Left-wing activists in Gardiner’s Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 11 faced a potentially game-changing obstacle to their plans to establish a school-based medical clinic on Thursday when it was revealed that the school is not zoned for such a project.
During an extremely contentious period of public testimony, Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) raised that the school is not properly zoned to be the site of a medical clinic and that the school board has made no effort to have it re-zoned as they consider the clinic.
“The area which the school sits on is zoned as ECR, Education, Community, and Recreation meaning that, by code, a private entity is not allowed to be permanently established on school property,” said Rep. Soboleski.
“I again contacted [Code Enforcement Officer] Kris McNeil, asking what the status was. He told me that the school district has not yet applied for a permit to put a health clinic in the school, and if they do, that permit would be denied,” he added.
Soboleski went on to accuse the board of knowing that the school did not meet the zoning requirements for a healthcare clinic and trying to push it through regardless, ignoring the law.
“I believe that you knew that because it’s in your by-laws. I also believe that you intended to violate the law, thinking, ‘I can get away with it, and maybe later it’s easier to beg for forgiveness than to apply and go through the process,'” he said.
“I suggest you call for an immediate session regarding the clinic, and vote to end the discussion on the matter and abandon the project,” he added.
School Board Chair Becky Fles eventually addressed Soboleski’s statements after the contentious public testimony ended.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about,” said Fles. “We own our property and our buildings,” she added.
Ownership of the property would not exempt it from zoning requirements, and the lack of proper zoning could completely prevent the clinic from being established, regardless of what the school board ultimately decides.
Activists on the school board, including Joanne O’Brien, who has repeatedly compared Republicans to Nazis on social media, have pushed for a school-based clinic despite concerns from parents.
Opponents of the policy argue that the clinic would allow the school to prescribe mind-altering prescription drugs or treatments to facilitate a gender transition to teenagers without parental knowledge or consent.
Now, Rep. Mike Soboleski’s (R-Phillips) revelation that the school does not meet the zoning requirements for the clinic could put an end to the push by left-wing board members.
Not only has the school failed to meet the zoning requirements for a healthcare clinic capable of prescribing drugs, but the school board has not even attempted to have it re-zoned during an ongoing push for the clinic, and apparently has no intention of doing so.
If the school board activists succeed in establishing the clinic on site, Gardiner would join over 30 school-based clinics already operating across the state.
The clinic would occupy school property and, though technically and legally distinct, could be branded as an official part of the school. From there, it could distribute controversial drugs, including cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers, to minors.
The legal separation between the clinic and the school would give school officials plausible deniability when faced with parental complaints. The clinic would be bound by HIPAA protections that would prevent it from disclosing the medical records of its patients to concerned parents.
Although the clinic would be taxpayer-funded, it would be operated by the HealthReach Community Health Centers, a non-profit, and be classified as a private entity for zoning purposes.
The Maine Wire previously reported that a school-based clinic in Fairfield, operated by the same non-profit seeking to contract with Gardiner, issued one teenager a bag of unlabeled Zoloft, a mind-altering antidepressant.
When the student’s father complained to the clinic, health center representatives told him that they were legally allowed to prescribe the drugs to his daughter without his consent, although they refused to explain why the pills were not in a properly marked pharmaceutical bottle.
It is illegal to distribute drugs outside properly labeled containers and could lead a pharmacist to lose their professional license.
Tax documents filed by HealthReach revealed that over 40 percent of the non-profit’s total 2023 revenue came from prescription drugs, totaling $11.7 million. These numbers, combined with rising executive salaries at the non-profit, lead to concerns that the organization could prioritize pharmaceutical revenue over the well-being of the high-schoolers it treats.
[RELATED: Gardiner’s Proposed School-Based Clinic Operator Earned $11.7 Million Prescribing Drugs in 2023…]
