LIVERMORE FALLS — The Spruce Mountain board of directors’ vote to recognize only male and female genders makes the Jay-based school district the second in Maine to take that step, putting it in opposition to the Maine Human Rights Act. 

In doing so, board members set aside advice from the district superintendent and guidance from the district’s attorney, opening up the possibility that students affected by the updated policy could sue the district.

The 9-3 vote by the Regional School Unit 73 school board will allow the board to amend current policies to align with the executive order issued earlier this year by President Donald Trump, rolling back the expanded protections added under the Biden administration to Title IX that protected against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. 

To date, only Hodgkin-based Maine School Administrative District 70 has taken the same step. Other schools across Maine have revised their Title IX policies, returning to the standard that existed in 2020, which prohibits discrimination based on sex and gender identity but does not specifically provide protections for transgender people.

Title IX is currently the focus of political battles across the country and in Maine, where the state’s Human Rights Act, which includes protection for transgender people, is at odds with Trump’s executive order. In February, Trump and Gov. Janet Mills clashed publicly at the White House when Trump threatened Maine’s federal funding over the state’s refusal to bar transgender athletes from competing on girls’ sports teams.

Kit Thompson Crossman, executive director of the Maine Human Rights Commission, said the agency, by practice, does not generally initiate complaints on its own, but would follow up on any complaints made by an individual. 

Thompson Crossman said that under the Maine Human Rights Act’s confidentiality provision, the commission can’t say whether any individuals made complaints against RSU 73 or MSAD 70. If litigation stemmed from the complaints, Thompson Crossman said it would be public information, adding there is currently no litigation pending for either school district. 

“Regardless of the policy adopted by a school board or administrative unit, the Maine Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education,” Thompson Crossman said.

The motion made by the RSU 73 school board had five parts to it, all of which were approved by one motion in the 9-3 vote. The district also encompasses Jay and Livermore.

The first part amends all district policies to align with Title IX as defined by Trump’s executive order that recognizes only two genders: male and female. The second part of the motion ensures that all private spaces in the district — bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight field trips — have accommodations to only those two genders. Third, it requires all extracurricular activities that typically would be divided, like sports teams, be divided by girls and boys. Some extracurricular activities that are not typically divided, like chess club, math team and drama, would not be affected.

The final portions of the motion require the school board to provide written notice that the district is aligning with President Trump’s order as an act of transparency for the district, and for the superintendent to change all policies in relation to the motion made by the school board. 

The dissenting board members urged the board to follow state law under the Maine Human Rights Act, while those in favor strongly opposed transgender girls competing on girls sports teams.

“It matters not what my personal opinion is on this, my job is to follow the law. The same law that I asked several of you when you were nominated for positions here, ‘Were you going to follow Maine law.’ I am standing with Maine law and for the policy to stay at its 2020 place as it is right now and we wait for the courts to figure this out and then we act. I agree Scott (Albert) and agree firmly on that,” said board member Elaine Fitzgerald.

Andrew Sylvester and Sarah Jamison voted with Fitzgerald against the measure. 

Chairperson Shari Ouellette, Tanya DeMillo, Don Emery, Ava Moffett, Michelle Moffett, Holly Morris, Roger Moulton and Dawn Strout voted in favor. Bryan Riley and Tina Riley were absent.

Superintendent Scott Albert declined to comment when contacted, but at the meeting he urged board members to be patient and to see how the issue plays out, based on the recommendation from the district’s attorney. 

“I do not have a vote, but I have an opinion,” Albert said. “This issue has been on the back burner for some time and my position is that it’s not something that the school board should be voting on, it should be settled through the Legislature, courts, or a referendum. Now that (the issue) is on the front burner, I still feel the same. We need to have patience, have it play out in the courts, seeing that the state Legislature voted not to change our state law.”

Although both the MSAD 70 and RSU 73 boards have voted to change their policies, the decision is not yet final. In both cases, the policies are expected to be referred to the boards’ policy committees for revision. After the policies are amended, the full boards must vote twice before the revised document could become established school policy. The boards recess for the summer, but are expected to pick up business in August or September.

It is unclear if making these changes will protect these school districts from losing federal funding, as federal money is distributed to the Maine Department of Education for distribution to all Maine schools.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the school board votes cast on the  propsed policy to recognize only two sexes.