Residents urge Auburn School Committee to protect transgender students' access to sports and school privacy

Two residents addressed the Auburn School Committee during public participation at its April 2, 2025, meeting, urging the committee to protect transgender students’ access to school sports and to safeguard student privacy from outside federal enforcement.

Arlo Driggs, who identified himself as “president of Auburn” and a former student, told the committee that recent national debate and proposed policies targeting transgender athletes would harm students by creating alienation and harassment. “For transgender youth, these policies mean alienation, harassment, and lack of the same basic activity access to the same basic activities that other students pursue,” Driggs said.

Driggs asked each committee member for a “specific commitment” to use their positions to oppose policies that would prevent transgender students from participating in school sports or otherwise disadvantage them. He warned against proposals that would require verification of students’ bodies, saying, “Are any of you willing to ask your children to expose themselves to a school administrator to prove that they’re not transgender?”

Tara Russo, who said she is a former student with family currently in Auburn Public Schools, also urged the committee to protect student safety and privacy. Russo said she believes Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently has no legal jurisdiction to enter Maine schools and called allowing federal agents onto school grounds “an active act of disregarding students’ privacy and safety.” She added that transgender students “need the same exact privacy and safety as any other student is guaranteed.”

The committee did not take action on either request during the meeting. The public participation segment preceded a public hearing on the school department budget for 2025–26, at which no speakers addressed the budget.