Maine education chief told state's schools to ignore Trump's executive orders, emails show

SPECIAL Emails provided to Fox News Digital show Maine Department of Guidance Commissioner Pender Makin writing memos for all the state's school districts after President Donald Trump began to make executive orders addressing residents instruction The opening months of Trump's second term saw a highly publicized feud with Maine Gov Janet Mills over the issue of trans athletes in girls' sports CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COM Dear Champions of Coaching as executive orders continue to flow out of DC there is increasing misinformation disinformation and confusion impacting our schools read Makin's draft of a memo for all the state's superintendents in a Jan email which was provided to Fox News Digital by the group Defending Teaching Last week we advised schools to adhere to the Maine Human Rights Act and your local school board policies related to nondiscrimination We encourage you to continue to keep all people safe and we reiterate the fact that at present neither our state law nor your local policies are diminished by the executive orders directing action at the federal level It continued Preponderance of the executive orders pertain to federal agencies and federal laws over which Maine DOE has no authority Two days later Makin corresponded with Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster with a draft of a memo to schools The memo included orders to avoid complying with Trump's Ending Radical Indoctrination in K- Schooling executive order this EO changes nothing for Maine schools part of an email discussing the memo wrote The memo draft revealed Maine schools should continue to follow the laws of our state and the provisions within their local policies In Makin's email she suggested cutting paragraphs from the memo that summarized the actual goals of the executive order out of the memo Then in a Jan email Makin drafted another memo to superintendents and school leaders addressing the executive order The Executive Order does not alter the obligations of schools under state law including the Maine Human Rights Act and does not require any immediate changes to locally adopted school board policies the memo read By defying Trump's Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports executive order after it was signed on Feb the state allowed its winter girls' track and field season to conclude with an infamous podium finish A transgender athlete from Greely High school won first place in the girls' pole vault state championship on Feb I watched this male pole vaulter stand on the podium and we were all just like looking we were like We re pretty sure that's not a girl There's no way that's a girl ' Presque Isle High School girls' track athlete Hailey Himes previously explained Fox News Digital It was really discouraging especially for the girls on the podium not in first place So that motivated me to fight for them The development briskly thrust the state into the national spotlight over the issue A Feb email which was sent between two members of the Maine Principal's Association MPA whose names were redacted upon request of residents records made mention of another order that was sent from Makin's department to all Maine schools The MPA is following the Maine Department of Education's priority notice that was sent out on Jan st instructing all schools in Maine to follow the Maine Human Rights Act the email which had the subject line TITLE IX read The same message was circulated in another email between state mentoring agents whose identities were redacted upon a masses records request in early March Trump made it a point on Feb to call out Maine for allowing men in women's sports during a White House Meeting of GOP Governors vowing to cut funding to the state if it didn't comply with his executive order The very next day on Feb during a bipartisan meeting of governors Trump threatened to cut federal funding right to Mills' face when she explained she wouldn't comply Earlier that morning Makin sent a mass email to her Maine Department of Teaching colleagues outlining impending defiance of Trump's executive order disregarding his threats of federal funding cuts Last night the President directly referenced the State of Maine declaring his plan to withhold Federal funding from Maine because of reports that a transgender athlete is allowed to compete in high school sports the email read giving more instructions to follow the Maine Human Rights Act There are plenty of congressional impediments and checks and balances of establishment that should prevent the president from acting on his announcement That same day the superintendent of the school district that Greely High School is a part of MSAD 's Jeff Porter reached directly out to Makin asking if the state would be changing its policies to follow Trump's executive order Makin's response was redacted upon a society records request In the waning hours of that afternoon on the st of February the U S Department of Training declared it would be launching a Title IX inquiry against the state MAINE TEENS BATTLING STATE DEMOCRATS ON GIRLS' SPORTS BILL AFTER ENDURING TRANS ATHLETE CHAOS IN HIGH SCHOOLIn the first week of March Makin was involved in an email chain with the Maine Guidance director of communications and director of special projects after an employee at Freeport High School sent a request for Makin Freeport High School's girls' track group came in second place to Greely High School at the girls' track and field championships that the trans athlete competed in The trans athlete's pole vault domination was pivotal in deciding the unit finishes However the Freeport employee didn't appear to directly reference that matter in the email Plenty of educators are shaken and feeling vulnerable the employee wrote Hearing from you that we will stand together as a society would be a gift to Maine educators I would like to hear in particular that the Maine DOE will offer aid to any school or district targeted for inquiry as a outcome of reports of divisive ideologies and indoctrination or illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning The email also referenced an apparent video Makin delivered at the start of the COVID- pandemic in which the employee states helped boost morale The Mentoring director of Special Projects wrote in correspondence with Makin while discussing whether to honor the request that they had received another request from Freeport My vote is that the field necessities to hear from you they need reassurance from their leader and the silence is not helpful we got another one over weekend from Freeport the director of special projects wrote However the director of communication argued that more responsibility should land directly with Mills to communicate with the schools