The perseverance of a teenage student at Washington Academy, her family and other supporters to address racist behavior at the private school in East Machias has led to a new state law that requires the town academies in Maine to meet the same requirements as public schools, in particular safety requirements aimed at preventing bullying or racist actions. The experience, though, has taken a toll on the family, which has had to leave the state for their own safety.
     The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Rebecca Millett of South Portland, comments, "The passage of this bill recognizes that schools that have a majority or more of publicly funded students should be held to the same standards as our public schools and the students deserve the same protections." Natalia Kempthorne-Curiel and her parents, Nathan and Esther Kempthorne, were the prime movers for getting the law passed. Rep. Millett notes, "The change that relates most to the Kempthornes is that 60/40 schools will have to meet the same health and safety requirements of public schools - so the schools would need to have policies on hazing and bullying and persons on school grounds may not engage in bullying."
     The private schools like WA that enroll at least 60% publicly funded students are referred to as 60/40 schools. According to the Maine Department of Education (MDOE), the percentage of publicly funded students at Maine's private schools is actually nearly 90%.
     During the public hearing on the bill, LD 1672, by the legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee on May 13, representatives from numerous private academies had testified vigorously in opposition to the bill, and that opposition continued during the consideration of the measure by the House and Senate. During the Senate's debate on the legislation on June 14, Senator Rick Bennett of Oxford argued against the bill, stating it "could be destructive to some of the most storied institutions that we have across Maine." Bennett, whose district includes Fryeburg, also read a statement from Erin Mayo, head of school at Fryeburg Academy, in opposition to the bill.
     Among those speaking in support were Senator Mattie Daughtry of Brunswick, who said the heart of the bill is that it would provide equal access to education for all students. The bill had been amended in committee to add that if public funding supports more than 85% of a private schools' students and the students in the municipality where the school is located do not have school choice, the private school must enroll all students from that municipality, including those with disabilities. During the committee hearing, Dan Walker, an attorney with Preti Flaherty representing the Maine Association of Independent Schools, which opposed the bill, admitted that there are situations in which private schools do not accept students.
     Senator Craig Hickman of Winthrop told Senate President Troy Jackson during the Senate's deliberations that the reasons for the bill "are so perverse that if I read them here you'd gavel me into silence." He added, "This bill is about accountability."
     Senator Bennett's motion on June 16 to indefinitely postpone the bill failed by a vote of 16 to 18, and the bill became law on June 30 without the governor's signature.

Taking a stand
     To address the racism and bullying she experienced and witnessed at WA, Natalia Kempthorne-Curiel last year had started a petition for change at the school. In addition, her mother Esther, a naturalized immigrant from Mexico who had been a Spanish teacher at the school for five years, resigned her position following a number of racist incidents that culminated with the finding of a noose in her classroom. In response to the petition for change, the bill proposal and other actions, during the past year WA has taken a number of steps to ensure equity, inclusion and diversity at the school.
     During the hearing on the bill, Nathan Kempthorne had related how his daughters had reported extensive racial discrimination at the school but had received little response, including from the MDOE, the Maine Attorney General's Office and law enforcement agencies. "We lost everything in your state," he told the committee, "and we left for our own safety. Our children are completely traumatized. All we're asking for is for the first time in 227 years you hold taxpayer-funded schools to the same standards" as public schools.
     Esther Kempthorne relates, "This horrible experience has been devastating psychologically, emotionally and the full impact has not yet been felt and continues every day. This is particularly devastating as parents as we see the trauma that our children will carry for the rest of their lives." And her husband observes, "We could have lived anywhere in the country, but we chose to live in Maine, which was a horrible mistake, and our children have paid dearly. Besides a tiny group of true friends, the community at large abandoned us immediately or actively attacked us for standing up."
     The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Millett, comments, "Clearly the Kempthornes, as well as members of their community who supported them, deserve a great deal of credit for insisting that action be taken to help prevent future students and families from having to endure their experience."
     Nathan Kempthorne observes that the new law "would have never happened without the work our daughter, Natalia Kempthorne Curiel, took on at barely 16 years of age. She took an extremely brave stand against racial discrimination, and her courage inspired us to sacrifice everything to make positive change in Maine. She and her sister, Kiara, are truly amazing young Americans, and we couldn't be prouder of them."
     His wife Esther comments, "The enactment of LD 1672 is monumental in the expansion of health and safety protections" and other requirements. However, Nathan points out that the new protections are only as effective as their enforcement. If the MDOE, the media and schools do not inform students and staff of these new protections, little will change, he says. The family is relieved that the new law does provide a new legal framework for attorneys to leverage in future fights for children and staff and removes the legal ambiguity that private schools have leveraged against students and staff in the past.
     But while the family is pleased that the state did enact a new law to help protect students at private schools, they are still dismayed by the lack of response they received from numerous agencies and officials. According to Nathan Kempthorne, a Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request revealed internal emails indicating that the Maine Attorney General's Office did not investigate the allegations of racism at the school and that the Washington County legislators "did the bare minimum in response to the dozens of requests for support. None spoke publicly about what occurred without prodding by the press or made public statements in support of our family."
     Emails from Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin state that she did listen to the Kempthornes' complaints, but she advised them that "the allegations to date do not support the elements of a violation under the Maine Civil Rights Act," which prohibits violence, threats of violence or property damage based on bias against race.
     Nathan Kempthorne also notes that in the emails the family received from the Attorney General's Office they learned that as of April the Machias Police Department did not have a trained civil rights officer, which would have been their conduit for reporting civil rights violations at the state level. He comments, "Until the community demands change, the failures of the weak and ineffective local and state government will continue to put BIPOC, LGBTQ, immigrants and other marginalized people at risk in the community for the foreseeable future."

MDOE to develop new requirements
     According to Kelli Deveaux, director of communications for the Maine Department of Education, the department now will develop the required procedures for private schools to meet the law's health and safety requirement. The law will not become effective until 90 days after the close of the session, which is after the start of the 2021 2022 school year. Thus the new requirements will not be included in the MDOE's annual school approval process for schools this year but will be established in preparation for the 2022 2023 school year approval process.
     However, on May 24 the MDOE did issue a priority notice to private schools in the state noting its requirements, including some changes for this year. All schools seeking to be approved as a private school for attendance and tuition purposes by the MDOE need to provide current staff information, including certification and criminal history record checks for all staff. Also, schools enrolling 60% or more publicly funded students need to provide attendance data for publicly funded students and documentation that the school curriculum is in alignment with the state's learning results.
     According to the MDOE, private town academies have had a varying number of teachers who are not certified by the state or whose certificate is for a different grade level. The department reportedly had threatened to withhold state subsidy funds from WA in the past, when 17 teachers there had no teaching certificate or were teaching outside of their certified area of expertise.
     Additionally, for the 2021 2022 approval cycle, the private schools need to provide a statement summarizing how the school participates in the Maine Learning Results and commit to participating in the statewide assessment program for publicly funded students. According to Eileen King, deputy executive director of the Maine School Management Association, the town academies have not been required to take a state assessment or report attendance and graduation rates, so sending districts do not know the impact their public funds are having upon the education of their students.
     Deveaux says the recent updates to the annual approval process "were created to better align the basic school approval and the approval for receipt of public funds processes and timelines, and to clarify existing requirements that are in statute as it relates to curriculum and assessment."