A progressive write-in candidate for a rural Maine school board recently won. Her victory stemmed from a contentious school board meeting in June where board members tried rolling back protections for transgender students.

Leah Shipps, a mother of two area school kids and a local construction project manager, pulled off an upset win that tipped the school board majority in progressives’ favor.

Related

School district votes out board members who banned Pride flags in schools
“It was sneaky behavior, and then they pushed it through without listening to people…. We will not stand for this.”

But it took a major blow to LGBTQ+ protections in the district’s schools to get there.

Stay connected to your community

Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

On June 6, the conservative-dominated school board in Lincoln County met to consider repeal of an existing nondiscrimination policy. The policy instructed educators to use students’ correct pronouns, enabled trans students to use the appropriate bathroom, prohibited bullying, and prevented teachers from outing students to their parents.

The ordinance was based on current Maine law which has provided LGBTQ+ legal protections for six years without objection.

Hundreds of students, parents and other community members packed the meeting, held at a local high school gymnasium, in support of the current law. A parade of speakers spoke against repealing it.

“Why cause fear and panic in children who are only trying to receive an education?” a school librarian asked.

“Deleting the policy isn’t going to delete the students I work with who identify as transgender,” a social worker advised the board. “They’re still going to be there.”

A middle school science teacher appealed to reason. “The assertion that only binary male and female exists is simply not science,” he told the board. “Policy decisions ought to be based on evidence, research, and objective reality.”

Students’ testimony was among the most moving.

“Without the support of this district, specifically, I don’t think I would be here with all of you tonight,” one student said. “This policy is single-handedly the main reason I’m able to speak.”

A 9th grader presented a petition, signed by 100 fellow classmates in the tiny district, and observed, “It seems our lives at school are about political agendas to some members of the board, not our education.”

A high school senior advised the board, “If you hear our views and continue with the removal of this policy, you are showing us, the teachers, the parents, and staff members in this district, that your actions are not truly in our best interest. I suggest you think hard before making a decision that sends this message.”

But the message was sent, as the board voted late in a meeting that went to 2 a.m. to repeal the longstanding protections.

Enter Leah Shipps — who announced her long-shot, write-in candidacy in May — was now suddenly surrounded by disaffected students, parents, teachers and administrators fed up with a conservative school board majority that didn’t properly reflect or consider the will of their constituents.

With just five days between the ill-fated meeting and Election Day, supporters galvanized around Shipps, door-knocking, painting yard signs and flooding social media to make her case and rally for change.

Shipps pulled off an upset, garnering a 67-vote win over an opponent who had tried get the LGBTQ+-inclusive graphic novel Gender Queer banned from the districts’ schools. The win was enough to shift the majority in progressives’ favor.

“I had growing concerns about political rhetoric being used at board meetings,” Shipps said before the election, explaining her last-minute candidacy. “Ultimately, that rhetoric does not support public schools.”