Budget makes up majority of Bar Harbor warrant
BAR HARBOR With decisions on the fate of cruise ships and vacation rentals destined for a vote in the future, town officials aren’t expecting many fireworks when voters get together on June 1 for Town Meeting.
Most of the 24 articles on the warrant are related to the budget, which is proposed to go up 2.1 percent.
“There’s nothing really controversial,” said Town Council member Gary Friedmann. “The real issues are going to be coming in the fall.”
Bar Harbor Town Manager Cornell Knight anticipated an increase of 0.7 percent to the municipal portion of the tax commitment, 5 percent for the school, 4.9 percent for the Hancock County assessment and 1.1 percent for the high school.
By Rebecca Alley and Dick Broom
ELLSWORTH When Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Hancock native, became the first woman elected to the job in December, she told The American how much of an impact her teachers had on her political career.
“Mrs. Johnson was my kindergarten teacher,” she remembered, adding that without the speech therapy she received as a young student at Hancock Grammar School, “I wouldn’t be in politics today.”
The support she received was monumental in “normal” times.
Now, the call to appreciate teachers has reached an all-new level, especially after educators, parents and students navigated virtual learning from within the confines of shared home and workspaces. While many schools have welcomed students back to in-person learning for most of the week, the transition to learning alongside pandemic protocols has still taken a lot of work.
Teachers go âabove and beyondâ in pandemic year
By Rebecca Alley and Dick Broom
ELLSWORTH â When Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Hancock native, became the first woman elected to the job in December, she told The American how much of an impact her teachers had on her political career.
âMrs. Johnson was my kindergarten teacher,â she remembered, adding that without the speech therapy she received as a young student at Hancock Grammar School, âI wouldnât be in politics today.â
The support she received was monumental in ânormalâ times.
Now, the call to appreciate teachers has reached an all-new level, especially after educators, parents and students navigated virtual learning from within the confines of shared home and workspaces. While many schools have welcomed students back to in-person learning for most of the week, the transition to learning alongside pandemic protocols has still taken a lot of work.
Virtual Academy student wins speech contest
BAR HARBOR
“I believe animals have the right to live an amazing life, because just like us, we only have one life,” said Madelyn Marks, in the speech that won her first place in the district’s middle school contest on March 4.
A resident of Trenton and a student at the Mount Desert Island Regional School System’s Virtual Academy, Marks was one of 10 finalists who competed via Zoom before their peers and three judges. This year’s theme for the contest, This I Believe, was inspired by the National Public Radio series of the same name.