good teacher the last 10 years. I was giving 40 to 50 percent less work. I was giving A (grades) just for completing homework assignments that last 20 minutes once or twice a week,” Bernier recalled. “I’d always comment on their papers, giving them advice, but I was just giving grades this year because my failure rate would have been above 50 percent.”
“We talk to seniors that come back to visit us, even some of the most diligent kids, and we have a lot of good kids in Lewiston, we really do, I don’t want to label the entire school population as failing, but even the most diligent of students come back and say, ‘we’re not ready; we’re not ready for community college or four-year college,'” Bernier said. “Some of them make it, but a lot of them drop out by the end of their first semester. They’re overwhelmed with the workload.”
Superintendent Jake Langlais said he stands by the district’s policies and practices.
“The School Committee has looked at policies regularly and have demonstrated a willingness to make changes. These changes go through edits and two public meetings for approvals. We are hopeful people engage in the process,” he said in an email Thursday.
‘Be the bad guy’
“I try not to make this personal, because superintendents, principals, they primarily support their policies and their values of what education should be for the general public,” Bernier said.
“Teachers don’t get a say in that. We’re told, for example, ‘hold kids accountable, clear them out of the hallway, don’t let them loiter.’ But every time we do that and kids refuse, there are no consequences. The kids know it. They emulate it. They get away with it,” he continued.
“I no longer wrote kids up for cellphones in the classroom. Because I would be spending about about 20% of my time telling kids to put them away. When I started writing kids up, what did they get? Warning, warning, warning after warning,” Bernier recalled.

Lewiston High School alumnus (Class of 1978) and longtime LHS teacher Mike Bernier holds a week’s worth of reports for homework that hadn’t been turned in that he had to follow up on Tuesday after an interview at the Sun Journal office in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Bernier argues that the district needs stronger leadership and more consistent enforcement of policies, especially when it comes to discipline.
“We have no more credibility as teachers in the classroom. None whatsoever. It wasn’t always like that. This shifted with this current administration, where policies started becoming ignored or eliminated,” Bernier said. “Lack of enforcement from central office all the way down. We all know that central office sets the tone and the policies. The building administrators don’t have much of a choice but to follow those policies.”
“We don’t hold kids accountable for getting work done on time. We don’t hold kids accountable for doing their own work. If we catch them plagiarizing, we have to let them do it again,” Bernier said.
“Administrators need to be the bad guys sometimes. They need to be disliked. They need to enforce policy. They’re not there to be a student’s buddy. Nor should I. We’re not equals. We’re equals when we’re adults. I tell my kids every year, ‘don’t get me wrong, I’m not your buddy. I can be your friend. And no, this is not a democracy, it’s a benevolent dictatorship,'” he continued.
Ward 2 representative Janet Beaudoin brought up the video during Monday’s School Committee meeting. “I actually believe that (Bernier) had some really, really valid points in that video,” she said.
Beaudoin drew attention to a key issue with the district’s current grading system, reflecting concerns raised by Bernier.
Bernier had pointed out that some students, who rarely attend class or complete assignments, can still graduate by online credit recovery programs.
Beaudoin suggested that there might be a need for a different tier of diploma to address such disparities.
“I’d very much not like to take things from social media and make them topics of discussion, but I do think there are things out there that we should talk about,” Langlais responded.
It remains to be seen whether these issues will be revisited in upcoming School Committee meetings.
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