The Deer Isle-Stonington school board voted unanimously Wednesday to suspend its superintendent until further notice.
The move is the latest turmoil in School Union 76 surrounding Superintendent Dan Ross, who was hired to lead the five-town school district in the spring of 2022. Other towns in the district include Brooklin, Sedgwick and Isle Au Haut.
Deer Isle and Stonington comprise only part of School Union 76. It was unclear Friday morning if the school boards in Brooklin and Sedgwick had scheduled or were considering similar votes for Ross.
The district also has been beset in recent months with turnover among top administrators, school staff voting that they have a no-confidence in Ross earlier this week and even a call to police in August when Ross contacted the sheriff’s department to report the board member Darrell Williams was disrupting a staff meeting, according to the Island Advantages weekly newspaper.
Deer Isle and Stonington, which together comprise Consolidated School District 13 as part of School Union 76, held an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening via Zoom that nearly 90 people tuned into. The meeting lasted only a few minutes, with no discussion about why the board was considering suspending him.
The board voted 5-0 “to direct the Superintendent to refrain from conducting any business on behalf of CSD 13 until further notice” and then quickly adjourned.
Genevieve McDonald, co-chair of the CSD board, declined after the vote to comment on why the board suspended Ross.
Ross did not immediately respond to a voicemail message left Friday morning at the school union office.
