Marsha A. Stoltz
OAKLAND — The Ramapo Indian Hills Regional School District's board has abolished its transgender policy by a 6-3 vote.
The board on Monday night followed in the footsteps of Franklin Lakes grade school district, one of its sending districts, which abolished its policy earlier this year.
Ramapo Indian Hills school board officials said the district's two high schools, Ramapo and Indian Hills, which serve Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff and Oakland, will join about 24 others across the state that have rescinded their policies.
It remains unclear if the vote is symbolic, or will have any impact on school policy regarding transgender students. In particular, parents have objected to the policy for allowing students to decide whether or not their parents are informed of their changing gender status.
Board attorney Kerri Wright advised members that she "cannot guarantee" the vote will not result in litigation and that other state mandates still "provide very specific protections for your students and obligations for the school board and the school district to abide by them."
"So you've heard some comments today about access to certain programming or access to bathrooms," Wright said. "Those are not up for the board's discussion at this point, because the law does very clearly protect the rights of transgender students."
Board members elected on parents' rights platforms contended Policy 5756 contradicted the district's Policy 90 that every parent "shall have access to records and information pertaining to his or her unemancipated child including but not limited to medical, dental insurance, childcare and educational records."
"One of the most sacred bonds in education is the trust that parents put in their school administrators, teachers and their board of education," said Board President Kim Ansh. "When you are now in a situation where the school may be lying to you about your child, that trust is broken."
Voting to abolish the policy with Ansh were Vice President Marianne Emmolo, Tom Bogdansky, Melissa Kiel, Doreen Mariani and Audrey Souders.
Trustee Brian DeLaite argued the policy's abolishment was done to "appease a certain constituency in our community at the expense of those that need the most protection."
"If you have a great relationship with your children, they're going to share with you," DeLaite said. "The children who need to be protected the most are the ones who are at risk in their own homes."
Voting against abolishment with DeLaite were trustees Helen Koulikourdis and Aaron Lorenz.
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'Clear as mud'
How school districts treat transgender students was theoretically addressed in Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded programs. President Barack Obama issued a "Dear Colleague" letter in 2016 asserting that "sex" included transgender students, a letter that President Donald Trump withdrew in 2017 declaring the decision was up to the states and local school districts.
New Jersey's 1947 Law Against Discrimination is considered one of the country's strongest anti-discrimination laws. It was amended in 1991 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and in 2006 to include gender identity and expression, including access to sex-segregated facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms.
Because there were still no guidelines on how schools should proceed, NJSA 18A:36-41 was adopted in 2017 directing the Commissioner of Education to develop and distribute transgender student guidelines to school districts. The New Jersey Department of Education issued guidelines to Policy 5756, in 2018,
Still, the New Jersey School Boards Association argues, the problem for school boards is that "statutes and regulations are usually the product of so many negotiated compromises that the final version is sometimes clear as mud."
"Until the courts announce the correct interpretation in a case brought before them, school boards must rely on educated guesses about how that litigation will turn out," attorney David Rubin advised in "Legally Speaking – Transgender Students and Parental Notification: What Path Forward?"
On the issue of parent notice, for example, Rubin notes the policy "does not advocate keeping students' sexuality secret from their parents."
"To the contrary, it encouraged parent involvement, but for the most part left it to the student to decide if, when and how that should be accomplished," Rubin said.
However, parents argued at Monday's board meeting that children below age 18 are minors, and should be uniformly under their parents' supervision.
"No one loves a child like his parents and parents want what's best for them," Franklin Lakes Councilwoman Ardith Cardenas said at the meeting. "And they don't want secrets being kept from their children. That's what's being done."
The New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association cites data from the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, The Trevor Project and the Human Rights campaign to underscore "the extraordinary stakes that are involved." Data includes:
The association cites further guidance issued in June 2023 by Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and then-Acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan in recommending districts continue to promote a "safe, inclusive and affirming environment for all students."
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