Augusta voters have a chance to reverse the woke agenda and put a conservative majority on their school board, with three seats up for re-election and two incumbents unable to run for re-election due to term limits.
The board currently has a majority of liberal-leaning members who oppose changes to the school’s transgender policy and the adoption of the federal Title IX guidelines established by President Donald Trump in his executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
That could change depending on the outcome of November’s election, with three seats up for grabs: one currently held by a conservative and the other two by liberals, and only one incumbent running.
One at-large board member, Rita Pello, is running for re-election, while Katie McCormick, Ward 4, and Staci Fortunato, Ward 1, are unable to run for re-election due to term limits.
According to school board member James Orr, who spoke with The Maine Wire, he, McCormick, April Damboise, and Jonathan Reynolds all previously voted in favor of adopting the federal Title IX guidelines.
Under federal guidelines, sports and private spaces are designated by biological sex rather than by self-selected gender identity.
The remaining council members, Pello, Fortunato, Susan Parks, Charles Hicks, and School Board Chair Martha Witham, voted to maintain the schools’ current liberal transgender policy.
Currently, the board has four members who voted in favor of adopting the federal guidelines and five who opposed changes to the transgender policy.
Ward 1
Only one candidate, Samuel Baker, will appear on the Augusta ballot to run for the Ward 1 seat currently held by Fortunato. Baker does not appear to have any campaign material, but a LinkedIn page for a Samuel Baker living in Augusta shows that he is a senior legislative aide for the Maine Senate Democrats. He is also endorsed for the school board by the Augusta Democrats.
Though no one will appear on the ballot to oppose Baker, one man, John Reny, has filed to run for the Ward 1 seat as a declared write-in candidate.
According to his Facebook page, Reny decided to run as a declared write-in candidate after he realized that only one person would appear on the ballot for the seat.
“I believe that we should always have choices and when I realized we only had one person for my Ward I knew I needed to step up,” said Reny
“I understand the importance of teaching our young both solid academics as well as trade occupations. In my daily routine I spend my time listening, learning, and conversing with citizens of this great city. I believe that these 35 years have prepared me to support and be the voice of “the people, for the people” as it relates to the education system in Augusta,” he added.
Reny emphasized common sense, family, and a return to academic excellence in his campaign, and according to Orr, he is a strong supporter of the federal Title IX standards.
Ward 4
Three candidates are vying for the seat currently held by McCormick: Bobby Jo Bechard, William Clardy, and Jaden Siracusa.
Bechard’s campaign website does not explicitly address her position on transgender-identifying students and Title IX, but the Augusta Democrats officially endorse her, and she accepts donations via ActBlue, a website designed for donations to left-wing candidates.
Clardy has voiced a variety of conservative opinions on social media and previously ran as a Republican for the Maine House in 2022. At that time, he was critical of radical gender ideology in schools.
“As a legislator, I also intend to question an office under the Attorney General which has been actively pushing gender politics into pre-pubescent grade levels,” he said.
Siracusa’s campaign Facebook page does not clearly state his position on Title IX. He explicitly calls for the board to focus on academic outcomes, support children from families suffering from addiction, and minimize unnecessary expenditures of taxpayer funds.
Orr believes that Siracusa would support the adoption of the federal Title IX standards, though he expressed concern that having two conservative-leaning candidates vying for the same seat could lead to a split vote that would ultimately allow the liberal Bechard to win.
The Maine Wire reached out to Siracusa to ask him directly about his position on Title IX, but he did not respond immediately.
At-Large
One candidate, Kelly Smith, is running to unseat the liberal incumbent at-large board member, Pello.
According to Smith’s website, she would work to protect girls’ sports and ensure compliance with federal Title IX.
Assuming that the board members who voted in favor of the federal Title IX policy continue to do so, conservative-leaning candidates need to win two of the three races to ensure that transgender-identifying males are removed from girls’ sports and spaces.
Background
Over the past year, the Augusta School Board has made headlines and even crept into national news. In January, a man was arrested at a school board meeting for speaking slightly longer than his allotted time while criticizing the district’s permissive transgender policies.
More recently, School Board Chair Martha Witham has made headlines for shutting down local father and parental rights activist Nick Blanchard, who goes by CornPop from Maine online, while he criticized the district’s transgender policies.
Just this month, a clip from an Augusta School Board meeting drew national attention when parents undressed in front of the board to criticize policies that allow transgender-identifying males into girls’ locker rooms, restrooms, and sports.
This Story has been updated to remove reference to Kimberly Liscomb as president of the Maine Principals’ Association, since she no longer serves in that position.
