Court battle over policies on transgender students leads to ruling — and repeal

Yahoo

14-02-2025

After an appellate panel affirmed that schools don't have to follow state guidance on transgender students, the Middletown school board voted on Feb. 13, 2025, to repeal their policy. (Stock photo)
New Jersey's transgender community celebrated earlier this week after an appellate panel upheld a lower court order saying school districts cannot require staff to alert parents if a student changes their gender identity at school.
But some districts also declared victory, zeroing in on a few lines in a pair of rulings issued Monday that confirmed school officials also don't have to follow state guidance issued in 2018 directing districts to accept a student's change in gender identity without notifying parents.
One district wasted no time in spiking the football. Middletown Township's school board held a special meeting Thursday night with just one thing on the agenda — abolishing the 'anti-parent policy,' as board President Frank Capone put it, that board members adopted in 2019 to comply with the state's 2018 guidance, known as Policy 5756.
In a meeting that lasted barely three minutes, the board repealed the policy, with no public comment, just one no vote, and a brief speech by Capone.
'Let this outcome send a powerful message to Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin: It's time to stop using our children as pawns in political games. Middletown will not accept the abuse,' he said. 'This vote to rescind Policy 5756 will guarantee no child faces individual discrimination, and every parent in this district will remain actively involved in their child's education with complete transparency in Middletown.'
The rulings come as the Trump administration works to roll back transgender students' rights and protections. Since taking office last month, President Donald Trump has banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth, barred transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports, and directed federal education officials to erase records set by transgender athletes.
The court fight in New Jersey started nearly two years ago, when Attorney General Matt Platkin first sought and secured judicial orders blocking parental notification policies in Middletown, Marlboro, Manalapan, and Hanover school districts that he said violated protections for transgender students under the state's Law Against Discrimination.
In Monday's rulings, a three-judge appellate panel upheld the preliminary injunctions, affirming lower court rulings that backed Platkin.
The districts' parental notification policies would subject transgender students to disparate treatment and possible mental health issues, backlash from families, housing instability, and other harms, in violation of the Law Against Discrimination, the judges agreed. They also would harm school staff by subjecting them to discipline if they don't comply with disclosure requirements, the judges said.
While parents have the right to control their child's upbringing, case law 'has not extended that right to require schools to affirmatively provide parents with information,' the judges wrote.
Parents can still access their children's student records, and the injunctions do 'not prevent students from voluntarily sharing information about their gender identity or expression with their parents,' they added.
But the judges noted the injunctions were meant to be temporary until the state's Division of Civil Rights ultimately decides the matter.
That agency has made no substantive progress on the issue since lower courts ordered the injunctions in 2023, the judges wrote. If it doesn't make 'reasonable progress soon,' they added, district officials can petition the court to lift or modify the injunctions.
Attorney Michael J. Gross, who represents Marlboro, saw that as a win.
'The Division of Civil Rights is not doing anything in this case, and they've sat on it for more than 18 months,' Gross said. 'So we were happy to see that the Appellate Division panel unanimously agreed that the Division of Civil Rights hasn't done what they were supposed to do.'
Capone seconded that sentiment Thursday night.
'For the past 18 months, we have dealt with an attorney general who misused his authority to convert a temporary injunction into a permanent one,' he said.
Platkin's office, which oversees the division, declined to comment on that delay.
Parental notification supporters, including Sen. Declan O'Scanlon (R-Monmouth), complained that the end result of the court battle and Monday's rulings is 'no policy at all … a net negative for trans kids.'
But Christian Fuscarino, who heads Garden State Equality, said the districts essentially forced the state to take them to court to ensure transgender students get the protections the law requires. Fuscarino's group filed briefs supporting the state's case.
'We are forced into this position when school districts decide to pass policies that could potentially out them to families that may kick them out of their homes,' Fuscarino said. 'LGBTQ youth represent 40% of the entire youth homeless population. To suggest that all young LGBTQ people grow up in homes that are loving and affirming is ignoring that difficult statistic.'
Platkin said in a statement that the state agrees that parents should be involved in making important decisions about their children. But the courts rightly decreed that schools cannot have a blanket policy that unfairly forces educators to choose between endangering a vulnerable child's safety and well-being if they notify parents of gender identity changes and losing their job if they don't, Platkin said.
'All our lawsuits have sought to do is to reinstate the status quo that has existed for years without controversy — one that was put in place by Gov. Chris Christie and that respects the need for parents to be informed about their children while safeguarding the civil rights of all students,' he said, referring to the 2017 law that tasked the state Department of Education with issuing guidance on transgender students.
Robert Kim heads the Education Law Center, which has advocated against parental notification policies. He found the rulings notable in light of the Trump administration's actions on this front.
'When you have a federal government that is hell-bent on targeting transgender students for not only disfavorable treatment, but for non-recognition completely, then it's all the more important to rely on the parallel system of government in our country, which is the state governments and the state courts,' Kim said.
'It's a positive development that both the executive and judicial branches of New Jersey can signal that they have independent authority to protect students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, given what's happened over the last 23 days out of Washington,' Kim added.
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