Portland Public Schools is the public school district in Portland, Maine, United States. The district operates 18 primary and secondary schools. It is the largest and most ethnically diverse school district in Maine, with a student body made up of roughly 20% minorities. The district operates expeditionary learning schools, a vocational school, and elementary, middle, and three high schools (Casco Bay High School, Deering High School, and Portland High School).
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Superintendent of Schools: Dr. James Morse
King Middle School has reported 17 cases of pregnancy in the last 7 years.[1] Because of this, the school committee voted in October 2007 to make prescription contraceptives available through the school's clinic, creating some controversy.[2] In addition, since 2000, the school has provided condoms and non-prescription birth control methods for students, after consultation with the student, their guardians, the school nurse, and the school counselors.
King was in the middle of another controversy, albeit regional, in May 2010, when the Maine Republican Party was holding its 2010 meetings for the 2010 Maine gubernatorial election. Members of the party went through teachers' personal items, and going as far as taking down a sign promoting unions on a teacher's door, and replacing it with a bumper sticker that read 'Working People Vote Republican'. They also went through the same teacher's personal items, and said that copies of the United States Constitution and Miranda Rights published by the American Civil Liberties Union were "Anti-American". The Maine Republican Party later apologized.