Saco Schools has policy to keep gender identity of students hidden from parents

Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to Saco Schools seeking any guidance on transgender issues. The district provided PDE with a policy titled “Transgender and Gender Expansive Students Guidelines.” The policy is very similar to a policy that PDE received from a public records request to Maine School Administrative District 15 in which the superintendent of the district explained to PDE that the policy was created by the Maine School Boards Association (MSBA). The policy explains that the school district may keep the gender identity of students hidden from parents:

In the case of a student who has not yet informed their parent(s)/guardian(s), the administrator should first discuss parent/guardian involvement with the student to avoid inadvertently putting the student at risk by contacting their parent(s)/guardian(s). The student will be notified by the administrator prior to contacting their parent(s)/guardian(s).

The policy later states: “If a student requests a change to their name and/or gender in school records without parental approval, the Superintendent should be consulted, and the matter resolved on a case-by-case basis.”

Staff and students are mandated to use the preferred pronouns of other students: “A student who has been identified as transgender under these guidelines should be addressed by school staff and other students by the name and pronoun corresponding to their gender identity that is consistently asserted at school.” Students are also allowed to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match their preferred gender identity.

The school district provided PDE with a presentation labeled as “Administrative Assistants Retreat” for August 2023. This presentation has a section titled “Transgender Student Rights.” One slide is labeled as “Top 5 Myths” that noticeably labels “transgenderism is a trend or a fad” as a myth.

The district additionally provided PDE with a document titled “Saco Schools advocacy letter” that was dated July 12, 2024. The author of this letter claimed to be “an LGBTQ+ parent of a non-binary child (they/them) going into the third grade this year at C K Burns elementary school.” She explained that she appreciated the district’s “social justice-aligned educational system.” She then provided the district with resources from organizations known for targeting children with LGBTQ issues, such as “Out Maine” and “MaineTrans.Net.”

PDE looked into the author’s social media presence and found that she describes herself on Facebook as: “Just your average queer weirdo budding-naturalist banjo-ing salty anti-capitalist darling.” The district notably included her letter in response to PDE’s public records request seeking guidance on transgender issues.