Nancie Atwell, the teacher who won a million-dollar prize for her work at Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb, was recently summonsed for the theft of a blouse worth less than $20.

Atwell was observed on the security camera at Reny's Department Store in Damariscotta taking a blouse off a hanger and putting it in a shopping bag, according to Damariscotta Police Chief Ronald Young. Reny's sent the footage to the police department, Young said. He did not recognize her, but put the image on the department's Facebook page. Within a short period of time, Atwell called him, he said.

Young said Atwell told him that it was a misunderstanding; she told Young that she had been exchanging an item she returned for the blouse she took.

“There's no evidence that she was exchanging the blouse,” Young said.

Atwell will appear in Lincoln County District Court on May 12. She is charged with a Class E misdemeanor.

Atwell was the founder of Center for Teaching and Learning, and was the first recipient of the Global Teacher Prize, which carried a monetary award of $1 million, in March 2015.