An educational technician in Saco, Maine, has resigned from her position after she was allegedly instructed to refer to a female colleague using male pronouns and to enforce the practice with the disabled students under her care. The employee, Lauren Grenier, stated she was forced out of her job at C.K. Burns School due to her beliefs.
Grenier detailed her experience during a Saco School Board meeting, explaining that the situation escalated after she also reported concerns about her colleague's professional conduct and an alleged unsafe physical restraint of a student. She claims the district prioritized an investigation into her pronoun usage over the student safety issue.
Key Takeaways
- Lauren Grenier, an ed-tech for disabled students, resigned from Saco's C.K. Burns School.
- She objected to a directive to call a female coworker "Mr. Kai" and use male pronouns.
- Grenier expressed concern that this would confuse students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- She also reported alleged professional misconduct and an unsafe student restraint by the same coworker.
- Grenier claims school officials interrogated her about pronouns instead of addressing the reported safety violation, leading to her resignation.
Pronoun Directive Creates Conflict
Lauren Grenier was starting her fourth year as an educational technician, working specifically with students with disabilities. The conflict began when a new female colleague, hired under the name "Naomi," requested to be addressed as "Mr. Kai" and with male pronouns by both staff and students.
Grenier noted that the colleague appeared biologically female, had not undergone any visible medical transition, and continued to use women's restrooms. While Grenier said she was willing to use the name "Kai," she raised concerns about compelling students with developmental disabilities to use male pronouns for someone they perceived as female.
"Forcing them to deny what they clearly see is not inclusion, it’s betrayal," Grenier stated during her address to the school board.
She worried that explaining the pronoun directive would require her to introduce complex gender ideology concepts to children who process information differently. According to Grenier, when she confided in her case manager, she was told she must use the preferred pronouns and serve as an example for the students.
"I was further instructed that I must correct children with intellectual and developmental disabilities who naturally use she/her pronouns, and tell them that they were wrong," she explained to the board.
Concerns Over Colleague's Conduct
Beyond the pronoun issue, Grenier reported what she described as unprofessional and concerning behavior from her new colleague. She alleged that the coworker was frequently distracted, using her phone to watch anime instead of supervising students.
Role of an Educational Technician
Educational technicians, or ed-techs, often work in special education settings to provide direct support to students with various needs. Their responsibilities include assisting with instruction, managing classroom behavior, and ensuring a safe learning environment under the supervision of a lead teacher or case manager.
Grenier also described the colleague's interactions with students as impatient and sometimes harsh. She cited an instance where the coworker allegedly pulled markers directly from a disabled child's hands. Grenier stated that she brought these behavioral concerns to her superiors multiple times but felt no action was taken.
The situation reached a critical point when Grenier formally told her case manager she would not enforce the male pronoun usage with her students. This decision prompted school administrators to schedule a meeting.
Meeting and Alleged Student Restraint
On September 16, Grenier was informed by Principal April Noble that a meeting would be held that day to discuss the pronoun disagreement. A union representative was scheduled to be present. Grenier said she initially welcomed the meeting as an opportunity to explain her perspective.
However, events took a turn just before the meeting was set to begin. Grenier reported witnessing the colleague in question perform what she believed was an "illegal restraint" on a student. She immediately reported the incident to her superiors.
"Just minutes before the meeting, I witnessed what I believe was an illegal restraint on a student. Another colleague described the staff member as ‘hauling’ on that child... I personally saw what I believe was an unsafe and unauthorized hold, and I reported it truthfully," Grenier said at the board meeting.
Grenier expected the meeting about pronouns to be postponed in light of the serious safety allegation. Instead, she claims she was brought into the scheduled meeting less than 15 minutes after reporting the physical incident.
Investigation Focus
According to Grenier, the meeting was attended by Saco Schools Director of Operations Chris Indorf. She alleges that instead of discussing the student safety report, Indorf repeatedly questioned her on how she could be certain her female colleague was, in fact, female. She said she was not informed that the meeting was a formal investigation until it was halfway through.
Resignation and Public Statement
Feeling that her concerns for student safety were ignored in favor of an interrogation about her beliefs, Grenier submitted her resignation that evening. The coworker at the center of the complaints also resigned on the same day.
Grenier told the school board that she felt the district's priority was not student welfare. "Instead of addressing a clear safety violation, district leadership interrogated me about pronouns," she said. "This meeting could have and should have been postponed. But it wasn’t. The truth was clear; protecting students... was not the priority. Silencing me was."
She concluded her public remarks by stating that the coworker was allowed to resign quietly without any public acknowledgment of the alleged harm. Grenier expressed a desire to continue working with children but said she could not do so within a school system that she feels forces compliance on ideological grounds.
"I was interrogated, intimidated, and ultimately forced out for my beliefs," Grenier stated. "This is not accountability, this is upside down. This is wrong, and parents deserve to know the truth."
