Members of the RSU 40 school board voted last week to repeal a policy that addresses the safety and wellbeing of transgender and gender expansive students. (Getty Images)
As Mainers head to the polls on Tuesday, some midcoast residents will also be casting votes to determine the balance of power of a school board that just elected to repeal protections designed to create a safe learning environment for students who are transgender.
At a meeting Thursday night, school board members for Regional School Unit 40 based in Union voted 8-8 in favor of removing the policy. However, certain member’s votes carry more weight because of the size of the town they represent, so the votes in favor were enough to repeal a policy that addresses the safety and wellbeing of transgender and gender expansive students.
The school district spans five communities — Union, Friendship, Waldoboro, Warren, and Washington.
The policy, known as ACAAA, was adopted in 2018 and addresses privacy, name changes, pronoun use and other guidance for how parents and students should communicate with the school to recognize a child’s identity as transgender.
Under this policy, students are allowed to use the restroom and locker room that most closely aligns with their gender identity. It also says students should be addressed by the name and pronouns corresponding with their gender identity.
During hours of public testimony, multiple people, including some who are transgender, spoke about the importance of the protections granted under ACAAA. Research from the Human Rights Campaign shows that transgender people are at a greater risk for violence, harassment and discrimination. The policy specifically addresses safety and says that staff should be sensitive to the increased risk trans students face and report concerns to administrators.
On the eve of an election
This decision comes less than a week before the June 11 election where a quarter of the seats on the board are up for grabs. Two seats from Waldoboro and one each from Warren and Union will be on the ballot Tuesday.
According to reporting from The Courier-Gazette in Rockland, incumbent Matthew Speno, who supported the policy, is not seeking reelection, so candidates Rachel Wilcox and Timothy Wood are vying for the seat in Union. School board member Namoi Aho — who voted to delete the policy — is running against challenger Torry Verrill to keep her seat in Warren.
Neither of the incumbents in Waldoboro — who split on the transgender policy — are running for reelection, but the field is still crowded with Tabatha MacArthur, Steve Karp, Benjamin Stickney and write-in candidate Leah Shipps.
After the decision Thursday, various school board candidates took to social media to share their thoughts and reactions to the revocation.
Karp — who led a failed attempt last year to have the book “Gender Queer” removed from school library shelves — applauded the decision to repeal the policy in a Facebook post Friday. He thanked the members who voted to remove the policy that, he said, “took away parental rights and protection for our biologically female students.”
In another Facebook post, Shipps thanked members of the trans community for sharing their stories at the board meeting and urged them to show up at the polls on Tuesday.
“We absolutely need every vote,” she wrote on Facebook. “Please send the message to our community that ALL students are important, valued and worthy of a safe and positive public education by casting your votes.”
Verrill called Thursday’s decision “disheartening.”
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Multiple candidates also spoke to the majority of attendees who gave public comment in support of the policy. “You filled that space with love and compassion,” wrote Stickney. “It’s a huge disappointment that half the board didn’t care, but we have the power to change that.”
Wilcox wrote that, if elected, she would not “draw a line in the sand and refuse to consider the will of the people. I am not afraid to listen, learn and understand.”
Efforts from ‘anti-government’ group
Leading up to the board’s vote, Parents’ Rights in Education Maine published an action pamphlet encouraging people to speak in favor of repealing the policy. Earlier this week, Parents’ Rights in Education was identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of 12 hate and anti-government groups in Maine.
Parents’ Rights in Education Maine did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The pamphlet was published on the group’s Facebook page with details for Thursday’s board meeting and sample testimony. As written on the pamphlet, the group said the policy infringes on parents’ rights, First Amendment rights and doesn’t apply equal protection to all students.
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