MSAD 51 review finds athletic gaps for girls; administration seeks budget fixes and booster oversight

Superintendent Jeff Porter told the MSAD 51 board on June 3 that an external legal review of high-school athletics, conducted by the law firm Drummond Woodson, found the district offers a wide breadth of teams but documented specific disparities that can disadvantage girls’ programs. “Title IX … prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex,” Porter said in presenting the report and its recommendations for addressing inequities.

The review covered grades 9–12 and examined policies, booster handbooks, team rosters, coaches’ contracts, budgets, facilities and interviews with coaches and administrators. Porter summarized the positive findings first: the high school fields 29 teams across fall, winter and spring and overall participation rates are near parity with the student body, which the report described as not a major concern.

But the report also identified concrete gaps. It cited examples where scheduling practices had, at times, disadvantaged girls’ teams; softball’s access to permanent batting cages, protective screens and consistent field prep at Twinbrook; locker-room inequities for girls’ ice hockey at the Family Ice facility; discrepancies in transporting equipment; and booster fundraising that left some girls’ programs with substantially less support than comparable boys’ programs.

Porter said the legal team recommended clear tracking and policy changes to ensure comparable access to fields, facilities, uniforms and other benefits; advance provision of season budgets to coaches; a collaborative process for scheduling with coach input; and education plus oversight of booster fundraising — including considering an all-sports booster organization to centralize and equalize fundraising. Several of those items were folded into the proposed FY27 budget, Porter said, including money for a permanent batting cage at Twinbrook and additional transportation and uniform funds.

Athletic director David Chapyro and the district’s Title IX coordinator, Dr. Julie Olsen, have begun implementing changes cited in the report: scheduling is now coordinated with all coaches sitting with the athletic director, and coaches received season budgets in spring 2026. Porter told the board a follow-up report is scheduled for Oct. 1, 2026, when the district will present progress and additional detail on upgrades.

Board members asked how citizens should report possible Title IX concerns. Porter and Olsen said concerns should be raised to school administrators, the athletic director or directly to the board chair; formal complaints are processed by administration and the district enforces a no-retaliation policy. Members also pressed the administration on transportation shortages, driver recruitment and how booster funds and district funds should be combined to reach parity; Porter said the district is increasing transportation funding and training drivers while also shifting some assistant-coach costs from boosters to the district budget to reduce inequities.

Why it matters: the review moves the district from perception to formal corrective steps. If implemented, the recommendations mean additional capital and operating spending in the near term and new administrative oversight of booster fundraising — changes voters may see reflected in next year’s budgets.

What’s next: the district has already started several changes and put funding into the FY27 budget that goes to voters June 9. The administration will return to the board with a fuller implementation update on Oct. 1, 2026.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A by Superintendent Jeff Porter and title-IX coordinator Dr. Julie Olsen; athletic director David Chapyro. Evidence summarized from the report presented to the board at the meeting.