Maine Public School Officials Used Government Resources to Advocate Against Ban on Obscene Books, Emails Show

Maine school officials in a public school district used their government email accounts and school resources to advocate against LD 123, a bill that would have prevented Maine’s public schools from including obscene material in school libraries.

According to public records provided to the Maine Wire, MSAD 52 School Librarian Terry Castonguay used her official school email to forward an email containing explicit political advocacy against LD 123 from outside interest groups to multiple district employees on Feb. 10.

MSAD 52 school board policies expressly prohibit the use of public resources to advocate an individual’s political beliefs or the agenda of outside interest groups.

Castonguay’s email contained political advocacy from a collection of left-wing groups fighting to keep sexually explicit books in elementary, middle, and high school libraries. Those groups include the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, the National Association of Social Workers-Maine, and several other non-profit groups.

Those groups were, at the time, campaigning publicly to keep books like Gender Queer, which contains cartoon images of children performing sex acts, in school libraries.

Other books the groups were fighting to keep in front of children contained depictions of incestuous sex and glorifications of child sex changes.

At the time the email was sent, the MSAD 52 school board had already narrowly voted to keep “Gender Queer” in the districts Leavitt Area High School.

One of the recipients of Castonguay’s email was Assistant Superintendent Theresa Gillis.

Gillis promptly forwarded the email to other MSAD 52 employees, including Superintendent Cari Medd.

MSAD 52, which includes the towns of Turner, Greene, and Leeds, has policies that appear to prevent precisely the activity shown in the emails.

MSAD 52 policy GCSA-R regarding the use of school computer and internet resources prohibits employees from using their accounts for the following purposes:

“Any use as a forum for communicating by e-mail or any other medium with other school users or outside parties to solicit, proselytize, advocate or communicate the views of an individual or non-school sponsored organization; to solicit membership in or support of any non-school sponsored organization; or to raise funds for any non-school sponsored purpose, whether profit or not-for-profit. No employee shall knowingly provide school e-mail addresses to outside parties whose intent is to communicate with school employees, students and/or their families for non-school purposes. Employees who are uncertain as to whether particular activities are acceptable should seek further guidance from the building principal or other appropriate administrator…

“Any communication that represents an employee’s personal views as those of the school unit or that could be misinterpreted as such.“

The advocacy email, which came with the instruction, “Please read,” instructs recipients to fill out an automated form that would deliver a letter to state lawmakers urging them to oppose LD 123.

LD 123, a bill from Sen. Jim Libby (R-Cumberland), would have eliminated a provision in Maine law that exempts schools from the prohibition on distributing obscene material from minors.

Maine already has a law that prevents private citizens from distributing pornographic materials, like the books in question, to minors.

However, at the time the exemption was passed, lawmakers created an exemption for educational institutions.

At the time, they thought it would ensure public school teachers and art museums wouldn’t be penalized for showing children images of Gustav Klimt’s “Mother and Child,” Michelangelo’s Statue of David, or other classic works of art that happen to have nudity.

But since 2015, with the rise of transgender ideology and the increasing push to sexualize elementary school and middle school curricula, the obscenity exemption has instead provided cover for left-wing activists to transform school libraries into centers for socio-political indoctrination.