Maine’s chief of education told state schools that ignore Trump’s executive orders, emails show

EXCLUSIVE: The emails provided to News Digital Show of the Department of Education of Maine, Pender Makin Makin writing motorcycles for all the state’s school districts after President Donald Trump began making executive orders addressing public education.

The first months of Trump’s second mandate saw a very public dispute with Maine Janet Mills’s governor on the topic of Trans Athletas in girls’ sports.

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Makin seemed repeatedly to undermine the impact of Trump’s orders on the educational protocols of the State in emails and memoranda

“Dear Education Champions, as executive orders continue to flow from DC, there is a growing erroneous information, misinformation and confusion that impact our schools,” Makin’s draft read a memorandum for all state superintendents, in an email on January 28, which was provided to News Digital by the group that defends education.

“Last week, we advise schools to adhere to the Maine Human Rights Law and the local school policies related to non -discrimination. We encourage you to continue to keep all safe persons and reiterate the fact that, at present, our state law or their local policies are diminished by executive orders that direct the action at the federal level.”

He continued: “Most executive orders belong to federal agencies and federal laws on which Maine Doe has no authority.”

Two days later, Makin corresponded to the assistant attorney general of Maine Sarah Forster, with a draft of a memorandum to schools. The note included orders to avoid complying with Trump’s “radical drive at the K-12 school”, executive order.

“… This Eo does not change anything for Maine’s schools,” he wrote part of an email discussed by the memorandum. Memorandum draft said that “Maine’s schools should continue to follow the laws of our State and the provisions within their local policies.”

In Makin’s email, he suggested cutting paragraphs of the memorandum that summarized the real objectives of the executive order outside the memorandum.

Then, in an email of January 31, Makin wrote another memorandum to Superintendents and School Leaders who are addressed to the Executive Order.

“The Executive Order does not alter the obligations of schools under state law, including Maine’s Human Rights Law, and does not require any immediate change to the policies of the school board adopted locally,” reads the memorandum.

Maine became one of the first states to challenge the executive order to “keep men out of women’s sports” by President Donald Trump.

When challenging the executive order to “keep men out of Trump’s women’s sports, after signing on February 5, the State allowed its Winter Girls athletics season” to conclude with an infamous podium.

A transgender athlete from Grelyly High School won the first place in the state -of -the -law women’s pole jumping championship on February 17.

“I saw this male pole jumper stand on the podium and we were all as if we were as if we were quite sure that she is not a girl. There is no way that she is a girl,” said the athlete on the girls of presque girls isle High School, Hailey Himes, News Digital. “It was really discouraging, especially for girls on the podium not first. So that motivated me to fight for them.”

The incident quickly pushed the State to national attention on the issue. An email of February 19, which was sent between two members of the Association of the Principal of Maine (MPA), whose names were written at the request of public records, mentioned another order that was sent from the department of Makin to all Maine schools.

“The MPA is following the priority notice of the Department of Education of Maine that was sent on January 21, 2025, instructing all the schools in Maine to follow Maine’s Human Rights Law,” Email, which had the “Title IX” subject line, reading. The same message was distributed in another email among state education officials, whose identities were written in a request for public records, in early March.

Trump made a point on February 20 to call Maine for allowing “men in women’s sports” during a governors of the Republican Party of the White House, promising to reduce funds to the state if he did not comply with his executive order. The next day, on February 21, during a bipartisan meeting of governors, Trump threatened to reduce Federal Law to Mills’s face when he said he would not comply.

Earlier that morning, Makin sent a mass email to his colleagues from the Department of Education of Maine, describing the imminent challenge of Trump’s executive order, without taking into account his threats of federal fund cuts.

“Last night, the president referred directly to the state of Maine, declaring his plan to retain federal funds from Maine due to the reports that a transgender athlete can compete in high school sports,” said email, giving more instructions to follow Maine’s Human Rights Law.

“There are many barriers and controls of Congress and government balances that should prevent the president from acting in his statement.”

That same day, the Superintendent of the school district of which Grelyly High School is part of Jeff Porter of Msad #51, arrived directly to Makin, asking if the State would change its policies to follow Trump’s executive order. Makin’s response was written in a request for public records.

In the waning hours of that afternoon on February 21, the United States Department of Education announced that it would launch an investigation of Title IX against the State.

Maine’s adolescents fighting state democrats in the Girls Sports Law project after supporting trans athlete chaos in high school

Intensified tension over the following weeks

In the first week of March, Makin participated in an email chain with Maine’s Director of Education Communications, and special project director, after a Freeport High School employee sent a Makin request.

Freeport High School’s female athletics team arrived second at Grelyly High School in the female athletics championships in which the Trans athlete competed. However, Freeport’s employee did not seem to refer directly to that incident in email.

“Many educators are shaken and feel vulnerable,” the employee wrote.

“Listening to you that we will join as a community would be a gift for Maine educators. I would like to know in particular that Maine’s DOE will offer support to any school or district aimed at research as a result of reports of ‘divisive ideologies and indoctrination’ or ‘illegal discriminatory practices in learning institutions’.”

The email also referred to an apparent video video delivered at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which the employee affirmed helped to increase morality.

The director of Special Project Education wrote, in correspondence with Makin while arguing whether to honor the application, which had received another request from Freeport.

“My vote is that the field needs to know about you … They need tranquility of your leader and silence is not useful … we got another during the Freeport weekend,” wrote the director of special projects.

