Last year, Sullivan-based Regional School Unit 24 passed a resolution to ban transgender students from participating in sports or using bathrooms that match their gender identities, aligning itself with the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX. The district is one of seven being sued by the state for violating the Maine Human Rights Act.
Now, more than 900 pages of emails, texts and other documents shed light on how the nine-person school board came to that decision and the debates they had in private along the way.
The shift was pushed in large part by one board member, Carla Jung of Franklin, who was regularly consulting with leaders of three conservative policy groups: the Maine Education Initiative, run by former state Rep. Heidi Sampson; the Maine First Project, run by former state Rep. Larry Lockman; and a local chapter of the national organization Parents’ Rights in Education, run by Allen Sarvinas.
The documents, shared by a group of local activists opposed to the change, also show how officials grappled with the legality of the new policy and how it might be enforced.
Read the documents here:
