Latest news with #MaineDepartmentofEducation
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How one school district worked with researchers to stop restraining kids
The Maine Department of Education touts the approach taken by the Topsham-area school district, MSAD 75, to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion. Amy Hall, left, special education director, and Samantha Lapointe, elementary special education coordinator, helped implement the alternative approach. (Troy Bennett/Maine Morning Star) About a decade ago, a Maine school district became concerned about how often staff members physically restrained students who were acting out and put them in seclusion rooms, especially the district's 500 or so special education students. Those tactics are only supposed to be used in emergencies under state law, but at the time, Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 75 recorded 176 restraints and 152 seclusions on just 15 students, according to district-level data shared with Maine Morning Star. Staff were routinely scratched and bruised in the process, said Amy Hall, the district's special education director. 'We started to get very concerned about the level of staff injuries, student injuries, and just the level of crisis we were dealing with in our schools,' Hall said. So in 2018, the district decided to pursue an alternative. Today, because staff members now view student behavioral issues as a problem to prevent and solve, rather than an infraction to punish — and because of a significant investment in training to execute that shift in mindset — the 2,350-student district's use of restraint and seclusion is down to the single digits: two restraints and seven seclusions in the 2022-23 school year. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Maine Department of Education is touting that success story in the hope that more districts will sign onto MSAD 75's approach and rely less on restraint and seclusion — when a staff member temporarily immobilizes a student and places them alone in a room until they calm down. Research has shown that the tactics 'are not effective in altering a student's behavior and that the experience of being restrained and secluded can be traumatizing and cause lasting effects for students,' according to the Maine DOE website. The state and some school districts have worked to reduce their use for years due to staff and student injuries. The model MSAD 75 turned to was developed by a Maine-based nonprofit, Lives in the Balance, that works nationally and has been adopted by a handful of other districts — including the much larger Fairfax Public Schools in Virginia — to dramatically reduce their use of restraint and seclusion. But despite that model's success, it has not been widely adopted across Maine, according to Ben Jones, director of the organization's legal and policy initiatives. Although Lives in the Balance has offered free technical assistance to districts since 2022 through a state Department of Education partnership, Jones said only two districts have followed up on the offer. Sarah Wilkinson, an assistant professor of special education at the University of Southern Maine who recently co-authored a report on student behavior, said the state is failing to provide adequate assistance to districts to make sure these tools can be implemented properly. 'Any one of these programs would decrease the behavioral crises, and then need for seclusion or restraint. But part of the issue there is that the state doesn't really have the infrastructure to support implementation,' Wilkinson said. In response to questions about state support, Chloe Teboe, a spokesperson for Maine DOE, said the department provides resources such as monthly office hours, one-on-one consultations, mentoring and regular training, available for districts that want them. 'What works in Falmouth isn't going to work in Machias or Fort Kent, and that's where folks at the district level need support to implement these approaches in a way that works for their population,' Wilkinson said. Since 2021, Maine has limited the circumstances under which school staff can restrain and seclude students through a change in state law that aimed to nudge districts away from their frequent use. But recent complaints of worsening student behavior since the pandemic led to an effort to loosen those restrictions, which disability rights advocates fear could result in a spike. The Topsham-area district, MSAD 75, is seeing that same increase in extreme behavior among younger students, Hall said, but relaxing the law on restraint and seclusion is not the answer. 'The mental health needs of our population of students have increased, while restraints and seclusions have dramatically decreased,' she said. Instead, Hall advocates for educators to rethink how they view behavior. Most kids will do well in school if they can. Problems with behavior often signal a response to an underlying problem that educators need to uncover and address, she said. 'If a kid is not doing well, then we need to shift the way that we're working with that student,' Hall said. 