An activist group in Dexter has secured enough signatures to force a recall vote for two conservative Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 46 school board members, which will be held during the town’s next local election on June 10.
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“Three people on this committee ran for the school board seats last fall and lost their bids. Now they are attempting to reverse the will of the people. They have with some success attacked my family, my church, my businesses and my husband’s credentials,” School Board Member Alisha Ames told The Maine Wire.
“Although the lies they have spewed are great for creating drama, the truth is parents want to be in control of providing safe education for their children. They want to make the decisions. I just happen to have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the bullies. We wonder why there is bullying in the schools, it starts at the top,” she added
A group calling itself Stop the Power Trip wants the two conservative school board members, Ames and Judy Saunders, to be removed from their positions.
The group has leveled multiple accusations against Ames based on the homeschooling group that she runs through Power Source Ministries, the church operated by her and her husband.
Stop the Power Trip—whose logo appears to be a deliberate attack on Power Source Ministries—has claimed that Ames’ homeschool group creates a conflict of interest. They argued that her true priorities lie with the homeschool group rather than her position on the school board.
Stop the Power Trip submitted a series of accusations against Ames, claiming that, on one occasion, her homeschool group held an event just outside of school property in an attempt to recruit children away from public schools.
“Alisha Ames has led an attempt to recruit students to her homeschool co-op in a predatory manner on school property, using food and social activities to lure children to disenroll from MSAD #46 schools,” said the accusation.
Ames responded to those and other accusations via a series of four YouTube videos.
She argued that the event was simply a gesture from her church’s youth group, which wanted to do something for the high schoolers, and claimed that the students received permission from the school prior to hosting the event.
“Two of our students had gone and talked to the principal and had gotten permission, and he didn’t find it to be a problem at all because those kinds of things happen kind of often, where different groups in the community go up and they bless the kids,” said Ames in her video response.
Stop the Power Trip also criticized Ames for her allegedly changing story about her son’s lack of vaccinations, which she claimed was due to both religious and medical reasons.
“I understand and empathize with the concept that whether or not you vaccinate is a personal choice for your family to make,” said former school board member Tiffany Grover, who serves on the group’s committee, “It’s not about why she chooses to vaccinate or not. It’s about blatantly lying to voters.”
The final accusation that Ames addressed on YouTube claimed that she has continually called into question an alleged budgeting discrepancy, a discrepancy that Stop the Power Trip believes she fabricated to “stir up dissension among the community.”
“Yes, I do call into question, repeatedly, issues with the budget because I believe there’s some, some [sic] possibility there of error,” said Ames, “If I’m questioning it as a school board member, I have the right and responsibility to do that.”
She argued that she was doing her duty as a school board member by working to address a significant decrease in MaineCare revenue for the school, which she believes has not been sufficiently explained.
In addition to the possible recall, Ames was removed from her committee assignments by Dexter School Board Chair Michael Burton during a May 7 meeting, in which he accused her of a “continual inability to follow direction from our legal counsel and a tendency to destroy our code of ethics on a regular basis.”
Burton refused to explain how Ames had violated ethics or ignored legal counsel when asked by reporters from the Bangor Daily News.
The Maine Wire reached out to Ames, asking her questions about the efforts to remove her from her position and why she believes she is being targeted.
“I am being targeted because I am demanding transparency, integrity, and fiscal responsibility. I ask questions about topics that are normally just accepted as fact without follow-up research. I need proof to be able to make educated decisions for other people’s money and have been met with much resistance to those questions,” she said.
“For example, I needed to understand why our district budgeted for a $245,000 decrease in MaineCare Revenue last year. This year I am trying to understand why our district budget is increasing while our future enrollment is potentially decreasing by 40 students,” she added.
She also discussed her involvement with homeschooling when asked if hostility to the practice has motivated the recall effort.
“I am not sure there is the same level of hostility towards homeschooling as there was in the past. Parents nationwide are tired of not being in control of their children’s education and trying to fight with school boards to get things changed is not easy and it can be extremely expensive,” she said.
“They have no voice on policies, monies or administration. The school boards members have been told their allegiance has to the board and not the people. Not even the children. They are convinced that they must listen to the big organizations like MEA, Drummond Woodsum and MSBA verses their constituents. This must change,” she added.
The other school board member who could be ousted by the June vote, Saunders, faces accusations of violating the school district’s nepotism policy. The policy prohibits the school board from employing immediate family members of board members or the superintendent, and Saunders has a daughter working for the school.
While Stop The Power Trip believes these are grounds for Saunders to be recalled, the board member has defended against the alleged conflict, arguing that her daughter was employed prior to her election to the board and is protected by a contract.
The petitions to remove the board members required 296 signatures each to put the recalls on the June ballot. Ames’ received 363 signatures, and Saunders’ received 350.
If not recalled next month, Ames’ term would expire in December 2026, and Saunders’ would expire in December 2027.
Following the publication of this article, Saunders responded to The Maine Wire’s request for comment.
“The Dexter Town Charter sets the requirements for election to municipal boards. I met those requirements. As a qualified candidate, I was qualified to serve. State law prohibits spouses of board members from working in the district. School board policy cannot supersede state law, town charter or ordinances,” said Saunders.
“I did not violate the policy. The policy also provides for an exemption. However, that option was never brought to the board,” she added
“Even the group initiating the recall acknowledges that the municipality had no power to prevent my election. I believe this is an attempt to remove conservative voices from local government,” she concluded
