Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Policy Title Ix topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Winthrop board directs policy committee to draft Title IX‑aligned language; administrators warn of legal conflicts
Summary
After an executive-session briefing and legal perspectives, the board moved to direct the superintendent to help amend district policies "to align with the original intent of Title 9," including sex‑designated private spaces and separating applicable athletic teams; administrators and the athletic director raised concerns about conflicting state law and MPA rules.
The Winthrop School Board voted unanimously on a motion in March to have the superintendent and policy committee draft amendments to district policies affecting student privacy and athletics to "align with the original intent of Title 9," a phrasing the motion used when read aloud during the meeting.
The motion (mover recorded in the transcript as board member Tim) asked the superintendent to: assist with policy amendments to align district policies with the original intent of "Title 9," ensure private spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms be designated and accessed according to sex, require applicable athletic teams be separated by sex, and provide written public notice of the actions. The motion was amended to direct the policy committee to present a first reading to the full board by the May 6 meeting and carried unanimously.
During discussion, administrators and legal advisors cautioned the board that following only the motion’s federal‑statute framing could create conflicts with state law and with existing Maine Principals Association (MPA) competition rules. The district’s athletics/operations representative noted that participation in MPA tournaments requires schools to follow MPA rules and that some local arrangements are possible for non‑tournament play, but that declarations and eligibility rules are operational constraints.
The board instructed the superintendent and policy staff to research the variations found in other Maine school districts’ policies (including different AC/AE/AC‑R/ACE formulations referenced by staff), and to bring proposed revision language to the policy committee and then to the board on the timeline established in the motion.
No final policy changes were adopted at the meeting; the district’s policy committee will prepare proposed language and legal analysis for the May 6 first reading.
