A longtime substitute teacher and paraprofessional in Maine School Administrative District 75 (MSAD 75) has resigned following the district’s recent adoption of a “transgender and gender-expansive” student policy.
MSAD 75 covers schools in Topsham, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, and Harpswell.
The stated purpose of the policy in question, ACAAA, is to “foster a learning environment that is safe and free from discrimination, harassment and bullying,” and to “assist in the educational and social integration of transgender and gender-expansive students.”
[RELATED: Freeport School District Set to Consider ‘Transgender and Gender Expansive’ Student Policy…]
Months of heated debate surrounding the policy focused on balancing students’ right to privacy and parents’ rights to be informed, leading to several drafts and revisions of the policy leading up to its adoption.
The final policy advises that in case of a student whose parents are unaware of their child identifying as transgender or “gender-expansive,” “the Superintendent should be consulted, and the matter resolved on a case-by-case basis” before the student’s parents are informed.
“In resolving the matter, the Superintendent should evaluate whether there is risk of harm to the student by notifying the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the student’s request to change their name and/or pronouns,” the policy states. “Students should be informed that parents/guardians have a right to access all education records of their child; and, therefore, the school cannot keep the change in name and/or gender a secret.”
The policy also allows transgender or “gender-expansive” students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and other school facilities in accordance with their “gender identity.”
The MSAD 75 School Board unanimously supported the adoption of the policy on Nov. 16, and it is set to take effect Feb. 2, 2024.
In a scathing Nov. 17 letter to MSAD 75 Superintendent Heidi O’Leary and Board of Directors, Rebecca Brooks, who worked as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional in the district for 17 years, submitted her resignation and slammed the board over their adoption of the policy.
Brooks wrote that the board’s adoption of the policy “is leading this community down a treacherous rabbit hole.”
“I am exhausted, physically, mentally and spiritually,” she wrote. “This district is crossing a dangerous boundary by entertaining the transgender dysphoria phenomenon.”
Brooks pointed to the district’s ACAA policy of Student Protection from Harassment and Sexual Harassment, stating that the new ACAA policy creates a “hostile environment” by allowing “this age inappropriate topic into our schools.””
“My brain is struggling to comprehend the reckless disregard for the most basic facts of child development and human biology and psychology,” Brooks wrote. “So I must allow my heart to guide me. As an employee of SAD75 for 17 years I am disheartened to witness such cowardice that prevents adults from addressing the true mental health crisis of our youth.”
The longtime Topsham-area substitute teacher wrote that her “heart aches for this community,” and “for the confusion that has crept into our consciousness.”
“We have lost our grasp of the CORE truths that keep us grounded in reality and are meant to keep us safe; body, mind and soul,” she wrote. “In this alone we are failing our youth.”
In her letter, which is dated one day after the board’s adoption of policy ACAAA, Brooks submitted her resignation “effective immediately” in order to “stay true to my own moral compass.”
The MSAD 75 Board of Directors is set to discuss Brooks’ letter of resignation during their Dec. 14 meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham.
MSAD 75 Superintendent Heidi O’Leary did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Brooks’ resignation.
Read Rebecca Brooks’ full letter to MSAD 75 Superintendent Heidi O’Leary and the Board of Directors below:
Bravo, Rebecca Brooks! You have taken a stand against this train wreck that appears to be unstoppable in our school systems. We will look back on this well- funded, coordinated effort that lacks scientific grounding with great shame. How many children’s lives will be permanently derailed because of this misguided effort? Thank you, Rebecca. I hope you get many offers of employment from free-thinking school systems that refuse to be hoodwinked by this terrible, top-down policy.
…take your children out of public indoctrination centers! They’ll be better off not learning anything than to be mindphuked by these Marxists!
“We have lost our grasp of the CORE truths that keep us grounded in reality.”
One father and long-time employee of MSAD 51, got up to speak at a school board meeting recently claiming he is proud of his transitioned 21 year old child. What should have happened was for him to get this child extensive psychiatric counseling instead of enabling him/her/it to become sexually disfigured. Disgracefully, those in attendance loudly applauded his decision. If we were “grounded in reality” he should be in prison for child abuse.
this is absloutely disgusting!!!! how can ANY school board member OR Teacher consciously allow our kids to be lied to about gender and sexualized they way they are !!! they all will in the end have to meet GOD to be judged for what they are doing allowing to be done to our kids ! it makes me sick !
Trans life is now at the top of the hit parade. May blessings follow Rebecca Brooks who has a functioning moral compass.
No words can adequately describe the chaos that this trendy issue will unleash upon our nation. It’s child abuse as government policy.
The public education establishment is totally corrupt. These children are being destroyed in the name of institutional political power and profits for big Pharma.
Bravo, Rebecca Brooks! Reading that policy makes me think, what else are they asking students to keep silent about and keeping parents in the dark. Why fix policies that are not broken? I have 40 years of experience in the field of education and I am shocked. I wonder just exactly what the actual Curriculum Goals are in these districts, remember the Maine Learning Results, Pender Makin, you need to address this ridiculous trend. It’s a family and physician based decision, not the whacky teachers or counselors. I think the University of Maine’s Counseling Program has lost their minds, who is reviewing Education and Counseling for Schools programs. We are being ruled by a generation of young people who like to make it up as they go along. Put down social media, restrict phone use in schools and teach students skills that will make them productive and lifelong learners. Good Grief!
Region 9 CDL A/B and the school bus/passenger endorsement program in Mexico, Maine is safe harbouring the transgender anti harassment curriculum. Policies that harp on harassment in the introduction to training are code for curriculum that introduces “gender truths”. If you object to the indoctrination it’s harassment. Coincidently, the CDL program falls under driver education which is controlled by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.