Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham has cut parents out of the equation when it comes to students opting to change their names or their gender, according to a document provided by a concerned parent.
The “Name Change Form” offers high school students the opportunity to change their name and gender as they will appear on school records without filing the paperwork for a legal change.
Next to the line for the parents to sign off on the change, the school helpfully instructs children that parental permission is not required.
Similar policies have cropped up at schools throughout Maine.
The Oxford Hills school system recently voted in favor of preliminary approval for a new gender identity policy that would explicitly instruct school staff to keep student gender identity changes a secret from parents.
The proposed rules will also require school officials to coach students on how to keep details of gender identity changes secret from parents by avoiding official paperwork that would trigger record changes, thereby opening up the information for parental inspection as allowed under federal law.
Mt. Ararat’s school handbook does not appear to have a similar policy.