Wiscasset Elementary School fourth grade teacher Becky Hallowell, Lincoln County Teacher of the Year, is now Maine‘s Teacher of the Year. In the WES gym Thursday morning, Hallowell got the honor, a surprise as it is each year with Maine Department of Education alerting the media earlier in the week about Thursday’s ceremony in an email that, as always, did not say who won, but said the time and which school in the state the announcement would be made. The information was, as always for the award, “embargoed,” or not to be published until the award was announced.

At the Oct. 8 school committee meeting, officials spoke of a top secret, special announcement to come. 

Hallowell was announced May 9 as the county winner; next, a semi finalist; and then, one of the final four.

Hallowell’s county-level honor that took her to the top one in Maine follows fellow WES teacher Trae Stover’s service as Lincoln County Teacher of the Year in 2022. 

Hallowell started her career in Dresden teaching first grade, taught four years there teaching that and kindergarten, then a year teaching kindergarten at Williams Cone School in Topsham before moving onto her “hometown school,” Whitefield Elementary School, where she taught K-2 and acted as assistant principal, she has told Wiscasset Newspaper.

She moved onto Wiscasset Primary School in 2011 and taught fourth grade for a year before moving back to kindergarten until 2017; took a kindergarten teaching job at Cushing Community School, “but needed to be closer to support my family. I missed the students and staff at Wiscasset Elementary School and was delighted to be hired back as a fourth grade teacher in 2018,” Hallowell shared after earning the county teacher honor last spring. In those comments, she called Wiscasset rich in historical and natural resources and said her favorite teaching days are “when the students engage with their natural environment and local history.”

Full coverage of Thursday’s announcement will follow. 

Hurricane Milton made landfall at around 8:30 p.m. near Siesta Key, about eight miles south of Sarasota, Florida.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the category 3 hurricane had estimated maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. 

The landfall occurred way earlier than expected after shifting southward. 

Milton is expected to produce dangerous storm surges of up to 13 feet. 

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Nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center said the Fort Kent hospital was not transparent about the closure of its child psychiatric unit in September.

Nurse Terry Caron said staff only found out a week prior, after nurses directly pressed hospital administration to respond to rumors. And Caron said it’s not the first time the hospital has abruptly closed a unit.

“Our obstetrics unit closed as well,” she said. “And again, we were assured that that unit was not going to close, and then it did.”

Registered nurses at Northern Maine Medical Center unionized earlier this year, in part, they said, to have more influence in policies. They’re currently negotiating a contract.

Hospital officials said most admissions to the 7-bed unit were from outside Aroostook County. They said they closed the unit to better address the needs of the community and make the best use of available resources.