'Once we get to a restraint or in a seclusion, you're way too late.' The founder of Lives in the Balance, Ross Greene, a child clinical psychologist and former Harvard Medical School faculty member, came up with the model based on a mindset shift that MSAD 75 adopted. Greene's approach helps schools address what he calls 'concerning behaviors' without resorting to punitive measures, based on the idea that when children struggle with frustration, refuse to follow instructions, or can't keep up academically or socially, their response is to act out. 'I get it, those behaviors are dangerous and scary and disruptive, but they're communicating the exact same thing — they're having difficulty meeting a particular expectation,' he said. Rather than respond with punishment or continue to demand compliance, educators can work with the child to identify and address the underlying problems. By temporarily adjusting expectations and focusing on solving problems, educators can prevent behavioral issues from escalating and build students' skills so they can meet expectations in the future, Greene said. 'The problem is that a lot of adults, not just in schools, see a kid who's having difficulty meeting an expectation as being noncompliant, and what they do is they shoot for compliance,' he said. Greene's Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model has been studied in students with significant behavioral challenges, including nonverbal students and students with oppositional defiant disorder, and those studies have found the model leads to notable improvements. One district that's advocating to loosen the state's restraint and seclusion law, MSAD 11 in Gardiner, said it considered Greene's model but worries that the approach is not enough to address increased reports of aggressive student behavior. 'Given that we've almost never experienced the type of dysregulation we're seeing in very early learners, I am not confident that only going down the proactive pathway is a solution to the current context and climate that we are in,' said Angela Hardy, the district's director of curriculum and instruction. In the upcoming school year, Hardy said the district will try to implement some strategies that worked for MSAD 75 and that Greene advocates for, such as designing a learning environment that helps prevent incidents. A special education teacher at the time, Samantha Lapointe started thinking that restraints and seclusions were no longer an option when MSAD 75 first made the change, even though the law permits their use in emergencies. 'It's hard to imagine how you would do business without those tools, until you commit to thinking about not having them,' said Lapointe, who is now the district's elementary special education coordinator. 'That leads to a lot of thinking about what to do instead — and that leads you into new territory, right around what new skillsets need to be stronger, what prevention strategies need to be stronger.' Classroom design is one element of prevention, Lapointe said. The idea is to minimize any danger in case a student acts out — and reduce the need for staff to physically intervene. She started working with students on the floor, then brought in a sofa. When the school got new furniture, she requested two heavy, communal tables instead of individual desks that students could easily move or overturn. The tables also had to be low to the ground so students climbing atop them would not be in danger. And Lapointe hung all the posters high enough so elementary students couldn't rip them off the walls. Staff also locked the closet that stored toys and activities. 'I've still had kids climb on tables, and I've had to ask myself, how dangerous is this really?' she said. 'Is it an extreme, imminent risk of harm if they fall? You should be constantly weighing out what really constitutes danger to the extent that you would need to go hands-on.' The other piece was training ed techs — aides who often work one-on-one with students — in the new approach. 'Adults spend a lot of time directing and correcting, and they need to spend time asking questions, seeking to understand,' Lapointe said. 'The way you talk to kids matters a lot.' Adults spend a lot of time directing and correcting, and they need to spend time asking questions, seeking to understand. The way you talk to kids matters a lot. – Samantha Lapointe, MSAD 75 elementary special education coordinator If a student tries to leave the classroom, for example, instead of stopping them, staff can start a conversation by asking them where they're going, what they need to leave for and what their plan is after leaving, she said. Meanwhile, she also trained her staff to ask themselves: 'What can I tolerate? Why can't they leave the classroom? What's the worst that's going to happen?' 'The level of thinking and intentional decision-making needs to be very high, and that's one thing also that I train my staff in: intentionality,' Lapointe said. 'You must ask yourself, before you say anything, before you do anything: What is it you're going to say or do and why? What outcome are you hoping to get?' That's the kind of training Maine teachers are asking for and largely not receiving, said Wilkinson with the University of Southern Maine. 'Teachers or ed techs will report, 'We've been safety-care trained, we've had de-escalation training' … all of these things that really only happen when a behavior gets to a certain point,' Wilkinson said. 