HODGDON, Maine (WMTW) – The School Board for Maine School Administrative District 70 has chosen to align with the Trump administration’s Title IX policy as the Maine Department of Education faces potential consequences from the U.S. Department of Justice over noncompliance.
MSAD 70 Superintendent Tyler Putnam told our media partner, WMTW, that the School Board made a motion during a monthly meeting Monday night for the school district’s policies to align with federal Title IX policy by recognizing only two sexes — biological male and biological female — and that all private spaces be separated by biological sex. The School Board unanimously approved the motion.
The vote by the MSAD 70 School Board came several days after the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights referred its Title IX investigation into the Maine Department of Education to the Justice Department for further enforcement action.
In addition, the federal Education Department said it would begin a proceeding to try to stop the Maine DOE from receiving federal K-12 education funding.
A similar Title IX case was also referred to the DOJ by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The state’s antidiscrimination law, the Maine Human Rights Act, forbids discrimination on the basis of gender identity when it comes to the opportunity for an individual at an educational institution to participate in all educational, counseling and vocational guidance programs, all apprenticeship and on-the-job-training programs and all extracurricular activities.
The debate over whether Maine should follow state law or federal came to a head on Feb. 21, when Gov. Janet Mills got into a heated exchange with President Donald Trump during a meeting of the nation’s governors at the White House.
Trump said the state would not receive federal funding if it did not comply with his Feb. 5 executive order. Mills said she has been complying with state and federal law, and told Trump: “We’ll see you in court.”
MSAD 70 serves the Aroostook County communities of Amity, Cary Plantation, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick.
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