TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) — New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin sued three school districts in an attempt to block policies that would require teachers to out trans students to their parents, the AG’s office announced Thursday.
The policies were all enacted Tuesday by school boards in Middletown Township, Marlboro Township, and Manalapan-Englishtown.
The Marlboro policy requires school staff notify parents of any “change in gender identity or expression” and eliminates the requirement that teachers address students by their preferred name and pronouns if “a parent/guardian of a minor student disagrees with the student regarding the name and/or pronoun to be used at school.”
The Middletown policy mandates parental notification if a student “requests a public social transition accommodation” like a name change, a pronoun change or bathroom accommodations.
The Manalapan-Englishtown policy similarly requires parental notification when a student “requests a public social transition accommodation.”
These policies contradict New Jersey Department of Education recommendations that encourage school staff to respect the confidentiality and privacy of students who ask for transition accomodations.
The civil rights complaints filed by Platkin allege the policies run afoul of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.
Alongside the lawsuits, Platkin also filed emergency motions requesting injunctions to prevent the policies from going into effect while the litigation makes its way through the courts.
“In New Jersey, we will not tolerate any action by schools that threatens the health and safety of our young people. Without question, the discriminatory policies passed by these Boards of Education, if allowed to go into effect, will harm our kids and pose severe risk to their safety,” said Platkin. “Simply put, these policies violate our laws, and we will not relent in protecting our LGBTQ+ community — especially our children — from discrimination.”
Platkin recently won a similar battle against the Hanover Township Board of Education, which tried to enact a policy that would require parental notification for any circumstances that “may have a material impact on the students physical and/or mental health.” Included in a list of such circumstances were “sexuality,” “sexual orientation,” “transitioning” and “gender identity or expression.”
The board opted to repeal the references to sexual orientation and gender identity before the lawsuit could be resolved.
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