My opinion is that a bigger conversation with the Governor s Office regarding communication to the field could be beneficial to us all the director of communication wrote Makin responded writing None of that could be done without the governor's office first giving approval I hope they will allow her to do something before she gets to the TOY Gala on Saturday It is unclear if Makin or Mills ever ended up fulfilling the Freeport employee's request The past conflict involving the Greely High School athlete had a wide-ranging ripple effect on the state's congress Maine GOP state Rep Laurel Libby was censured by the Democrat majority for a social media post that publicized the Greely apprentice who won the girls' pole vault title in February Libby later filed a lawsuit that went all the way up to the Supreme Court over the censure The Supreme Court ordered the state legislature to restore Libby's voting rights in May However her speaking rights were still withheld until Maine House Assistant Majority Leader Lori Gramlich a Democrat proposed Libby's speaking rights be restored on June The resolution passed by a whopping vote of - despite previously voting - to censure Libby months earlier Emails obtained by Fox News Digital from Gramlich's inbox show multiple self-described Democrat Libby constituents lambasting her and the party's handling of Libby's censure before Gramlich I am a lifelong Democrat who first worked for Eugen McCarthy's Presidential bid one email wrote to Gramlich Fecteau later adding Depriving Libby of her voice and her vote does not punish her She and the GOP love it Depriving her of her voice and vote is unethical as it punishes her constituents You have removed MY representative in the house Depriving Libby of her voice and vote is the best thing that can happen to her in a long time She is advancing her society profile dramatically not just locally but statewide and nationally by playing the victim and claiming the role of protector of girls and women Another email from another of Libby's constituents wrote I believe that supporting women in administration must include supporting women with differing opinions Silencing an elected official for expressing a viewpoint even a controversial one sets a concerning precedent for both free speech and fair representation Fox News Digital has reached out to Gramlich's and Fecteau's offices to ask why they voted to restore Libby's speaking rights On June Libby and the Maine AG's office agreed to drop the censure lawsuit Libby provided a announcement to Fox News Digital one day earlier on June addressing her decision not to contest the AG ruling her lawsuit moot after her rights were restored While the Attorney General now insists this incident is moot make no mistake this is only because House Democrats backed down in the face of legal defeat They rescinded the unconstitutional restrictions on my voting and speaking rights and more importantly they ve put in writing that those restrictions cannot be reimposed for the same reasons in the future Libby declared I will not contest the AG s mootness argument but only because the constitutional rights of my constituents have now been restored and the leadership has formally abandoned the punishment they once insisted was justified The state is now in a lawsuit against the DOJ after refusing to make an agreement to comply with Trump's demands on protecting girls' sports Residents organized multiple protests and marches on the state's capitol building in Augusta over the issue wielding signs that echoed the messages of a national movement to save girls' sports Various of the protesters were girls' high school sports athletes like Himes who marched on the capital to lobby for a state-level bill to keep girls' sports exclusively female in early May Trump's administration made multiple funding pauses to the state over the issue of trans athletes which were later rescinded The first was to the state's university system UMS on March That pause ended after a Title IX compliance review The second pause came on April when the U S Department of Agriculture cut funding to all Maine society schools That pause ended on May Amid the chaos chosen school districts in the state even went out of their way to defy Mills and Makin to comply with Trump on the issue MSAD in mid-April and RSU in early May each passed localized resolutions that ensured only females were allowed in girls' sports Still the state's high school sports season in saw another transgender athlete for North Yarmouth Academy compete against girls in Nordic skiing and track and field The state's tornado of national attention came to a lull in early June when the school year and high school sports season ended The trans athlete for Greely High School that thrust the state into chaos months earlier did not show up to compete in the girls' state finals on June Now the state has a fall sports season to worry about in the coming months and a trial date with the DOJ in January as the state's Democratic leaders remain defiant of Trump All the while evidence suggests the state's residents don't aid current policies A survey by the American Parents Coalition exposed that out of about registered Maine voters revealed school sports participation should be based on biological sex and agreed it is only fair to restrict women s sports to biological women The poll also identified that of residents would help a ballot measure limiting participation in women s and girls' sports to biological females This included of independents and of parents with children under age The Maine Department of Guidance is captured by activists who want to project their troubling ideology onto children regardless of the unfairness or even danger this poses to young girls If Maine s authorities truly cared about their athletes they would have already reversed module years ago Unfortunately this is about pushing a dangerous ideology above all else Defending Education's Casey Ryan explained Fox News Digital of his opinion on Makin's handling of the situation Defending Tuition Outreach Director Erika Sanzi notified Fox News Digital It's bad enough when an individual school is teeming with gender ideologues but when the state's department of teaching is also overrun with these activists the well-being of students is at much greater pitfall Now more than five months after Makin's initial guidance to Maine schools to defy Trump the state's conflict with the White House may only just be beginning And that defiance may not have even represented the desires of the bulk Mainers to begin with Additionally because of that defiance that Makin helped stoke initially Libby's rise could foreshadow a wide-ranging impact on the state's political balance of power in the midterms and Maine's gubernatorial electoral contest Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter