The legislature’s Government Oversight Committee has unanimously approved subpoenas to Bangor and Searsport schools and to the Maine Department of Education as the panel investigates the handling of the deaths of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy in Stockton Springs and another girl, 4-year-old Kendall Chick, who died in December in Wiscasset.
Beth Ashcroft, the director of the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, says those entities requested that their records be subpoenaed because of federal education privacy laws.
“Almost all of our effort has been put into framing up and getting out requests for records from various government entities,” she says.
Ashcroft says the agency is charged with a quick turnaround in the investigation and that more subpoenas may be sought as the probe continues. Ashcroft says her agency is working with the Attorney General’s office to make sure its review does not interfere with the murder investigation that is under way.
