Ed Dept. Investigates ME Hiding Gender Dysphoria From Parents

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Maine for alleged violations of the Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) for actively hiding a child’s identification as “transgender” from parents.

Citing a report from The Federalist showing 57 school districts with such policies, the U.S. Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) is leading the investigation into the Maine Department of Education because “the districts’ policies allegedly allow for schools to create ‘gender plans’ supporting a student’s ‘transgender identity’ and then claim those plans are not education records under FERPA and therefore not available to parents,” a press release from the department states. 

The press release also made clear that a finding in violation of FERPA “can result in termination of an educational entity’s federal funding.”

“Parents and guardians have the right to access their child’s education records to guide and safeguard their child’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Any policy to the contrary is both illegal and immoral,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with several young people who shared their detransitioning stories. It is deeply concerning to hear that teachers and school counselors in Maine are reportedly encouraging and helping students to undergo so-called ‘gender transitions’ while keeping parents in the dark. The Trump Administration will enforce all federal laws to safeguard students and families.” 

The Federalist was also present at McMahon’s meeting with detransitioners, many of whom said that school policies like the ones in Maine have an enormous amount of influence on pushing children to pursue medical interventions like chemical castration and genital mutilation, because they are allowed to live a double life under a different name, while people refer to them by different pronouns, and using different facilities than what align with their actual gender.

“Social transition — changing names, pronouns, school records — it seems harmless, but it often initiates a trajectory that is challenging to stop once begun,” Claire Abernathy, 20, who was put on testosterone to transition to a boy after her 14th birthday, said at the meeting. “My school affirmed this identity without informing my parents, they started calling me a new name and pronouns, and letting me use the boys’ bathroom and locker rooms, and this immediate affirmation led me swiftly into medicalization.”

In Maine’s Portland Public Schools, for example, directs school staff to hide the claimed “gender identity” of a student from their parents, so long as the parents do not wish to allow their children to start the “transition” process. The decision to tell the parents is left entirely up to the child.

“School staff shall comply with the student’s wishes regarding disclosure of their transgender status to others, including but not limited to parents or guardians, students, volunteers or other school staff, unless the student has explicitly authorized the disclosure or unless legally required to do so,” the policy states, in part.

The students who claim to be transgender are also allowed to use the restrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex, meaning girls can be forced to undress in front of boys, so long as the boy claims he is a girl.

Many of Maine’s school districts have virtually identical policies.

SPPO is the office that enforces FERPA, a federal privacy law that protects a parent’s right to access their child’s education records. The Education Department said that Maine’s policies violate FERPA because they actively hide certain information, and that “state laws do not override federal laws, and educational entities receiving federal funding are subject to FERPA and its implementing regulations.”

“Under the previous Administration, we were fighting to protect our children from irreversible ‘sex changes’ — a path too often facilitated by school personnel who we entrusted with our children,” Parents Defending Education founder and president Nicole Neily said. “We are proud to stand with President Trump and Secretary McMahon to hold school districts accountable and ensure no child is socially transitioned behind parent’s backs by teachers or administrators.” 

Maine has been the subject of other investigations from the Education Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Agriculture, all regarding transgender issues, mostly having to do with Title IX violations in sports.

The investigation into Maine follows a similar Thursday investigation into California.

California is not the only other state that has school policies hiding such critical information from parents. They exist across the country, like in Rhode Island, where The Federalist reported recently that nearly all parents of public school students in the state are subjected to the same sorts of parental exclusion laws.

Breccan F. Thies is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.