A federal appeals court on Monday affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a Maine mother who accused public school officials of secretly aiding her 13-year-old child’s gender transition without her knowledge. The ruling, handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, highlights the high bar parents face when challenging government entities for alleged constitutional violations.
The ruling is the latest setback for Amber Lavigne, a Newcastle resident, who in December 2022 discovered two breast binders in her 13-year-old daughter’s bedroom. The breast binders, which are medical devices intended to help gender-transitioning females obscure the appearance of their breasts, were provided to the young girl by a conditionally licensed 26-year-old LGBTQ social worker at the Great Salt Bay Community School in Damariscotta.
At first, Lavigne sought to deal with the matter privately, taking meetings with school officials to express her displeasure. But when the school’s principal, superintendent, and board members ignored her pleas, she sued the school district and several individuals with the assistance of the Goldwater Institute.
In her 2023 lawsuit against the school board and several staff members, Lavigne alleged that they violated her 14th Amendment right to direct her child’s upbringing by providing her daughter, identified in the court documents as A.B., with breast binders and using alternative names and pronouns at school. Lavigne claimed this was done under a purported “blanket policy” of withholding such information from parents, driving a wedge between her and her child. She withdrew A.B. from the school shortly after discovering the actions.
The three-judge panel, in an opinion authored by Circuit Judge Lara Montecalvo and joined by Judges Jeffrey R. Howard and O. Rogeriee Thompson, ruled that Lavigne failed to plausibly demonstrate the school board bore responsibility for any constitutional harm.
“Lavigne’s allegations fail to plausibly show that either the Board had a policy of withholding or that the Board later ratified the individual defendants’ decisions to withhold information from Lavigne,” Montecalvo wrote.
Montecalvo is a liberal former public defender appointed by President Joe Biden in September 2022, while Gelpí is a U.S. District Judge for Puerto Rico, also appointed by Biden. However, a former U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire and former N.H. Attorney General, Thompson was appointed by George W. Bush in 2002.
The court did not address whether the school’s actions infringed on Lavigne’s parental rights, sidestepping the core constitutional debate in favor of procedural hurdles.
The decision, dated July 28, 2025, comes amid a national backlash against public schools’ handling of gender identity issues, with conservatives arguing that educators are usurping family roles under the guise of “affirming” care.
Lavigne has yet to decide whether she’ll pursue the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but she remains unwavering in believing she made the right decision to protect her daughter, who is now 15, from the actions of the social worker, who no longer works for the school system.
“My daughter is happy and healthy, and I’m glad I was able to save her from the groomers at the government-run school,” Lavigne said.
“But it’s unfortunate that yet another court has decided to allow other kids and families to experience the immoral, secret indoctrination that my daughter faced at the hands of multiple adults who should have known better,” said Lavigne.
The Case’s Factual Backbone
Lavigne’s complaint painted a picture of school-sanctioned secrecy — a culture that was supported by several contemporaneous reports from the Maine Wire.
According to court documents, A.B., then 13, began seeing school social worker Samuel Roy in October 2022. Roy allegedly provided two chest binders, instructed A.B. on their use, and told the child he wouldn’t inform her parents—and neither should she. Lavigne discovered the binders while cleaning A.B.’s room and later learned school staff had adopted new pronouns for A.B. without notifying her.
Lavigne met with Principal Kim Schaff and Superintendent Lynsey Johnston, who initially expressed sympathy but later defended the actions as compliant with school guidelines. At a December 2022 school board meeting, Lavigne publicly aired her grievances, prompting board statements emphasizing student confidentiality and inclusivity. The board renewed Roy’s contract, which Lavigne cited as evidence of ratification.
The school denied a formal withholding policy, pointing to its Transgender Students Guidelines, which encourage parental consultation “as appropriate” but note flexibility based on student needs and state laws protecting counselor-student communications. Maine law, under Title 20-A, Section 4008, shields such interactions unless they involve imminent harm.
Lavigne sued under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, claiming substantive and procedural due process violations. U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy dismissed the case in April 2024, finding no plausible link to a municipal policy. Lavigne appealed, but the First Circuit agreed, affirming the dismissal without prejudice.
In addition to breaking the original report on Lavigne’s allegations against the school board, the Maine Wire chronicled how the school administrators and board members circled the wagons once the truth began to emerge concerning the actions of the staff members.
The school system scrubbed identity information from its public website, issued a vague statement attacking the Maine Wire for publishing true information about the incident, and eventually asserted that the school has a legal right to secretly coach students into gender transitions.
The administrators also accused the Maine Wire of fomenting terroristic threats against the school district.
However, documents obtained under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act later revealed that school board members knew at the time they made the allegation that it was baseless and false.
Like other school districts that have imposed controversial policies that encourage gender dysphoria in young students, Great Salt Bay Community School has been represented throughout Lavigne’s legal battle by Drummond Woodsum, a left-wing law firm based in Portland.