However, the communication director argued that more responsibility should land directly with Mills to communicate with schools.

“My opinion is that a larger conversation with the governor’s office regarding communication to the field could be beneficial for all of us,” wrote the communication director.

Makin replied, writing “none of that could be done without the [governor’s office] First giving approval … I hope you allow you to do something before reaching the Toy Gala on Saturday. ”

It is not clear if Makin or Mills ended up complying with the request of the Freeport employee.

Behind the scene of Laurel Libby censorship

The past controversy that involved the athlete of the Greels high school had a wide domain effect on the State Congress. The state representative of the Republican Party of Maine, Laurel Libby, was censored by the Democratic majority for a publication on the social networks that publicized the Greels student who won the girl’s pole jump title in the girls in February.

Libby then filed a lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court for censorship.

The Supreme Court ordered the state legislature to restore Libby’s voting rights in May. However, his oratory rights were still retained until the leader of the assistant majority of the House of Representatives of Maine, Lori Gramlich, a Democrat, proposed that Libby’s speech rights be restored on June 25. The resolution approved by a 115-16 vote, despite previously vote 75-70 to censor Libby months before.

The emails obtained by News Digital of the Gramlich input tray show multiple Democratic components of self -domicted Libby that criticizes and the management of the Libby censorship party before Gramlich.

“I am a lifelong Democrat who worked for the first time for the presidential offer of Eugen McCarthy,” he wrote an email to Gramlich, Fecteau, and then added: “Depriving Libby of her voice and her vote does not punish her. She and the Republican party love him …

“Depriving her of her voice and vote is not ethical, since she punishes her constituents. You have eliminated my representative in the Chamber. Inviving Libby of her voice and vote is the best thing that can happen in a long time. She is dramatically moving her public profile, not only locally but at the national level and national level by interpreting the victim and claiming the role of the protectors of the girls and women.”

Another email from another of Libby’s components wrote: “I think that supporting women in the government must include supporting women with different opinions. Silence an elected official for expressing a point of view, including a controversial, establishes a precedent for both freedom of expression and fair representation.”

News Digital has communicated with the Gramlich and Fecteau offices to ask why they voted to restore Libby’s speech rights.

On June 8, Libby and Maine Ag office agreed to eliminate demand for censorship. Libby provided a statement to News Digital one day before, on June 7, addressing its decision not to dispute the AG that governs its demand arguing after their rights were restored.

“While the attorney general now states that this case is debatable, it is not wrong, this is only because the Democrats of the House of Representatives retreated against the legal defeat. They rescinded the unconstitutional restrictions on my voting and speech rights, and what is more important, they have put in writing that these restrictions cannot be reimputed for the same reasons in the future,” Libby said.

“I will not dispute the argument of the argu discussion, but just 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 damage was already done to the political panorama of the State.

The State is now in U Na demand against the Department of Justice after refusing to reach an agreement to meet Trump’s demands to protect girls’ sports.

The residents organized multiple protests and marches in the building of the State Capitol in Augusta on the subject, handling signs that echoed the messages of a national movement to “save the sports of the girls.” Many of the protesters were sports athletes of the high school of girls like HIMES, who marched on the capital to press for a bill at the state level to maintain the sports of exclusively feminine girls in early May.

The Trump administration made multiple financing pauses to the State on the issue of trans athletes, which were later rescinded. The first was for the State University System, UMS on March 11. That pause ended after a review review of Title IX. The second pause occurred on April 2, when the United States Department of Agriculture reduced funds for all Maine public schools. That pause ended on May 2.

In the midst of chaos, some school districts in the state even did everything possible to challenge Mills and Makin, to meet Trump on the subject.

MSAD #70, in mid -April, and RSU #24, at the beginning of May, each approved located resolutions that claimed that only women were allowed in girls’ sports.

Even so, the sports season of the state high school in 2025 saw another transgender athlete for the North Yarmouth Academy compete against girls in skiing and Nordic athletics.

The National State Attention Tornado arrived at a pause in early June when the school year and the sports school of high school ended. The Trans athlete of Grelyly High School that pushed the state to chaos months before it did not appear to compete in the state finals of the girls on June 10.

Now, the State has an autumn sports season to worry about in the coming months and a trial date with the Department of Justice in January, since the state’s democratic leaders are still challenging from Trump. All the time, the data suggests that state residents do not admit current policies.

TO survey The coalition of American parents discovered that about 600 registered voters of Maine, 63% said that school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed that it is “just restricting women’s sports to biological women.”

The survey also found that 60% of residents would admit a voting measure that limits participation in Women and girls sports for biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with children under 18.

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“The Department of Education of Maine is captured by activists who wish to project their worrying ideology in children, regardless of injustice or even the danger that this poses to girls.

The director of Dissemination of Defense Education, Erika Sanzi, told News Digital, “It is quite bad when an individual school is full of gender ideologues, but when the State Education Department is also invaded by these activists, students’ well -being has a much greater risk. “

Now, more than five months after Makin’s initial guide to Maine schools to challenge Trump, the state conflict with the White House can only begin. And that challenge may not have represented the wishes of most of the main ones to begin with.

In addition, due to that challenge that Makin helped Stake initially, the rise of Libby could presage a broad impact on the political balance of the State on the intermediate people of 2026 and the election of Governor of Maine.

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