School social worker gives breast binder to 13-year-old girl, tells her to keep it secret, mom says
A social worker at a public school accused of secretly giving a breast binder to a 13-year-old student without her mother's consent only has a conditional license to practice in Maine.
Amber Lavigne, whose daughter attends Great Salt Bay Community School in Damariscotta, Maine, claimed during a school board meeting last week that the social worker told her daughter to keep the breast binder a secret from her mother. Lavigne found the breast binder in her daughter’s bedroom a few weeks before the school board meeting.
Breast binders are often used by girls who identify as boys to flatten their breasts. The potential side effects of wearing a binder include breathing difficulties, breast tissue damage, and cracked ribs.
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School Superintendent Lynsey Johnson appeared to address the mother’s allegations and defended the school's actions in a public statement on Monday, noting that the school board’s “first priority is always to provide a safe, welcoming and inclusive educational environment for all students and staff.”
Johnson explained that the administration follows “specific policies and procedures” after receiving concerns from parents and students. The superintendent asserted that these policies align with state law, which ensures “equal access” to education and students’ privacy rights, regardless of age or gender identity.
“The Board is aware that rumors and allegations have been published and republished on various social media platforms relating to this issue,” Johnson wrote. “While it is unfortunate that some individuals have sought to use this issue to try and divide our community, as a Board, we are committed not only to following Maine law but also honoring our school’s core values, and focusing on treating each other with dignity and respect.”
The superintendent stated that the board continues to work with parents, staff and law enforcement to secure a “safe educational and working environment” for students.
As The Maine Wire reported Saturday, the mother alleged that the social worker, Samuel Roy, and other staff members started encouraging her daughter to identify as the opposite sex in October without her knowledge or consent. The social worker and school staff also reportedly addressed Lavigne’s daughter with masculine pronouns without the mother knowing.
Lavigne claims that while she knew her daughter was seeing a social worker, she has never met Roy. The mother said that Roy supplied her daughter with a breast binder after meeting with the 13-year-old for less than two weeks.
According to records obtained by the outlet and a now-deleted LinkedIn page, Roy is a graduate student from the University of Maine with a conditional license to work as a social worker.
Roy began working at the Damanscottia-based public school in the fall, and he is expected to graduate next year with a master’s degree in social work. However, records show that he passed his master's exam in June.
The Great Salt Bay Community School and the district's superintendent did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
In October, a group of detransitioners spoke at a school board meeting in California to raise concerns about public schools encouraging students to make longterm and “irreversible” decisions about their bodies.
The three young adults who formerly identified as transgender spoke at the Conejo Valley Unified School District's board meeting in Ventura County, California. The trio’s stories were shared on Twitter by DeTrans United, a support group founded by Chloe Cole, one of the detransitioners.
Cole shared that her discomfort with her biological sex made her decide that she “wanted to become a boy.” In addition to wearing boys’ clothes, she adopted a boy’s name. As a teenager, she also started taking puberty blockers at age 13, and at age 16, Cole had her breasts amputated.
The double mastectomy took place six months after Cole received a referral for the elective procedure. The young woman lamented the lack of time she had to consider the decision.
“I will not be able to breastfeed any children I have in the future and my sexuality has permanently been affected because I was allowed to make adult decisions starting at 13, and then again at 15. This is what happens when children are sexualized and exposed to developmentally inappropriate and confusing content and ideas from a young age. This is what happens when we treat children like adults and expect them to have the mental faculties for proper long-term decision making.”
In her testimony to the school board, Cole concluded: “You are placing children in direct harm. Children deserve better.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follower her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
