Statute on school nepotism needs to be changed
Bangor Daily News, November 24, 2006

(excerpt) The first problem with the existing state statute is that it is ineffective at preventing nepotism, the stated reason for its existence. Nepotism is alive and well throughout our educational system because, in part, the state statute only restricts spouses of school board members. It does not prevent school administrators (principals, superintendents) from hiring their spouses. The MSMA’s decision to argue against changing the existing statute shows that their primary allegiance is not with their school board arm but with their school superintendent arm. Nepotism is not confined to spouses, so why is the statute? Most people would recognize a closer relationship between two people living together than between a person and his or her estranged spouse from whom he or she is separated. What about the closeness of the relationship of parent-child or sibling-sibling? What about the relationship between business partners? The statute is silent on all of these

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