Residents Urge Long Valley Against Controversial Parent Policy

LONG VALLEY, NJ — A conversation around implementing a parent notice policy similar to that of the Hanover Township School District has come under fire this week, with parents and LGBTQ supporters speaking out in person at Tuesday's public board meeting.

Board member John Holly brought the topic up to his fellow board members during the Aug. 29 school board meeting, reciting the Hanover Township policy and questioning why the Washington Township School District had not thought of passing something similar.

The policy, which would force instructors to tell parents of any circumstances that could affect a student's well-being, has landed the nearby Morris County District in hot water.

Four New Jersey school districts—Hanover Township, Middletown, Manalapan-Englishtown and Marlboro—were sued by the state of New Jersey for passing versions of the policy earlier this summer.

While Long Valley has not made any formal decision on introducing an updated "parental notification" policy in the school district, residents took the opportunity on Tuesday, Sept. 12, to express their disapproval of even considering it.

"I don't want to see this be another headline in the New York Post. It's a distraction for the kids, and it's a waste of taxpayer dollars," Long Valley resident Chad Luibl said.

Several speakers noted that potentially passing a policy of this nature would invite legal action against them, as has been done to various other school districts.

At the Aug. 29 meeting, board member Rob Waskis claimed that this policy is unnecessary in Long Valley because the school system already has many policies mandating it to respond and include parents and other specialists when pupils exhibit symptoms of mental health difficulties or abuse.

However, Holly and some community members noted that the district's current transgender policy specifies that school personnel are under no obligation to notify parents about a student's gender identity or expression.

If the school board made the decision to change that, they would be in conflict with current education standards from the NJ Department of Education's Transgender Student Guidance, issued in 2018: Currently, New Jersey school districts are required to accept a student's preferred gender identity and pronouns without informing their parents.

Attorney General Matt Platkin has argued that the proposed notification policy is putting transgender and LGBTQIA+ students at risk of harm from their parents, and violating their civil rights.

The state previously cited data showing that 40 percent of transgender youth are not supported by their families, and 1 in 10 transgender children or teens are met with physical violence from their parents.

"I was alarmed a couple of weeks ago when I saw that trans identity and gender fluidity was equated to mental illness, and that was the motivation for this measure," Luibl said.

Resident Cynthia McConnell agreed with that notion, also stating that the district has parental notification policies in place. "One of the things I've been hearing lately is parental notification. We have those already; we have them for mental illness, and we have them for when a child is in danger. If a child, as some of you are trying to claim, is having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming themselves because of them trying to figure out how they feel about their gender, that is already a notification process; we already have that in place."

Among the adults and parents debating the topic during the hour-long meeting, a handful of parents noted the similarity between this argument and the recent decision to remove rainbow-colored Safe Zone signs from Long Valley Middle School.

"A couple of months ago there was a measure to get rid of the safe space stickers, and I'm sorry, but shortly thereafter, one of your board members went to a right-wing political rally and bragged at the success of this. And now we want to introduce more anti-LGBTQ measures. It doesn't take a genius to see the agenda. It's a page out of the Florida handbook," Luibl said.

"I will also point out the hypocrisy of any attempt to implement a policy that would overwhelmingly likely trigger an instant lawsuit by the state. Earlier this year, it was decided that the LGBTQ safe space stickers needed to come down based on advice from the board attorney because it opened the district up for potential criticism and possible litigation," Dominick Ciacciarelli, another parent in the community, said.

• Related: LGBTQ Policy Gets Morris County School Sued

The Safe Zone stickers were first brought to the public's attention last winter.

After receiving complaints from parents and checking with the school district's lawyers, the superintendent of the Washington Township School District announced the removal of rainbow-colored Safe Zone signs.

At the Jan. 3 board of education meeting, Superintendent Peter Turnamian said that the current signs, which depict a rainbow, would be replaced with a more common symbol in order to encourage kindness among all students.

The district's legal team was concerned about two things: the voluntary nature of how the stickers were initially placed in the school and how adopting a certain emblem could expose the district to claims of discrimination.

The members of the school board chose not to comment further on the issue; however, Turnamian concluded the meeting by reaffirming that the school district takes all matters of mental health seriously.