Kennebunk Elementary principal resigns after police investigation
Kennebunk Elementary School, as seen Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
The principal of Kennebunk Elementary School has resigned in the wake of a police investigation into an allegation that he was abusive toward a 5-year-old special education student.
Ryan Quinn was put on leave in March after an educational technician at the school reported him to human resources over concerns about his actions while disciplining the student for misbehaving, police records show. Police did not charge him, but it appears that Regional School Unit 21 had begun taking steps to terminate him.
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Quinn and his lawyer, Gerard Conley, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The RSU 21 school board voted unanimously to accept Quinn’s resignation at its meeting Monday night.
Much of the remainder of the meeting was held in executive session, out of the public’s view. According to the meeting agenda, the executive session was to discuss the position of current employees.
Board members also unanimously approved the signing of a separation agreement that was discussed in executive session, though the contents of that agreement were not disclosed.
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The Kennebunk Police Department and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services conducted investigations into two incidents that the ed tech said she felt constituted child abuse. She said Quinn grabbed the student in what she described as an aggressive manner: once by picking the child up under his arm, and later by forcibly turning the boy’s head in an apparent effort to make him pay attention.
Both departments closed their investigations in April, having concluded that Quinn’s actions did not constitute child abuse, and he was not charged.
Last week, Conley declined to comment on his client’s employment but emphasized that both police and DHHS found that he had not committed a crime.
“He was given a clean bill of health, full stop,” Conley said Thursday. “He was totally cleared of these allegations.”
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Assistant Principal Ellen Towne has been temporarily serving as Kennebunk Elementary’s principal since March.
Grimm, the superintendent, said last week that the district’s job is to take any reports regarding student safety seriously and to allow police and corresponding agencies to conduct their investigations.
“ We’re not presuming someone is guilty of what’s been reported, but it’s our job to make sure that the state’s alerted so they can look into it and conduct an investigation,” he said.
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Tagged: maine department of health and human services, RSU 21, rsu 21 school board
Abigail is a community reporter for Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Sanford, and Wells. She recently moved up to Maine from Connecticut after getting her bachelor’s degree in English/Journalism at the University. More by Abigail Driscoll
