In Massachusetts, a Maine-made progressive superintendent has once again blown out the education budget of Lexington, Massachusetts public schools. As a result, the district has moved to cut 65 full-time teacher and staff positions after issuing non-renewal notices to 160 educators.
Parents are incensed.
This comes as the Hackett administration’s construction of a new $660 million dollar high school paid for by taxpayers is underway.
Superintendent Julie Hackett, stated that the reductions were necessary to address new shortfalls, according to a CBS News report.
[Related: Conservative Augusta School Board Member Speaks Out On Serious Issues Facing The District]
Before she moved to Massachusetts in 2007, the ultra-progressive superintendent’s early career chapters occurred under former Maine Governor Angus King.
Under leaders like Hackett, from Maine to Massachusetts, DEI models became the norm in schools, with Lexington’s district even featuring a “land acknowledgment” on their official webpage.
In other words, the woke march was on and budget realities took a back seat.
In July 2023, Hackett responded to a Change.org petition that included almost 2,000 resident signatures opposing “Serious Talks” curriculum in elementary schools. The opposed curriculum introduces concepts of visible and invisible identities, to include race, culture, religion, disability, and gender identity. Hackett insisted the program was “thoughtfully designed to honor our diverse community,” arguing that state law provided a safe haven for such materials from parental opt-out rights.
In February 2025, following President Trump administration’s executive orders aimed to curb radical adolescent indoctrination; Hackett and the school committee issued a joint statement that the district would proceed teaching the curriculum without changes, explicitly citing support for LGBTQ+ youth and staff.
Regardless of her power grabs, her position was challenged in November 2025, when a Lexington parent filed suit against the district and Hackett personally. The parent alleged that Hackett, along with other officials, actively attempted to “normalize” concepts that are at odds with familial-Christian beliefs on marriage, gender, and sexuality. Even as the judge granted an injunction which allowed for opt-out measures, she refused any meaningful comment and continued her DEI crusade.
Hackett’s Maine to Massachusetts tour of woke destruction may be the latest but it is not the first.
A parallel case in Melrose, Massachusetts spotlights Superintendent Julie R. Kukenberger, who was cashiered from her job in 2022. The Maine Wire told the real story, as Kukenberger made her timely departure shortly after a $2.2 million budget shortfall was discovered in the district.
[Related: Superintendent Who Banned Halloween, Columbus Day Jobless Again]
During her tenure in Melrose, Kukenberger pushed for various policy changes, including the liberal-classic replacement of Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. Along with the holiday swap, she redesigned the school mascot from the Raiders to the Red Hawks and de-emphasized Halloween celebrations.
The Halloween sway into cancel culture received national attention, including commentary from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, as the initiatives occurred against the backdrop of declining student proficiency. A federal test result observation showed that subjects in math and reading continued to struggle despite the prolific liberal policy changes made to clearly better society.
Before her stint in Massachusetts, Kukenberger previously served locally in Maine as the superintendent of Scarborough Schools from 2016 to 2019. Her time there ended as a result of a citizen-led recall campaign and a no-confidence vote of 70% .
The sad fact is this: two of Massachusetts’s worst fiscal decision makers appear to have gotten their start in Maine.
The educational decline in the northeast paints a clear picture of current realities which include the prioritization of woke culture over balanced budgets.
Any person whose educational background ideology caused them to be “recalled” by the voters in any State, should not be granted a license automatically to enforce that ideology in another State without being reviewed by the parents of the school at which she/he desires to teach at in another State. Receiving a 70% no confidence vote should warrant a review and recertification.
Anti-American, anti-civilization, anti-reality school teachers and administrators should be fired and never be allowed to damage American children again !