'That means that the behavior has to get to that point before they have the skills to deal with it. Teachers are not reporting that they're confident with all of the things you would do before the behavior escalates.' Even in the Topsham-area district, the training in Collaborative and Proactive Solutions isn't complete. Lapointe said it's now a priority to expand beyond special education to general education classroom teachers and higher grades. The Topsham-area district combines Greene's model with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS — a research-based model used in schools across the country that's built around positive reinforcement of good behavior and gradually increasing levels of intervention and consequences for kids who misbehave. This is how the combination of the two models could look. In the library, the expectation for all students is that they keep their voices low and read, Hall said. PBIS lays out a system to reinforce positive behavior, often through small rewards, and address infractions. But Greene's approach would come into play if a student can't keep quiet in the library, she said. It may be that the child can't focus, keep still, has sensory issues, or is too stimulated in that setting. Instead of punishing the child, teachers try to problem solve: They might offer them headphones, move their reading time to a quiet classroom, or even allow the child to leave the library, Hall said. Moving away from demanding compliance from students helps educators understand and work with them to solve the issue underlying the behavior, instead of an outburst or aggression stemming from it, she said. 'Instead of just asking them to do the same thing over again and sustain in an environment that they can't, you try to figure out what's behind the behavior,' Hall said. 'We still have rewards, and kids still have consequences, but the consequences just aren't, 'We're going to put you in a seclusion room.' Because that's not a consequence, that's a crisis response.' The series was produced as a project for the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism's National Fellowship Fund for Reporting on Child Well-being. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Maine Morning Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lauren McCauley for questions: info@
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
How one Maine district worked with researchers to stop restraining kids
The Maine Department of Education touts the approach taken by the Topsham-area school district, MSAD 75, to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion. Amy Hall (left), special education director, and Samantha Lapointe (right), elementary special education coordinator, helped implement the alternative approach. (Photo by Troy Bennett / Maine Morning Star) About a decade ago, a Topsham-area school district became concerned about how often staff members physically restrained students who were acting out and put them in seclusion rooms, especially the district's 500 or so special education students. Those tactics are only supposed to be used in emergencies under state law, but at the time, Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 75 recorded 176 restraints and 152 seclusions on just 15 students, according to district-level data shared with Maine Morning Star. Staff were routinely scratched and bruised in the process, said Amy Hall, the district's special education director. May 21: Restraint and seclusion are only supposed to be used on students in emergency situations. Accounts from families and educators show how districts' interpretation of state law vary widely and how traumatic the experiences can be. May 22: State data reveals only a fraction of Maine's schools and districts are consistently reporting incidents of restraint and seclusion in violation of state law. Even with the underreporting, Maine schools are relying on these practices thousands of times per year. May 23: How one district worked with researchers to change its approach to student behavior and significantly reduced the use of restraint and seclusion 'We started to get very concerned about the level of staff injuries, student injuries, and just the level of crisis we were dealing with in our schools,' Hall said. So in 2018, the district decided to pursue an alternative. Today, because staff members now view student behavioral issues as a problem to prevent and solve, rather than an infraction to punish — and because of a significant investment in training to execute that shift in mindset — the 2,350-student district's use of restraint and seclusion is down to the single digits: two restraints and seven seclusions in the 2022-23 school year. The Maine Department of Education is touting that success story in the hope that more districts will sign onto MSAD 75's approach and rely less on restraint and seclusion — when a staff member temporarily immobilizes a student and places them alone in a room until they calm down. Research has shown that the tactics 'are not effective in altering a student's behavior and that the experience of being restrained and secluded can be traumatizing and cause lasting effects for students,' according to the Maine DOE website. The state and some school districts have worked to reduce their use for years due to staff and student injuries. The model MSAD 75 turned to was developed by a Maine-based nonprofit, Lives in the Balance, that works nationally and has been adopted by a handful of other districts — including the much larger Fairfax Public Schools in Virginia — to dramatically reduce their use of restraint and seclusion. But despite that model's success, it has not been widely adopted across Maine, according to Ben Jones, director of the organization's legal and policy initiatives. Although Lives in the Balance has offered free technical assistance to districts since 2022 through a state Department of Education partnership, Jones said only two districts have followed up on the offer. Sarah Wilkinson, an assistant professor of special education at the University of Southern Maine who recently co-authored a report on student behavior, said the state is failing to provide adequate assistance to districts to make sure these tools can be implemented properly. 