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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque Public Schools board member Peggy Muller-Aragón lashed out at Superintendent Raquel Reedy over the district’s new transgender directive, questioning whether Reedy “acted in an illegal manner” by approving the directive without a board vote.

Muller-Aragón spoke up during a board meeting Wednesday night after Reedy’s scheduled report on APS events, which had not included any mention of transgender issues.

She pressed Reedy about the most controversial portion of the new directive – access to bathrooms and locker rooms that match students’ gender identity – asking Reedy when the board had backed the changes.

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APS Board President Dave Peercy quickly stepped in and told Muller-Aragón that she could not discuss a topic that was not on the agenda. He insisted that she hold her questions until the board member comment period.

During that portion of the meeting, Muller-Aragón accused Reedy of stepping outside her role.

“I don’t know who has given you the authority to create this directive, and I still think it is just a thinly veiled attempt to create policy in violation of what I think is state law,” Muller-Aragón said. “It’s just something I don’t think you legally can do.”

Reedy declined to address the questions in detail because she wasn’t prepared, but Peercy countered that APS followed proper procedure.

District administrators don’t need a board vote to create directives, which are intended to put board-approved policies in action, Peercy said. The APS nondiscrimination policy has included gender identity as a protected class since 2005, and the directive outlines how the district will promote transgender rights.

Reedy and her leadership team vetted the directive, crafted by the district Title IX office, and posted it online June 8, making it official. The new rules allow transgender kids to embrace their identities with a new name and gender pronoun, as well as access to sports teams, restrooms and locker rooms where they feel comfortable.

In her remarks Wednesday, Muller-Aragón told the superintendent that she had just learned that the directive was in effect from a Journal voice mail seeking comment, and it was “a little upsetting to me to have to find out that way.”

The District 2 board member has consistently opposed the push to allow transgender students into facilities that match their gender identity, arguing that it prioritizes a minority group over the majority.

She reiterated that view Wednesday.

“I don’t agree with this directive, nor do 90-some percent of constituents and children I have spoken to, teenagers I’ve spoken to,” Muller-Aragón said.