16-04-2025
Aroostook school district votes to follow Trump administration on Title IX
Apr. 15—An Aroostook County school board voted to align its Title IX policy with that of the Trump administration, apparently becoming the first district in Maine to publicly break from the state's policy regarding transgender athletes in girls and women's sports.
At its meeting Monday, Maine School Administrative District 70's 13-person board approved a motion to "align with federal Title IX by recognizing only two sexes — biological male and biological female — and that all private spaces be separated by biological sex," News Center Maine reported.
Superintendent Tyler Putnam could not be reached to confirm the vote Tuesday night. Voicemails left with a number listed as belonging to Putnam were not returned. The district did not return written requests for confirmation and details sent through its online contact form.
MSAD 70 includes two schools and serves students in Amity, Cary Plantation, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick.
The district's policy change appears to violate the Maine Human Rights Act as a number of bills designed to change the law and limit transgender participation in women's sports have have been brought before the Legislature.
LD 1337 would align Maine's Human Rights Act with "the rights of a female athlete" under Title IX, the landmark civil rights law designed to ensure equal access to educational services between women and men. A complementary bill, LD 868, would require athletic teams be designated for men, women or mixed participation, based on whether individuals have ever or will ever have a reproductive system that produces either eggs or sperm, designated female and male, respectively.
Maine has explicitly acknowledged and provided protections for gender identity in its Human Rights Act since 2019.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office stating that the United States would formally recognize only two sexes and asserting that gender identity is "disconnected from biological reality."
The Trump administration has targeted Maine for allowing transgender women to compete in women's sports since a viral confrontation between President Donald Trump and Gov. Janet Mills in February.
Several federal agencies, including the Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, have cut or threatened to cut federal funding for Maine over the Title IX clash.
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