A former educator has launched a petition drive in opposition to the local school district’s recently approved policy to protect transgender and gender-expansive students from bullying and discrimination.
The petition was created by Rebecca Brooks, a former substitute teacher and paraprofessional with Maine School Administrative District 75 who resigned in November after the school board approved the anti-discrimination policy. MSAD 75 covers Harpswell, Topsham, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham.
District officials said they aren’t aware of any procedure to change their policies based on a petition, making the effort more symbolic than legally binding. Still, they said the district’s Policy Committee does review suggestions from the public.
Brooks, of Topsham, collected signatures on March 5 at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham, which served as a polling place that day for the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries.
The petition zeroes in on a provision of the district policy that requires students, faculty and staff to refer to transgender and gender-expansive students by their preferred pronouns.
“(The policy) is a direct affront to students’ (First) Amendment rights,” the petition states. “With this policy, every student from elementary to high school is required to conform to an individual’s preferred pronoun ideology. If you and your child want to protect the (First) Amendment and their freedom of speech, please sign this petition below.”
The Harpswell Anchor was unable to determine how many voters signed the petition. Brooks declined an interview request, but a copy of her Nov. 17 resignation letter obtained from the school district cites her ideological opposition to the anti-discrimination policy.
In it, Brooks says the district’s decision to accommodate transgender students “is crossing a dangerous boundary” and creating a hostile environment for those who disagree with “allowing this age-inappropriate topic into our schools.”
“I need to stay true to my own moral compass,” the resignation letter states. “In order to do so, I regretfully inform the board of my resignation as a SAD 75 employee, effective immediately. Thank you and God bless.”
At a school board meeting on Thursday, March 14, Brooks became emotional as she spoke during the public comment period about how she struggled with the decision to tender her resignation over the policy.
“So many doubts flooded my mind, and I chastised myself more times than I care to admit,” she told the board. “I wondered if I was the only employee who felt betrayed or who feared this new hostile environment for myself and the students. Were my personal beliefs now a weapon to use against me, instead of an asset?”
Brooks said that in the end, she resigned “to protect my own mental health and core values,” despite her reservations.
After Brooks spoke, Harpswell board member Gregory Greenleaf asked that the board observe a moment of silence for Nex Benedict, a nonbinary Oklahoma 10th grader who died in February by apparent suicide after facing alleged bullying and harassment at school.
“The Benedicts know all too well the devastating effects of bullying and school violence, and pray for meaningful change wherein bullying is taken seriously and no family has to deal with another preventable tragedy,” her family said via their attorney in a statement to ABC News.
The MSAD 75 school board voted to observe the moment of silence over the protests of board member Brandy Robertson, of Bowdoin, who said Greenleaf failed to follow correct board procedure in making his request.
The district policy’s stated purpose is to guide faculty and staff in their efforts to “foster a learning environment that is safe and free from discrimination, harassment and bullying,” and “assist in the educational and social integration of transgender and gender-expansive students” in local schools.
It defines relevant terms and provides a framework for how to accommodate students who assert a different gender identity from the one they were assigned at birth. For example, the policy advises school personnel on meeting with such students and, if necessary, developing plans that meet their particular circumstances and needs.
It says school personnel should address trans students by their preferred name and pronouns, and allow them to use the bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities that most closely align with their gender identity.
Its passage came after much heated debate and several amendments, particularly around students’ privacy rights and parents’ right to be informed. Throughout its development, the draft policy alternated between versions emphasizing different priorities. The final version seeks to balance the two competing concerns.
The policy, which took effect Feb. 2, is based largely on language recommended by the Augusta-based Maine School Management Association, a statewide, nonprofit federation of local school boards and superintendents. It also contains a section lifted from Portland Public Schools’ policy, as well as original language developed by the MSAD 75 school board with input from its legal counsel.
Much of the policy’s language, including the provision about using preferred pronouns, was designed to comply with state courts’ interpretation of the Maine Civil Rights Act. Maine courts have ruled that transgender people are a protected class under the state law.
While being transgender was regarded as a psychological disorder as recently as 10 years ago, it is now widely viewed by medical professionals as a natural variation of human diversity, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
According to the American Medical Association, a landmark 2018 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that transgender youth who were allowed to use accurate names and pronouns experienced 71% fewer symptoms of severe depression, a 34% drop in reported suicidal thoughts and a 65% decrease in suicide attempts.
The school board approved the final policy with little discussion at its meeting on Nov. 16, the day before Brooks resigned. Within the district, the document is referred to as “Policy ACAAA,” according to a letter-based system used to categorize its various administrative policies.
