Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron has taken offense at a statement made by Scarborough Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer questioning the value of a state review of the high school building project because Gendron is the sister of Scarborough Facilities Manager and owner’s representative Norm Justice.

“On behalf of myself, and the members of the Department of Education and the Bureau of General Services who conducted the review, I take great exception to these comments and the implication of a lack of integrity in the conducting of the review,” Gendron wrote in a letter addressed to the Town Council and various other municipal and state officials.

Gendron was responding to a comment made by Messer in a statement withdrawing his support for hiring a third-party engineer to study the high school construction. In that statement Messer wrote:

“Some school officials believe that the recent reviews by the Department of Education and Bureau of General Services were sufficient to serve as an independent third party review. These two reports were addressed to the Commissioner of the Department of Education, who happens to be the sister of the owner’s representative for this project. With all due respect, I question how independent these reports can be under these circumstances.”

The reviews were requested by Superintendent Bill Michaud after Messer and Councilor Robert Patch raised questions regarding the integrity of the high school construction project. They asked the town to hire a third-party engineer to review the entire project at a cost of $20,000. The issue was dropped last week when Messer changed his vote and opposed the expenditure.

Both the Education Department and the Bureau of General Services submitted separate reports indicating the project was running smoothly. In addition, school officials met with the project’s architect and general contractor, who also said the project was going well.

In her letter dated April 27, Gendron goes on to explain that she removed herself from the state review process because she is the sister of owner’s representative Norm Justice. Gendron also said Dale Doughty, an independent contractor who consults with the School Facilities Team, led the high school review because he does not report to her. In addition, the Bureau of General Services sent two representatives to conduct its own review.

“At no time did I meet with the team to discuss either the concerns raised on their findings,” Gendron wrote, adding that once the she received the two reports she submitted them to the Scarborough school district in “exactly the form in which each was submitted to me.”

For his part, Messer said the issue is dead and has no interest to keep fighting.

“I’ve made my case known, brought my concerns forward,” Messer said.

He did say the reports were done after a “quick cursory review” of the building and documents provided to them by the architects and construction team.

“I think you need a much more thorough analysis than that,” he said.

Finally, Messer said his statement was carefully worded and the particular portion that has drawn the criticism is a very small part of the statement, which did not use the names of those involved.

“They want to make me the issue. The issue is the building,” Messer said.

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