Father, attorney blast Maine school district that banned him from meetings: 'Power drunk'

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Maine father fights critical race theory in his daughters' school district: 'I got pushed, and I pushed back'

Shawn McBreairty, a parent of twin girls, said he was banned from their graduation over objections to critical race theory being taught in their school, telling 'The Faulkner Focus' that 'we need education, not indoctrination.'

A Maine father who spoke out against sexualized library books in local schools won an injunctive relief against the school district after it banned him from attending all functions.

Shawn McBreairty of Penobscot County, Maine, recently took the mic to sound off on library books including "The Other Boy," the story of a 12-year-old who tries to conceal from his family that he is transgender, and "All Boys Aren't Blue," which has been removed from libraries in multiple states for reported "sexually graphic material." 

Regional School Unit 22 explained it banned the father from school functions "due to Mr. McBreairty’s blatant and repeated failure to comply with reasonable RSU 22 policies regarding meeting attendance," and an audio recording he played at a meeting that the district claimed contained "obscene language."

McBreairty, a volunteer for the conservative Maine First Project, accused teachers in the district of teaching the controversial critical race theory (CRT), which is based on the idea that U.S. institutions are inherently racist. 

MAINE FATHER FIGHTS CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN DAUGHTERS' SCHOOL

Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, have helped make critical race theory a national conversation in 2021.  (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

When the board banned him from meetings, he filed a lawsuit arguing the move violated his constitutional rights. The U.S. District Court for Maine ruled in his favor and issued a restraining order in his favor, voiding the district’s ban.

"Here, it is hard to shake the sense that the School Board is restricting the speech because the Board disagrees with both Mr. McBreairty’s opinions and the unpleasantness that accompanies them," District Judge Nancy Torresen wrote. 

Torresen found that McBreairty’s reference to "hardcore anal sex" in a book in the school library was not obscene under the law because it was "not appealing to any prurient interest and [was] offered to make a political or philosophical point."

"This is a huge first step for parents in Maine and across the country to be able to use their protected Free Speech to address the educational issues we are seeing in these public schools," McBreairty told Fox News Digital. "It’s a win for everyone, regardless of political affiliation, sex, race, or sexuality, as the First Amendment speaks for all Americans."  

McBreairty spoke out about sexual explicit material being available to students in the school's library.  (iStock)

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McBreairty's attorney Marc Randazza commended the judge as "principled."

"Government apparatchiks can’t banish people from public life because they don’t like being challenged," he said in a statement. "Serving in the government means you have to accept criticism. If you can’t do that, you have no business in that position. I’m very impressed with how much work the judge put into her ruling, upholding the First Amendment rights of someone with whom I presume she does not personally agree. But that’s what a principled judge does."

"The difference between me and my client and the defendants in this case is that, in the future, when someone’s trying to stifle their freedom of expression, I’ll be there to defend their rights as well. These censorious communists would never stand up for an opponent’s speech," he continued. "They are not just power drunk, but Peter O’Toole level schnockered out of their minds.  I hope that this slap across their totalitarian faces sobers them up and they start behaving like American government officials, not soviets."

The school board accused McBreairty of violating the meeting rules. (Fox News)

McBreairty said he'd been "harmed" by the incident, calling out RSU22 School Board Chair Heath Miller out by name and predicting it would have a negative impact on the community at large.

"This action taken by Heath Miller and the board to attempt to ban me from the public school campus until the end of the year has created even more fear of cancel culture in the region," the father told Fox Digital. "Who would speak up if they are going to be criminalized?"  

The father is also facing a lawsuit from the neighboring Hermon School Department, where he's been accused of bullying a teacher and making false statements. That case is pending in Penobscot County Superior Court in Bangor. 

McBreairty previously sparred with school officials last year when he said he was banned from his daughters' high school graduation over objections to CRT being taught in their school, telling "The Faulkner Focus" at the time that "we need education, not indoctrination." 

"The woke mob, the trolls, they go after everybody," he said. "I got pushed, and I pushed back pretty hard." 

The Portland Press Herald reported that officials said McBreairty was never banned from attending graduation, just from being on campus and could request to attend school events on a case-by-case basis. McBreairty asked to attend graduation and MSAD 51 Superintendent Jeff Porter granted approval, the outlet said, citing a statement issued by district officials. Porter reportedly also told the media outlet that district officials "don’t want him to be disruptive at his kids’ graduation."

Porter reacted in a statement to Fox News, rejecting the argument that the district was teaching CRT.

"MSAD #51 does not use CRT in its schools," he said. "We do not teach white children to hate the color of their skin. To the contrary, we teach all of our students the importance of self-worth and acceptance of self and others. We believe that all children are gifts. The narrative that this parent has created is simply untrue and an unfortunate connection to the undercurrent of national political ideology that is not illustrative of our high-performing and well-regarded school district."

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Parents became more vocal the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, speaking out against restrictive mask mandates, forced at-home schooling and progressive curricula. A parental uprising in Virginia is credited with helping propel Republican Glenn Youngkin to victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in last November's gubernatorial election.

Fox News' Talia Kaplan contributed to this report.