NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Monmouth County, New Jersey school district dropped its policy on transgender students last week, joining at least five others that have also revised or gotten rid of the police among a wave of controversial debates.
The Freehold Township Board of Education has voted to rescind the policy on transgender students on Nov. 14 stating that the district would "accept a student's asserted gender identity without requiring parental consent."
The policy previously ensured that students could have their gender identity recognized by the district without a diagnosis or treatment, and without mandatory notification to their parents.
The board cast a 6-3 vote to get rid of the policy, Michelle Lambert, the school board president, confirmed the decision to NJ Advance Media.
Lambert did not provide a specific rationale for the policy's repeal, indicating that board members had various reasons for their votes.
A letter was sent out to families a day after the decision was made according to NJ.com, where superintendent Neal Dickstein said that there was "a great deal of misinformation" about the policy within the community, though he did not elaborate any further.
Dickstein emphasized that the policy's removal “does not translate to the forced outing of children as it is being interpreted by some.”
“The absence of any policy or regulation does not remove the responsibility that we as educators have to make decisions based upon what is in the best interest of each and every student in our care,” he said.
Officials will be examining internal procedures in the coming weeks to continue supporting transgender students.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Civil Rights Division Director Sundeep Iyer are currently suing four school districts over policies that mandate staff to inform parents about students' gender identity requests and changes.