Letter was example of disinformation

To the editor,

It is my hope that it was an oversight that the Kennebunk Post published letters to the editor that are anti-LGBTQIA+, and highlight the platform of individuals who are openly against policy that protects transgender/gender-expansive students in RSU 21 on June 1, the start of Pride month.

To the uninitiated, information shared as fact (and believed as fact without doing one’s own homework) can have damaging consequences. A recent letter to the editor regarding policy ACAAA is a clear example of spreading disinformation.

What is damaging is the intent to sow distrust of the RSU 21 school district, and its position that all staff and students should have a safe working and learning environment. Recently, the board deliberated over several hours in publicly posted and livestreamed meetings, the language and ultimate passage of policy ACAAA, which protects and affirms the rights of transgender and gender-expansive students in the district. The writer of the letter would have readers think that this was conducted under the cover of night “while we were sleeping.”

A more truncated version of the policy already existed; it did not, however, spell out to any clear degree the steps the district would take to support a student identifying as transgender or gender-expansive. The work completed now includes updated language that reflects gender identity definitions, and spells out in great detail responsibilities of the district.

This policy is not a ‘travesty.’ It is aligned with reality – students who identify as transgender or gender-expansive should be acknowledged by their proper pronouns. They are allowed, by law, to use the facilities that align with their gender identity. Our policy has always allowed for that; this is not new. The writer has omitted (intentionally) a significant court case in Maine that does require public schools to permit students to access the facilities that align with their gender identity (see Doe v. Clenchy).

To state as fact that “Maine courts have never ruled that public schools must permit students to access whichever restroom they prefer” is not only patently false, but a desperate attempt to distract the reader, in the hopes that they may just take what is being written at face value, in their attempt to undermine policy.

Erin Nadeau

Arundel

Encourage residents to read the policy

To the editor,

I write in response to Jane Evelyn’s letter of June 2. In full discloser, I have a niece that started out life as a nephew. Said niece graduated Kennebunk High School as a female and is now a PHD candidate delivering papers internationally on computer science. That she was transgender was no secret as she had lived here all her life. Go Kennebunk High for helping yet another super talented student get a leg up in life without getting all bent out shape that the student is transgender.

Ms. Evelyn’s letter starts “while we were asleep” to which I retort speak for yourself. But this was just the beginning of what seemed to me to be a deliberately misleading letter filled with partial sentences followed by ellipses. She states that “the policy addresses the transgender gender expansive transitions enabling the school district and administration to develop and orchestrate gender affirming care of our children without parental consent but allowing “outside providers” to be called in. Here is the meat of the policy being discussed as copied from the RSU 21 page:

1. Privacy: All students have a right to privacy. This includes the right to keep private one’s transgender status or gender expansive presentation at school. In some cases, a student may want school staff and students to know that they are transgender or gender expansive, and in other cases the student may not want this information to be widely known. Accordingly:

· The student’s plan shall be kept confidential and shared only with individuals attending the planning meeting(s), the superintendent, others with a bona fide need to know, and, if necessary, the district’s legal counsel.

· As part of the development of the student’s plan, the discussion should include what information may be shared, to whom the information may be shared, and how the information should be shared.

· School staff should take care to follow the student’s plan and not to inadvertently disclose information that is intended to be kept private or that is protected from disclosure (such as confidential medical information, the student’s transgender status, their legal name, or sex assigned at birth).

· School staff should keep in mind that under FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act), student records may only be accessed and disclosed to parent(s)/guardian(s) who made such a request, and to staff with a legitimate educational interest in the information. Disclosures to others should only be made with appropriate authorization from the administration and/or students over the age of 18 or emancipated minors.

· If a student discloses risk of abuse or neglect or district staff suspect abuse or neglect, district staff will follow appropriate mandated reporting requirements.

Furthermore, Ms. Evelyn’s expression gender affirming care does not mean the school will be able approve “medical” procedures or drug therapies. Indeed, it states in the definitions section:

4. Transgender – An adjective describing a person whose gender identity or expression is different from that traditionally associated with an assigned sex at birth.

5. Transition – The process by which a person goes from living and identifying as one gender to living and identifying as another. For most elementary and secondary students, this involves no or minimal medical interventions. In most cases, transgender students and/or under the age of 18 are in a process of social transition from one gender to another

The policy does state that where student and parents do not agree “regarding the students gender identity or gender expression the school shall wherever possible abide by the wishes of the student.” Although not absolute, I will suggest this is the right thing to do. A parent may not want their child to be gay or transgender, but that in no way can change the fact that a person is gay or transgender.

In conclusion, read the entire policy for yourself before asking questions. Then ask yourself what should a school do if a distraught student approaches a guidance counselor or trusted teacher for example and says I feel like I am a boy or girl although I was born a girl or boy? I don’t have any idea how often this happens but that it does is a fact certain. Therefore, the school must have a policy. The parents cannot be excluded from viewing all the records of their child, but the child is due the laws protection from parents that may act out violently toward them upon learning of their wardship’s gender identity or sexual preferences. The policy is reasonable with safeguards for all parties concerned. In my opinion, Ms. Evelyn is stirring a pot that does not need to be stirred in an attempt to gen up self-righteous indignation for no good cause.

Daniel Phipps

Kennebunk