A coastal Maine school district voted Thursday to reinstate a policy to help transgender students feel more comfortable at school.

The action reversed a June vote in which the board rescinded the policy, which requires school staff to address a student by the names and pronouns they use at school.

It also permits students to use the restroom and locker room that most closely matches their gender identity. If a student has not told their parents about their gender identity at school, an administrator will talk to the student “to avoid inadvertently putting the student at risk by contacting” their parent or guardian, according to the policy. 

The 9-6 vote in Regional School Unit 40, which covers Friendship, Union, Waldoboro, Warren and Washington, followed about an hour of debate.

Opponents raised several procedural questions about whether the vote complied with typical meeting rules. Board Chairman Danny Jackson repeatedly read from Robert’s Rules of Order to demonstrate — in his opinion— that the board had the power to reinstate the policy, rather than needing to start from scratch.

Board member Naomi Aho said there are already school policies in place to protect students from bullying and harassment and that she considers the transgender policy redundant.

“We are not the only school in the world here without this policy,” she said. “I did a tremendous amount of research and out of 224 school districts in the state of Maine only 17% have this policy. Most of the schools in Maine don’t have it.”

On the other side, board member Leah Shipps said she’s heard from students, teachers and guidance counselors that the policy is needed.

“I think it’s important we have a policy in place when students come back to school,” she said.