Police Investigate Comments Allegedly Made by Teacher at Lincoln, Maine High School

A group of concerned parents, looking for a meeting with Mattanawcook Academy Principal, was met at the door by Lincoln PD on Friday morning and told they could not enter the building.

Parent Heather Severance has had two kids attend the high school. She said following a recent conversation with her daughter, who is currently attending M.A., she came to the school on Friday morning, hoping to meet with school leadership. Severance said she wanted to voice concerns regarding comments allegedly made by her daughter's teacher about this week's shooting death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

"I arrived at the school at 7:30 this morning to meet with the principal...we were met by Lincoln PD and refused entry and told to call the principal to set up a meeting."

Lincoln's Police Chief Lee Miller says authorities were there to make sure there were no safety issues or disturbances to the school day.

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"I was made aware of a situation this morning about a teacher making some statements," Miller said. "We had heard there were going to be some parents there who were possibly going to cause an issue. So we went there to make sure the safety and everything was fine."

Severance, whose husband is a former police officer himself, said she was not surprised that the parents were met by law enforcement, and even understands why they were there.

"There was a group of parents there. It was not a protest. It was five moms who, our kids all share the same classroom and the same teacher."

She says that when parents asked to enter the school to remove their kids for the day, they were told they could not go in, but could call the school and have the office staff dismiss their kids from the building.

Chief Miller says kids were not blocked from leaving, and were allowed to depart with their parents if parents called to excuse them.

"The school is fine. The safety of the students is fine. We're investigating some information that was said to see if it was anything that would lead to us being involved. The rest of it is just a school issue that they're going to have to address...It was blown out of proportion a little bit. It needs to be investigated. The school needs to deal with their part of it on the personnel part. We're just making sure there wasn't anything that would make us be a part of it, if that makes sense."

Chief Miller says as a precaution, School Resource Officer Rebecca Peters remained at the school throughout the morning on Friday.

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Severance said she wants to make sure school leadership thoroughly investigates the situation. She says she does have a meeting scheduled with the Superintendent of RSU 67, Chris Downing, for later in the day.

Severance says her daughter is the second child in the family to attend Mattanawcook Academy, and this is the first time they've ever come across an issue like this.

Superintendent Downing issued a statement on the Regional School Unit No. 67 Facebook page Friday afternoon regarding the allegations against the teacher.

"The RSU No. 67 administration is aware of a recent incident involving an RSU No. 67 employee that has received significant attention. We are actively reviewing the matter and carefully considering the next steps. We will not be able to provide any specific comments because this is being handled as a personnel matter.

I want to emphasize to the school community that the administration does not condone violence of any type.

At this time, we have no indication of any safety concerns, and RSU No. 67 remains safe."

Downing told us the administration started receiving complaints Thursday night and officially opened an investigation into the matter after meeting with officials Friday morning. When asked if the teacher in question would remain on the job or take a leave of absence during the inquiry, we were told the investigation is following state regulations and protocols and the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.