We speak with Edward Tomic from The Maine Wire about statements that Speaker Ross stated at the Juneteenth “State of Black Maine Symposium” in Portland.

Talbot Ross said that MDOE is complicit in making sure African-American history and culture are not taught in Maine schools as she delivered unprompted remarks at the Juneteenth “State of Black Maine Symposium” in Portland.

“The Department of Education has failed the State of Maine. The Department of Education is not doing its job,” Talbot Ross said. “You can quote me. The Department of Education has not done its job, and it has had plenty of time to do it.”

Talbot Ross criticized MDOE for relegating the history of African-Americans to MOOSE modules, part of the COVID-19-era “Maine Opportunities for Online Sustained Education” online learning initiative. She said that students could find comparable educational resources to MOOSE modules just by using a search engine on their own.