ORONO, Maine — The Orono school board held the first reading of new transgender student guidelines that are the result of a lawsuit brought by a former student who sued after being denied access to the girls bathroom in grade school and middle school.
“We’ve been operating under the Human Rights Commission guidelines issued last year that we actually helped to create,” Superintendent Joanne Harriman said during a break in the meeting.
The guidelines align with the four pages of proposed Orono rules, she said, which basically state students and staff should address transgender students in accordance with their gender identity, using the name and pronoun corresponding with how they identify themselves.
“The purpose of these guidelines are 1) to foster a learning environment that is safe and free from discrimination, harassment, and bullying; and 2) to assist the educational and social integration of transgender students in our schools,” the proposed guidelines state.
The guidelines say transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity that is consistently asserted at school.
The incident that sparked the court case began in 2007 when a child, later identified as Nicole Maines, who was born male but identifies as female, was forced to stop using the girls bathroom at the Asa Adams Elementary School in Orono. She was told to use a staff bathroom after the grandfather of a male student complained.
Her parents filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission, and the lawsuit — the first in the country to challenge a transgender student’s access to the bathroom of the gender with which the child identified — followed, according to previously published stories.
The Penobscot County Superior Court order, dated Nov. 25, 2014, enjoined the School Department from discriminating against other students as it did against Nicole Maines, who is now a University of Maine student.
The school board is expected to have a second reading of the proposed policy at the next school board meeting, scheduled for Thursday, June 2.
“These guidelines are not intended to anticipate every possible situation that may occur since the needs of particular students and families differ depending on the student’s age and other factors,” the proposed guidelines state.
The guidelines stipulate that school records and test scores will use the student’s legal name unless it is changed in court, but in all other instances their preferred name should be used.
The policy is one of several that the school board is reviewing.