The Trump Administration’s multiple probes into Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and her cabinet agencies have now expanded to include potential violations of federal law stemming from public school policies that allow school officials to keep secrets from parents about sex-change counseling for minors.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) initiated an investigation into the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) on Friday for concealing children’s gender transitions from parents in a potential violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
“We have heard disturbing reports that dozens of Maine school districts allow for schools to create “gender plans” that support a student’s ‘transgender identity’ and then hide those plans from parents, claiming they don’t fall under education records. That is unacceptable and unlawful,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, announcing the investigation.
“Parents and guardians have the right to access their child’s education records, to guide an safeguard their child’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being, and we will uphold the law,” she added.
Maine Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn), whose post showing a transgender-identifying male standing victorious over female high school athletes ultimately drew President Donald Trump’s attention to Maine and led to her censure by the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature, also weighed in on the investigation.
“This investigation comes amid reports that dozens of Maine school districts are violating or misusing FERPA by maintaining policies that infringe on parents’ rights,” said Rep. Libby on X.
“Thank you to the Trump administration for putting @GovJanetMills and the Democrat majority on notice. We will NOT tolerate the extreme agenda that considers OUR children to be property of the state any longer,” she added.
The DOE cited a February report from The Federalist that found, using documents acquired by the parental rights advocacy group Parents Defending Education, that 57 Maine schools—including the most populous—have policies telling teachers concealing from parents when their children begin to identify as transgender and go by a different name and different pronouns when not at home.
In some cases, schools do more than just conceal a transition; they actively work to facilitate that transition with “gender plans” that help minors plan how to take further steps to appear as the opposite gender, and sometimes even help them take those steps.
The Maine Wire previously reported in 2023 on the case of a school social worker at the Great Salt Bay Community School (GSBCS) in Damariscotta, who gave two chest binders to a 13-year-old girl to help her appear more like a boy without her parents’ knowledge.
[RELATED: Maine School Admits Giving 13yo Girl Chest Binder: Great Salt Bay Update…]
The school denied that the parents were unaware of the chest binder but argued that, even if they were, the school has no requirement to inform them.
“Under the previous Administration, we were fighting to protect our children from irreversible ‘sex changes’ – a path too often facilitated by school personnel who we entrusted with our children. We are proud to stand with President Trump and Secretary McMahon to hold school districts accountable and ensure no child is socially transitioned behind parent’s backs by teachers or administrators,” said Parents Defending Education founder Nicole Neily.
The DOE argued that the school’s refusal to disclose the “gender plans” violates FERPA, which grants parents the right to request records from schools relating to their own children and the right to control the disclosure of their children’s private information.
The DOE warned that regardless of state laws governing the treatment of children who identify as the opposite gender at school, Maine’s schools must comply with federal law. If the investigation reveals a violation of FERPA, the MDOE could face a complete termination of federal funding.
The DOE already ruled against Maine earlier this month, when an investigation, prompted by President Donald Trump’s executive order preventing males from competing in women’s sports, found the MDOE in violation of Title IX federal anti-discrimination laws.
[RELATED: U.S. Department of Education Investigation Finds Maine in Violation of Title IX…]
Maine was already subject to a federal education funding loss on the basis of that violation, but Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine), the MDOE, and the Maine Principals’ Association have obstinately refused to comply and have vowed to take legal action against the administration rather than curtail radical gender ideology in K-12 public schools.
Nationally most teachers/schools do a mediocre job teaching reading, writing and mathematics ; on what basis do they think that they’re the experts on sexual orientation? Are Maine teachers required to be a psychiatrists in addition to having their teaching certificate?
Add on… if the school administrator or teacher does not also have a doctor in psychiatry, they should be prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license.
About time. Need to investigate the school based clinics as well.
Maxwell’s silver hammer do your job.
Maine has a government hierarchy run by a whole bunch of homosexual men who demand total obedience and compliance with their twisted view of gender and sexuality . They are a cult of perverts worshiping the “ trans “ lie. Janet Mills has surrounded herself with a cadre of virtue signaling feel good socialists who are destroying the State of Maine . We have way too many “ Pride “ NGOs and activists sucking our tax dollars . It’s time for some moral sanity in Augusta , This crowd needs to be decisively voted out of office in 2026.
Mills wanted ” look at me, I’m cool “, she’s getting it.
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We have had to live under the tyrannical Mills administration for too long. God bless President Trump for targeting this despicable regime’s evil agenda and taking on the fight to bring back common sense!
Ummmm….. DOE is the US Dept of Energy, which includes nuclear warheads and stuff involving nukes (and this is the majority of its work).
ED is the US Dept of Education (which came later, with DOE already being taken).
Now as to nuking the Maine Department of Education….
Maine circa 1975 was all White so the only civil rights group to become active was the Feminists. And the Feminists took over the education field. When men retired, they were replaced by women — 90% of the teachers hired post 1985 were female, and almost all of the administrators.
Now there is a cadre of gay men doing the same thing the Feminists did 40 years ago and that’s what’s really behind this.
The Maine Republican Party is a bunch of RINO Feminists (e.g. Susan Collins) and the Maine Democratic Party is a bunch of Progressive Gay Activists. Is there any way that they can *both* lose?
The school clinics and school resource (police) officers are part of this problem, and I’m not sure that McMahon is going to win on this — not because the First Circus leans so far to the left that it risks falling over but because this exploits a legitimate exception to FERPA. (“Legitimate” as explicitly being in the statute, not that this use was ever intended.)
When William Buckley wrote the so-called “Buckley Amendment” back circa 1974, he didn’t want the police to have to reveal criminal investigation stuff (e.g. upcoming drug busts) so there is a “law enforcement investigation” exception to FERPA.
A decade later Maine had some truly horrific child abuse including two children dying in ovens, one of which made the papers (the electric oven incident) and one which didn;t (the microwave oven incident), Maine passed well-intended laws that schools couldn’t tell parents that DHS/DHHS was investigating them for abusing their children.
Two decades later there was a horrific mass shooting at Virginia Tech and the college claiming that they didn’t know the kid was crazy. BullBleep they didn’t know — he did it because they wouldn’t let him graduate but the college won’t admit that.
The response to this was to create a “Behavioral Intervention Team” — a secretive star chamber with a variety of Orwellian names that has administrators, police, medical and such deciding what is wrong with a student and how to fix it. In K-12 it largely mirrors the Individualized Education Plan model and essentially consists of an IEP that the parents are excluded from.
In higher education they keep this all secret by having the police keep the records and having everyone else’s stuff be considered a witness statement. Police investigatory records are exempt from FERPA disclosure, and witness statements are highly protected by both state and Federal law.
In K-12, because students are minors, they also have the child abuse laws and the related confidentiality provisions in Maine law. Now as Federal law supersedes Maine law, McMahon will win on this one, but she won’t win on the Law Enforcement Investigation exception because that is in the actual FERPA statute. (Federal Educational Records Privacy Act = Buckley Amendment = FERPA.)
I’ve seen mention of “practicing medicine without a license” — you won’t win on that one for two reasons. First, the school psychologist is licensed as such and is involved in making the “plan.” Second, a lot of school administrators also have psychologist licenses (look them up on the state’s webpage). Psychologists have been invading the education field for the past 30 years and they don’t advertise this.
What you WILL get them on is “informed consent.” Some intrepid attorney could make a LOT of money with a few class action suits.
Good luck with That !
Find a lawyer in Maine with the balls to stand up for Mainer’s rights .
One who will represent the girls losing their state titles .
One who will challenge the Ranked Choice Scam .
THERE ARE NONE .