'Any one of these programs would decrease the behavioral crises, and then need for seclusion or restraint. But part of the issue there is that the state doesn't really have the infrastructure to support implementation,' Wilkinson said. In response to questions about state support, Chloe Teboe, a spokesperson for Maine DOE, said the department provides resources such as monthly office hours, one-on-one consultations, mentoring and regular training, available for districts that want them. 'What works in Falmouth isn't going to work in Machias or Fort Kent, and that's where folks at the district level need support to implement these approaches in a way that works for their population,' Wilkinson said. Since 2021, Maine has limited the circumstances under which school staff can restrain and seclude students through a change in state law that aimed to nudge districts away from their frequent use. But recent complaints of worsening student behavior since the pandemic led to an effort to loosen those restrictions, which disability rights advocates fear could result in a spike. The Topsham-area district, MSAD 75, is seeing that same increase in extreme behavior among younger students, Hall said, but relaxing the law on restraint and seclusion is not the answer. 'The mental health needs of our population of students have increased, while restraints and seclusions have dramatically decreased,' she said. Instead, Hall advocates for educators to rethink how they view behavior. Most kids will do well in school if they can. Problems with behavior often signal a response to an underlying problem that educators need to uncover and address, she said. 'If a kid is not doing well, then we need to shift the way that we're working with that student,' Hall said. 'Once we get to a restraint or in a seclusion, you're way too late.' The founder of Lives in the Balance, Ross Greene, a child clinical psychologist and former Harvard Medical School faculty member, came up with the model based on a mindset shift that MSAD 75 adopted. Greene's approach helps schools address what he calls 'concerning behaviors' without resorting to punitive measures, based on the idea that when children struggle with frustration, refuse to follow instructions, or can't keep up academically or socially, their response is to act out. 'I get it, those behaviors are dangerous and scary and disruptive, but they're communicating the exact same thing — they're having difficulty meeting a particular expectation,' he said. Rather than respond with punishment or continue to demand compliance, educators can work with the child to identify and address the underlying problems. By temporarily adjusting expectations and focusing on solving problems, educators can prevent behavioral issues from escalating and build students' skills so they can meet expectations in the future, Greene said. 'The problem is that a lot of adults, not just in schools, see a kid who's having difficulty meeting an expectation as being noncompliant, and what they do is they shoot for compliance,' he said. Greene's Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model has been studied in students with significant behavioral challenges, including nonverbal students and students with oppositional defiant disorder, and those studies have found the model leads to notable improvements. One district that's advocating to loosen the state's restraint and seclusion law, MSAD 11 in Gardiner, said it considered Greene's model but worries that the approach is not enough to address increased reports of aggressive student behavior. 'Given that we've almost never experienced the type of dysregulation we're seeing in very early learners, I am not confident that only going down the proactive pathway is a solution to the current context and climate that we are in,' said Angela Hardy, the district's director of curriculum and instruction. In the upcoming school year, Hardy said the district will try to implement some strategies that worked for MSAD 75 and that Greene advocates for, such as designing a learning environment that helps prevent incidents. A special education teacher at the time, Samantha Lapointe started thinking that restraints and seclusions were no longer an option when MSAD 75 first made the change, even though the law permits their use in emergencies. 'It's hard to imagine how you would do business without those tools, until you commit to thinking about not having them,' said Lapointe, who is now the district's elementary special education coordinator. 