GSA seeking a tuition increase from towns
BLUE HILL George Stevens Academy is seeking a tuition increase of $1,000 per student from towns on the peninsula that send students to the semi-private secondary school.
Head of School Tim Seeley explained that GSA must abide by what the Maine Department of Education sets for a tuition rate, which currently is $12,000 a student. “What towns are voting on is agreeing to add $1,000 to that number.”
“The average cost to educate a student is over $16,000,” Seeley said. “We just can’t maintain a fullservice high school with programs for every student on the peninsula, which is our mission,” on the stateset tuition rate.
Blue Hill, Deer Isle schools close amid COVID outbreak
BLUE HILL Schools here and in Deer Isle will be holding remote classes this week due to COVID-19 cases among staff and students and, in the case of Deer Isle, a weekend gathering earlier this month where several families came in contact with someone who has now gotten sick.
George Stevens Academy has reported four positive COVID-19 cases among staff and students.
“We’re going remote because we need to have some time for cleaning,” said Head of School Tim Seeley. “There’s four other schools that are going remote this week because of cases.”
Saying goodbye to those we lost
ELLSWORTH 2020 was a year full of loss, thanks in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hancock County recorded its first death of a person who tested positive for coronavirus in May, a man in his 60s, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Since then, as of Dec. 30, eleven Hancock County residents have died due to the coronavirus. However, locals have lost many more family and friends who lived elsewhere to the virus.
Meanwhile, Hancock County lost several community leaders due to other causes during 2020.
Longtime lawman Alan Brown of Ellsworth died on Oct. 16.