The Winthrop School Board will move ahead with plans to rewrite a policy so that transgender students would be prohibited from playing sports and using facilities that align with their gender identity, despite hearing from several people that the change will put students at risk.

After the board heard from several students speaking on both sides of the issue Wednesday night, board member Libby Wright sought to delay until November any board action on the proposal to have Superintendent Becky Foley rewrite Winthrop’s transgender student policy.

In November, Mainers are expected to vote in a statewide referendum that would ban transgender students from sports teams, bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, although that vote does face a legal challenge.

Wright urged board members to listen to the several students, parents and residents who spoke against changing the policy, especially because it could get the schools into a lawsuit and also because doing so would discriminate against transgender students, in violation of state law.

Her fellow board members rejected her proposal to delay implementing the policy until after the November election.

Several past and present Winthrop students spoke out on both sides of the issue.

John Ellis, a lifelong resident and 2022 Winthrop graduate, who said his transition as a transgender man began when he was in middle school, said he was the one who was harassed, who feared danger while going to the bathroom, not his cisgender peers. He urged board members to reconsider their vote and continue to allow transgender students to play sports with the gender with which they align.

“It wasn’t other kids who had concerns about using the bathroom, it was me,” Ellis said. “I was the one who was harassed. That is the reality of trying to exist as a trans student. I and others are far from the boogeymen some try to make us out to be. Trans kids just want to move through schools, just like their peers.”

Student-athlete Sophie Shuman, one of several students to speak in favor of banning trans athletes from competing against girls, said girls’ teams were created due to the physical differences between them and boys. She said girls competing against boys is unfair, and girls should not have to sacrifice their safety to compete in sports. She also said girls don’t feel comfortable with males in spaces like bathrooms.

Multiple school administrators said their schools have not had any problems involving transgender students. Joel Stoneton, athletic director, said Winthrop High School hasn’t had a transgender student athlete in the 12 years he’s been in his job.

Principals of all three Winthrop schools said they don’t currently have any transgender students in their schools. But they do have single-person bathrooms available for students to use.

Lori Smail, middle school principal, said in the past the school had a transgender student, which caused no issues.

“We worked with parents, staff, and the student and made accommodations everyone felt comfortable with,” Smail said.

She said the school already offers students private areas for changing clothes and showering.

Last month, the board voted unanimously to rewrite the schools’ policies to prohibit transgender students from playing sports and using facilities that align with their gender identity. Transgender students would still be allowed to play sports on teams that align with their biological sex.

However, since that meeting, school officials acknowledged they made a mistake in voting to have the policy changed without providing advance notice to residents or others who might have thoughts to share before the controversial proposal went to a vote.

The motion was unanimously adopted by school board members that night.

Board members then faced criticism, from parents, residents and at least one town councilor, for how they handled the vote.

They also said Winthrop could be sued by the Maine Human Rights Commission, as several other Maine school districts have been already, if it revises its transgender students policy so that it conflicts with state anti-discrimination rules. And they noted defending the school system against a lawsuit, over an issue that may become settled by the state referendum anyway, could be pointless and costly, at a time when budgets are tight.

Board Chairperson Alicia Lawson acknowledged she should have placed that item on a future agenda, so everyone would know the issue would be discussed and could be voted on. And, after the outcry, the issue was placed on Wednesday’s school board agenda, for further discussion and possible action on reconsidering the prior vote.

However, the other board members voted down Wright’s motion.

Tim Wess, the board member who made the motion to rewrite the policy in early March, said Wednesday while the vote was flawed, it was still legal and should stand.

“To me it’s about fairness, I believe girls need to be protected and they have that right, to their own spaces, and their own sports,” Wess said.

Board members did agree to delay the policy change, but only slightly; the policy proposal will now go back to the board for a vote on June 3 instead of May 6. Foley said she and the policy committee needed more time to draft a policy, noting she hopes to come up with a policy that won’t result in the schools being sued.