Parental Notice OK'd In Manalapan, Marlboro BOE Transgender Policies

MANALAPAN-MARLBORO, NJ — The Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Board of Education and the Marlboro Board of Education both had heavily attended meetings Tuesday at which the boards both approved policies to create "greater parental involvement" regarding transgender students.

The policies in the K to 8 districts both involve consultation with students before the parental notification process.

In Manalapan-Englishtown, students who seek certain public accommodations or identifications regarding their identity would lead to notification of parents after discussions with school professionals.

In Marlboro, the revised policy now calls for a "family centered approach. "The principal or designee will speak with the student first before discussing a student's gender nonconformity or transgender status with the student's parent or guardian," the policy states.

The boards both met Tuesday, and both had large turnouts of those either opposed to or supportive of the policies.

Those opposed said the notification amounts to an "outing" of a student to parents who may not be understanding, causing unintended mental health harm, adding that a school is often the only "safe space" for the student.

Those supporting the notification said, in part, that not involving parents is "nonsensical," as one parent in Marlboro said, and the secrecy causes the child even more confusion and mental health challenges.

Meanwhile, the state Attorney General's Office is reviewing these and other school boards' policies - notably the large Middletown school district- dealing with transgender student issues in terms of the students' civil rights.

The Office of the Attorney General and the Division on Civil Rights are "carefully reviewing the policies regarding parental notification enacted (June 20) by the Middletown, Marlboro, and Manalapan-Englishtown Boards of Education," said Tara L. Oliver, spokesperson for the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

"The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination flatly prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression, and we are firmly committed to taking swift action in response to any policy that violates that prohibition," she said.

Manalapan-Englishtown

In Manalapan-Englishtown, the policy states it "establishes the board’s expectations for addressing the needs of transgender students while complying with anti-discrimination laws."

(You can access the policy at the school website.)

For grades 6 through 8, the school district accepts a "student’s asserted gender identity; parental consent is not required." For students in grades Pre-K through 5, "the responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student’s parents/guardians."

The board also "finds that conversations with counselors, teachers or other staff about one’s gender identity and expression are entitled to confidentiality."

That confidentiality does come into question under certain circumstances, however, the policy states.

"In the event a student requests a public social transition accommodation, such as public name/identity/pronoun change, bathroom/locker room accommodation, or club/sports accommodations, or the like, the school district shall notify a student’s parents or guardian of the student’s asserted gender identity and/or name change, or other requested accommodation, provided there is no credible evidence that doing so would subject the student to physical or emotional harm or abuse," the Manalapan-Englishtown policy states.

And it calls for a series of other discussions:

"Prior to disclosure, the student shall be given the opportunity to personally disclose that information. It shall be the policy of the board to support and facilitate healthy communication between a transgender student and their family, when disclosure is consistent with this policy.

School staff members would continue to refer to the student in accordance with the student’s chosen name and pronoun at school and may consider providing resource information regarding family counseling and support services outside of the school district, the policy states.

Marlboro

In Marlboro, the revised policy now calls for a "family centered approach" because of the younger ages in a Pre-K to 8 district. (You can see the policy in full at the board's website, beginning on page 19.)

"The principal or designee will speak with the student first before discussing a student's gender nonconformity or transgender status with the student's parent or guardian," the policy states, in part.

It says there is an "affirmative duty" to notify a parent about a change in gender identity, except where there is "reason to believe that doing so would pose a danger to the health or safety of the pupil," the policy says.

The policy also cites how counseling and other resources would be called upon to "facilitate the family's support of the student's transgender status."

Apart from Manalapan-Englishtown and Marlboro school boards, the Colts Neck Board of Education is scheduled for a vote on a second reading on a similar policy about notification at its June 28 meeting, according to the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County.

The League released a statement against the policies, saying they are indicative of a larger trend to "undermine public education."

"Despite arguments otherwise, numerous studies and data show that forced outing to parents is harmful, not helpful to LGBTQ+ youth," said the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County.

"It is important to note that this is not a stand-alone policy, but part of a concentrated effort to undermine public education. In addition to attacks on LGBTQ+ student rights, the campaign includes book bans, attacks on sexual education and attempts to rewrite American history by prohibiting accurate and necessary conversations about race and equity. The League of Women Voters cannot stand by while a small minority uses our classrooms as political battlegrounds at the expense of our students and our country’s future," the league statement said and a representative at the Manalapan-Englishtown meeting voiced the same concerns.