In the coverage regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s new investigation into Maine schools based on allegations about transgender policies, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said she was concerned “to hear” about how teachers were “reportedly” encouraging and helping students to undergo so-called “gender transitions” without notifying parents.

In our part of the Midcoast we’ve been here before. Unsubstantiated reports came with dangerous consequences. Your story mentioned that, two years ago, a Lincoln County mother sued her child’s school district alleging that employees supported her child’s gender identity without the parent’s knowledge. What is not mentioned is how the school in question was forced to shut down not once but twice in a month because of bomb threats made to the school, based solely on such allegations and speculation. The reality of a bomb threat in our quiet town was profoundly shocking to me.

The morning of the first threat I was driving to the local Y next door to the middle school, only to encounter a swarm of emergency vehicles surrounding the area, with the school’s students evacuated to the safety of the Y. When I asked a friend what was happening, this gentleman — someone dedicated to conservative news sources — told me he knew all about the cause based on reporting on a Maine conservative news site. When I looked into the news source in question, it was clear the initial reports were biased, sensationalized and intended to provoke outrage. Sound familiar?

What is more threatening to our local communities, supporting a students’ individual choice and respecting gender identity, or threats of violence? The madness of making anyone pawns in this fear-mongering, especially our children, must stop.

John Adams
Nobleboro