Washington County’s Baileyville School Department voted overwhelmingly at a Tuesday meeting to move towards compliance with federal Title IX antidiscrimination laws barring transgender-identifying males from girls’ sports, locker rooms, and restrooms.
[RELATED: RSU 4 Becomes Latest School District to Defy Mills and Repeal its Transgender Policy…]
Baileyville School Board Vice Chair Jamie Bohanon told The Maine Wire that the board voted to take steps towards compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports.”
The AOS 90 board voted 4-1 in favor of sending a series of proposed changes to the department’s policy committee, which will then modify policy to comply with a series of policies voted on by the board. The school board will then vote again on final approval of the policy committee’s changes at a later date.
Given the wide 4-1 margin in favor of ordering the committee to revise policy, it appears likely that the board will ultimately vote to approve the changes.
Bohanon provided The Maine Wire with a list of specific changes the policy committee will make.
- Amending all district policies to comply with the interpretation of Title IX established by President Trump’s executive order and officially recognizing only two sexes.
- Ensuring that all private spaces in the district, such as restrooms, locker rooms, or overnight accommodations for field trips, are designated based on biological sex rather than self-selected “gender identity.”
- Requiring that all extracurricular activities and sports divided by sex consider biological reality rather than perceived identity
The committee will also provide written notice to the public to ensure transparency and compliance with Title IX.
According to Bohanon, the policy committee is set to begin its work in two weeks. He expects the board to vote on the first reading of the changes on September 2.
The Baileyville School Department is just the latest in a growing number of schools moving to defy Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine), the Maine Principals Association (MPA), and the Maine Department of Education (MDOE), by removing transgender-identifying males from girls’ sports.
Many of the school districts altering their policies have done so against the advice of Drummond Woodsum, a Portland-based law firm that represents the majority of Maine’s school districts. Drummond Woodsum previously advised schools against complying with federal law, and instructed them to instead prioritize compliance with the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA) which establishes perceived gender identity as a protected class.
[RELATED: Maine School Districts Must Allow Male Athletes in Girls’ Sports, Drummond Woodsum Memo States…]
Despite warnings from lawyers, the Maine Human Rights Commission has no plans to penalize schools that bar males from girls’ sports, according to Kit Thomson Crossman who spoke with the Bangor Daily News.
The Trump Administration has been engaged in a legal battle with that of Maine Governor Janet Mills for several months, threatening to pull education funding if the state continues to allow males in girls sports, while Gov. Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey sue to restore limited funding already halted by the federal government.