'That leads to a lot of thinking about what to do instead — and that leads you into new territory, right around what new skillsets need to be stronger, what prevention strategies need to be stronger.' Classroom design is one element of prevention, Lapointe said. The idea is to minimize any danger in case a student acts out — and reduce the need for staff to physically intervene. She started working with students on the floor, then brought in a sofa. When the school got new furniture, she requested two heavy, communal tables instead of individual desks that students could easily move or overturn. The tables also had to be low to the ground so students climbing atop them would not be in danger. And Lapointe hung all the posters high enough so elementary students couldn't rip them off the walls. Staff also locked the closet that stored toys and activities. 'I've still had kids climb on tables, and I've had to ask myself, how dangerous is this really?' she said. 'Is it an extreme, imminent risk of harm if they fall? You should be constantly weighing out what really constitutes danger to the extent that you would need to go hands-on.' The other piece was training ed techs — aides who often work one-on-one with students — in the new approach. 'Adults spend a lot of time directing and correcting, and they need to spend time asking questions, seeking to understand,' Lapointe said. 'The way you talk to kids matters a lot.' Adults spend a lot of time directing and correcting, and they need to spend time asking questions, seeking to understand. The way you talk to kids matters a lot. – Samantha Lapointe, MSAD 75 elementary special education coordinator If a student tries to leave the classroom, for example, instead of stopping them, staff can start a conversation by asking them where they're going, what they need to leave for and what their plan is after leaving, she said. Meanwhile, she also trained her staff to ask themselves: 'What can I tolerate? Why can't they leave the classroom? What's the worst that's going to happen?' 'The level of thinking and intentional decision-making needs to be very high, and that's one thing also that I train my staff in: intentionality,' Lapointe said. 'You must ask yourself, before you say anything, before you do anything: What is it you're going to say or do and why? What outcome are you hoping to get?' That's the kind of training Maine teachers are asking for and largely not receiving, said Wilkinson with the University of Southern Maine. 'Teachers or ed techs will report, 'We've been safety-care trained, we've had de-escalation training' … all of these things that really only happen when a behavior gets to a certain point,' Wilkinson said. 'That means that the behavior has to get to that point before they have the skills to deal with it. Teachers are not reporting that they're confident with all of the things you would do before the behavior escalates.' Even in the Topsham-area district, the training in Collaborative and Proactive Solutions isn't complete. Lapointe said it's now a priority to expand beyond special education to general education classroom teachers and higher grades. The Topsham-area district combines Greene's model with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS — a research-based model used in schools across the country that's built around positive reinforcement of good behavior and gradually increasing levels of intervention and consequences for kids who misbehave. This is how the combination of the two models could look. In the library, the expectation for all students is that they keep their voices low and read, Hall said. PBIS lays out a system to reinforce positive behavior, often through small rewards, and address infractions. But Greene's approach would come into play if a student can't keep quiet in the library, she said. It may be that the child can't focus, keep still, has sensory issues, or is too stimulated in that setting. Instead of punishing the child, teachers try to problem solve: They might offer them headphones, move their reading time to a quiet classroom, or even allow the child to leave the library, Hall said. Moving away from demanding compliance from students helps educators understand and work with them to solve the issue underlying the behavior, instead of an outburst or aggression stemming from it, she said. 'Instead of just asking them to do the same thing over again and sustain in an environment that they can't, you try to figure out what's behind the behavior,' Hall said. 'We still have rewards, and kids still have consequences, but the consequences just aren't, 'We're going to put you in a seclusion room.' Because that's not a consequence, that's a crisis response.' The series was produced as a project for the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism's National Fellowship Fund for Reporting on Child Well-being SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Jay, Wilton to explore collaboration between police departments
