Transgender Policy Scrapped From Morris County School District

HANOVER, NJ — The battle over disputed LGBTQIA policies between local school districts and the state of New Jersey continues, as a policy involving transgender students has been rescinded in the Hanover Township School District.

Policy 5756 has made headlines in the past months, raising questions as districts statewide are being sued by the state for trying to implement policies that require schools to inform parents if a child identifies as transgender.

In early September, Hanover Township Schools held a special three-hour-long meeting to vote to repeal Policy 5756 altogether amid the pending litigation.

And, at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, the Hanover Township Board of Education voted to confirm its repeal of that policy, which was implemented by the state in 2018 and barred parents from being alerted if their child was transgender.

Hanover Township adopted the policy in March 2019. However, recent comments by state officials have indicated that the policy is not required, sparking conversations around the state about the policy's impact on parental rights.

In the nearly four-hour-long meeting on Tuesday, dozens of parents and community members spoke out in both support and anger over the school board's decision.

Some commenters argued that the school board was bringing the community "back to the 1950s," while others applauded the members for standing up for parents' rights.

"Governor Murphy and his activist Attorney General, they are scared. Since our board's repeal of non-mandatory policy 5756 on Sept. 11, there have been numerous districts, as other people have stated, throughout the state that have repealed the policy, and many more that are in discussion," said Board President Lisa Bomengo.

Bomengo stated that state Attorney General Matthew Platkin sent the school board a letter warning them that if they went through with the repeal, then the school board would have to pay for the state's attorney fees.

"What the attorney general is doing is sending a message to all the other districts to toe the line and accept the progressive and novel idea that government schools can parent our children better than parents can," Bomengo said.

Following the adoption of their initial "Parental Notice of Material Circumstances" policy by the Hanover school board in May, Platkin filed a lawsuit against the district and board, claiming that the policy would have outed LGBTQIA youth to their parents.

At a court hearing on May 30, the two parties appeared before State Superior Court Judge Stuart Minkowitz, who, according to NJ Advance Media, asked the parties to come to an agreement on policy revisions while he deliberated.

The district is now awaiting a decision on its new policy, which does not single out LGBTQIA students but permits school employees to consider sexual orientation or gender identity when notifying parents.

However, a restraining injunction prevents the Hanover district and school board from implementing the updated policy.

Platkin has claimed that in these rulings, school districts are endangering transgender and LGBTQIA pupils and breaching their civil rights.

• Related: Judge Will Issue Decision 'Shortly' On Middletown's Transgender Policy

According to prior data, 40 percent of transgender youngsters are not supported by their families, and 1 in 10 transgender children or teens face physical violence from their parents.