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

Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to Biddeford Schools seeking any guidance on transgender issues. The district provided PDE with a policy titled “Transgender Students Guidelines – Maine.” 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 gender identity of students can be 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 district also provided PDE with a presentation titled “Transgender Student Rights.” This presentation notably labels students refusing to use the same restrooms or locker rooms with students of the opposite sex as “discrimination”:

There may be students who object to participating in sex-segregated school programs or being in sex-segregated facilities with transgender students. Privacy interests of such students, as well as all students, can be protected by making the facilities themselves more private or by providing an accommodation to a student who seeks additional privacy, for any reason. But objecting students cannot justify discrimination against transgender students.