May 8—Jay and Wilton officials are forming a joint committee to explore options for collaboration between their respective police departments, officials announced Thursday in a joint news release. The committee will be comprised of two select board members and two residents from each town, along with participation from town managers, Shiloh LaFreniere in Jay and Maria Greeley in Wilton, and both police departments. "With recruitment becoming more competitive, costs continuing to rise and both towns facing ongoing public safety challenges," the statement said, "we believe it's time to look beyond the traditional approach and see if new solutions could help us maintain a stable and effective police presence in both communities." The first committee meeting has been scheduled for 10 a.m. June 9 and deadlines for applications to join the committee are May 21 for Jay residents and May 29 for Wilton residents. "We're committed to a process that is careful, transparent and inclusive," the statement said. Copy the Story Link Mainers witness selection of new pope as white smoke rises in Vatican City Maine Department of Education denies accusations in DOJ lawsuit
Boston Globe
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
DOJ sues Maine over refusing to comply with transgender athlete ban
Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, has repeatedly challenged the administration's interpretation of federal law on the issue and contend that the participation of trans athletes is protected by state statutes. In a statement, Mills called the lawsuit part of a 'campaign to pressure the State of Maine to ignore the Constitution and abandon the rule of law.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'For nearly two months, Maine has endured recriminations from the Federal government that have targeted hungry school kids, hardworking fishermen, senior citizens, new parents, and countless Maine people,' Mills said. Advertisement 'We have been subject to politically motivated investigations that opened and closed without discussion, leaving little doubt that their outcomes were predetermined. Let today serve as warning to all states: Maine might be among the first to draw the ire of the Federal government in this way, but we will not be the last,' she said. The lawsuit, which names the Maine Department of Education as the defendant, accuses the state of flouting Title IX - the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs receiving federal funding. Advertisement It seeks a court order directing the department to bar transgender athletes and to establish a compensation program for 'female athletes who have been denied equal athletic opportunities,' including potential adjustments to past athletic records. 'We are also considering retroactively pulling all of the funding they have received for not complying in the past,' Bondi said, though the Justice Department's legal filings make no mention of that proposed remedy. The government's filings referenced a handful of incidents in which transgender athletes bested competitors at athletic events in the state, including a high school-level track meet in February in which a trans contender placed first in the pole vault competition. Mills has said there are two transgender athletes currently competing in girls' sports in Maine. Wednesday's lawsuit is the third legal action the Justice Department has brought challenging laws or policies in a Democratic state since President Trump took office in January, and is the latest salvo in a widening retaliatory campaign waged by the White House since Trump publicly confronted Mills on the issue during a meeting in February. At a news conference, Bondi was joined by US Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Riley Gaines, the conservative activist and former University of Kentucky swimmer who has emerged as a leading voice of opposition against the inclusion of transgender women in female sports. 'I'm frustrated that we have to be here - that we as women have to stand before you all on national television demanding equal opportunities. This isn't progress,' Gaines said of support for trans athletes. 'I would describe this as a betrayal.' Advertisement Trump signed an executive order in February banning trans athletes from women's sports and denying federal funding to schools that allow them to participate. He challenged Mills at a National Governors Association event weeks later, demanding that Maine comply with the order. 'You'd better do it,' Trump said. 'You'd better do it, because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't.' Mills responded, 'See you in court.' Since then, Maine has been subjected to unusual and overlapping investigations and efforts to withdraw federal funding for a range of programs, including marine research, school lunches and Agriculture Department grants to the University of Maine. Three federal agencies announced investigations into what they called possible violations of Title IX in Maine within 24 hours of Trump's public confrontation with Mills. And in less than a month, two of those probes concluded that entities in the state, including Maine's Department of Education, were violating federal antidiscrimination law, and they were ordered to change their policy within 10 days or risk referral to the Justice Department. The Social Security Administration ordered the termination of two data-collection contracts in February used to combat fraudulent spending in the state. The Washington Post has reported that when the SSA's acting commissioner, Leland Dudek, was warned by his staff that doing so would mean that 'improper payments will go up,' Dudek responded in an email that the decision would also deny funds to Mills, whom he described as a 'petulant child' who had been 'disrespectful' and 'unprofessional' toward the president. Many of the cuts have been rolled back or paused through intervention from Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, or orders from federal courts. Last week, Maine won a victory when a judge blocked the Department of Agriculture from halting funding to nutrition programs in the state's schools over alleged Title IX violations. Advertisement The conflict ratcheted up again on Friday as the US Education Department told the state that it would pull all federal education funding if Maine refused to sign an agreement bringing its policies into line with Trump administration objectives. State officials again refused. 'Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls' and women's sports teams,' wrote Maine's assistant attorney general, Sarah Forster. In fact, she wrote, various courts have found the opposite - that federal law 'require[s] schools to allow such participation.' McMahon, the federal education secretary, balked at that conclusion Wednesday. 'I hope Governor Mills will recognize that her political feud with the president will deprive the students in her state of much more than the right to fair sporting events,' she said. The impasse — now capped by the Justice Department's lawsuit — could prove politically risky for both parties. Trump campaigned against the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports last year and, since taking office, has ordered the federal government to abandon considerations of gender identity in favor of a narrow definition of biological sex. Maine law was amended in 2021 to protect against discrimination on the basis of gender identity, a statute state leaders have repeatedly cited in defense of transgender participation in school sports. Mills said last month that the law is 'worthy of debate,' but she has insisted it can't simply be changed just because Trump wishes it so. Advertisement 'This is not just about who can compete on the athletic field,' she said in her statement Wednesday. 'This is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.' In Maine, views of the fight tend to break down along partisan lines, said Dan Shea, a political scientist at Colby College. While Trump's staunch supporters agree with his approach, others say the onslaught of federal government actions has left state residents feeling attacked. 'Our dander is up a bit,' Shea said. There's a sense of, 'How dare you threaten our state this way?' Lance Dutson, a Republican political consultant in Maine, said that while Mills may have a well-founded legal argument, the underlying controversy is such an emotive one that it may not matter. 'The stark reality is that Governor Mills is on the wrong side of the issue from a public opinion standpoint,' Dutson said, pointing to polls that show a majority of Americans oppose transgender athletes in women's sports. If the Trump administration does ultimately cut federal funding to Maine, Dutson said, it will be tough for Mills 'to escape the idea that her position on women's sports and Title IX is the reason.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US sues Maine over transgender athletes in women's sports
The US Justice Department is suing Maine for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday, the latest step in the government's showdown with the northeastern state. US President Donald Trump clashed with the state's governor on the topic in February, after earlier issuing an executive order barring transgender competitors from women's sports. The Republican's administration moved to cut Maine's federal funding for public schools over the issue last week. "Today, the Department of Justice is announcing a civil lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education. The state of Maine is discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women's sports," Bondi told a news conference. Bondi accused Maine of violating Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that forbids discrimination on the basis of gender in educational facilities that receive federal support. Trump had a heated exchange with Maine's Democratic governor in February when the president raised his executive order targeting trans athletes while making televised remarks to a gathering of state leaders at the White House. "Two weeks ago I signed an executive order banning men from playing in women's sports. Many Democrats are fighting me on that, I hope you continue because you'll never win another race," he said. "Are you not going to comply with it?" he asked Maine Governor Janet Mills. "I'm complying with state and federal laws," Mills responded. "Well, we are the federal law... You better do it, because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't," the president said. "See you in court," she responded. Trump's order allows US government agencies to deny funds to schools that allow transgender athletes to compete on women's teams. Republicans hammered Democrats on transgender issues -- especially when it came to youth and sports -- ahead of the 2024 election, capitalizing on a broader culture war over LGBTQ rights. Since his return to office earlier this year, Trump has demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people -- a small minority of the population -- and gender-affirming care for minors in both his rhetoric and in executive orders. Trump has said he will also push the International Olympic Committee to change its rules on transgender athletes before the 2028 Los Angeles Games. sst-wd/aha
