The Board of Directors of Maine’s Regional School Unit 40 (RSU 40) on Thursday evening voted to delete a transgender student policy that allowed boys to use girls’ locker rooms and restrooms, and directs staff to assist transgender or “gender expansive” students with gender transitions.
RSU 40 covers the municipalities of Friendship, Union, Waldoboro, Warren and Washington.
The RSU 40 “Transgender and Gender Expansive Students” policy — coded “ACAAA” — is nearly identical to other transgender student policies adopted by school districts throughout the state, and is based on language from a sample policy approved by the Maine School Management Association.
Its stated purpose is to “foster a learning environment that is safe and free from discrimination, harassment and bullying,” and codifies how school administrators and staff should handle a student who requests to go by a different name or pronouns, or wishes to use a restroom or locker room that matches their “gender identity.”
A point of major contention within RSU 40’s ACAAA policy was a January 2023 amendment which added language directing school administrators to shield parents from becoming aware of their children’s gender transition plan.
“In the case of a student who has not yet informed their parent(s)/guardian(s), the
administrator should first discuss parent/guardian involvement with the student to
avoid inadvertently putting the student at risk by contacting their parent(s)/guardian(s). The student will be notified by the administrator prior to contacting their parent(s)/guardian(s),” the policy states.
The Board met at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Union Elementary School, and the meeting lasted over six hours due to a large number of district residents present for the public comment portion of the meeting.
Prior to public comment, the Board voted in favor of extending the time allotted for the public to speak for over 30 minutes, and approved extending the meeting until finished.
Members of the public who argued in favor of the RSU 40 Board deleting the transgender student policy said that the district’s schools should get back to teaching the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, and have no business hiding student information from parents.
Several speakers also criticized gender ideology more generally, pointing to the lack of a requirement in the ACAAA policy of a medical diagnosis for school staff to assist in gender transitions for students.
“It’s an identity, it’s how you feel, it’s not reality,” one speaker said.
Republican State Rep. Katrina Smith of Palermo was present and spoke at the meeting, applauding the Board’s “steadfastness” in tackling the issue.
“Women have spent hundreds of years trying to find a voice and be respected for who they are,” Rep. Smith said. “This policy undermines the strides that women have made and the triumphs of teaching our young girls their inherent worth.”
Kristin Sims, a middle school science teacher in the district, said that the deletion of the policy would not change RSU 40’s obligation to follow state anti-discrimination laws, and would only “send a clear regressive and chilling message.”
“The assertion that only binary male and female exists is simply not science,” the middle school science teacher stated. “All people are entitled to their beliefs, but not to impose beliefs on others.”
“Public schools are secular and government and educational institutions,” Sims said. “As such, policy decisions ought to be based on evidence, research and objective reality.”
“Removing [the policy] does not remove the protection of the law, removing it is merely a gesture, removing it sends a clear regressive and chilling message,” she concluded.
One Waldoboro resident, who said she is the parent of a transgender student, told the Board that she, as well as other voters, “will remember how you vote tonight on Tuesday” — the state’s primary election day.
Several of those gathered in the elementary school gymnasium applauded the parent’s remarks and waved small transgender flags.
Just over six hours into the Thursday meeting, and after public comment from more than 100 people, the Board held a final roll call vote on a motion to delete the ACAAA policy.
The vote was an 8-8 tie, resulting in the motion passing due to how the votes of Board members are weighted based on the size of the municipalities they represent.
