Lots of times in testimony, in or out of court, like in last week’s Wiscasset Middle High School principal hearing at Wiscasset Elementary School and Zoom, witnesses will say some thing(s) beyond what the lawyer for either party asked. They are really only supposed to answer the question, and lawyers’ questions are generally necessarily narrow. 

It is not ours to say if any one extraneous remark is planned or impromptu; and in court, depending on what was said and/or how far afield it was, the judge may advise the jury to disregard it, so that the jury considers only the responses to the questions asked, not what the person testifying wished they were asked or decided to say anyway. 

But the principal hearing had only some of the aspects of a court proceeding; it was not one, as the hearing officer noted. And a jury was not hearing the matter; the school committee was, and it heard everything the public heard. 

That includes past interim superintendent of schools Robert “Bob” England’s wishing for Wiscasset to heal; and Wiscasset High School graduate and 35-year Wiscasset school employee Deb Pooler describing the need for a tech director and, as for the hearing, “It breaks my heart to have us all here tonight, because something’s happening here, and we need to make sure that we save our schools. If this kind of thing keeps going on, we’re not going to have schools in Wiscasset.”

Both comments are notable. People with extensive time in – one in multiple school departments, the other a career in this one – imparted wisdom from which we can take both warning and hope: Some of Wiscasset has become polarized in the last several years over the schools, over issues including the brief membership in the area district, to the change in mascot, the primary school’s closing, a coaching dustup, the homecoming no-shoulders controversy; and now a principal’s dismissal. Some and, sometimes, many residents have either vented tension or compounded it online and elsewhere.  

The two education long-timers’ comments last week exceeded the finite questions asked; but the statements sounded like genuine pleas for a town to find the focus from which best decisions can be made. Those called as witnesses those two nights had to know a lot of people were hearing them speak. Maybe the comments will stay in mind.

Week’s positive parting thought: In another offshoot of the hearing, attendees got to hear from testifying staff about work on the clothing exchange’s boutique theme – another way to encourage, and remove the stigma of, using resources a school offers its students. Sounds like a good idea.