Background

 

The current political climate in the United States has gotten incredibly hostile, with some seeking to use the culture war issues of abortion rights and the rights of transgender people as wedge issues in the fall elections. An increasing number of states have adopted legislation that: bans any sort of gender transition care for minors; mandates that schools notify parents if students evidence any changes in their gender identity at school; prohibits the participation of trans girls in girls’ sports and more.

 

The current administration has gone on the warpath against any sort of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) efforts in K-12 public schools, colleges and even private companies. Special interest groups have launched book-banning campaigns across the country. While trans people are currently the focus of all this hatred, one can expect that an even broader assault on the LGBTQ+ community is not far behind.

 

We are fortunate to live in New Jersey where the New Jersey legislature has over the years broadened New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation (1992), domestic partnership status (2003), and gender identity or expression (2006).

 

Of particular relevance to schools, N.J.S.A. 18A:36-41 (July 2017) directed the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to establish mandatory, comprehensive guidelines for school districts to address the needs, privacy, and safety of transgender students.

 

See https://www.nj.gov/education/safety/sandp/climate/docs/Guidance.pdf, first published in September of 2018.

​

Also relevant to our school district was passage of the Babs Siperstein law in July 2018, paving the way for additional gender marker options on all state documents (including school districts forms and records).

 

We are doubly fortunate to live in South Orange and Maplewood, communities which pride themselves on being diverse, welcoming towns with a reputation for being LGBTQ+ friendly. In fact, the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education was one of the first in the state to adopt a specific policy on the rights and needs of transgender students, policy 5756, on August 22, 2016 and subsequently led the way in getting similar language adopted by the New Jersey School Boards Delegate Assembly.

 

Current Challenges

​

It seems, unfortunately, our school district has in many ways failed to comply with its own policy, and with state law and regulation, failing the district’s transgender students in many ways, even while rolling back certain provisions of the policy. 

 

Here is a partial list of district shortcomings, derived from my conversations with community members, which, if elected, I will seek to address:

 

• The 2019 LRFP and resulting bond issue contained projects to ensure that there were gender-neutral bathrooms in all school buildings and gender-neutral changing facilities for locker rooms at CHS, MMS, SOMS. Many of these projects were cancelled and it is still unclear whether they have been resurrected in the current LRFP and/or whether they are part of the $55-75 million worth of work currently under discussion by the district. (See my statement on Facilities).

 

• As provided in Guideline 4 of the DOE transgender guidelines and a since-deleted portion of our district’s Policy 5756, the district has failed to create appropriate confidentiality plans for each student regarding that student’s transgender or transitioning status.
  ​

• As provided throughout the DOE guidelines and in the above-referenced Babs Siperstein Law, the district has repeatedly failed to modify a range of forms in its computer systems that enable an appropriate range of gender markers, and flexibility to incorporate a student’s chosen name in place of a given name.

 

• The district’s delivery of the mandated pre-service training for teachers on LGBTQ+ issues is now provided by a vendor and is wholly inadequate in its treatment of these issues.

 

The Most Important Concern: Bullying

 

The district’s approach to its anti-bullying work is clearly ineffective in slowing the epidemic of bullying in most, if not all, of our schools. LGBTQ+ students, particularly trans students, are the all-too-frequent targets. We have to do better at ensuring that we are an inclusive community. I have been told that even some staff members are overheard making racist, homophobic and transphobic comments to their colleagues. This is intolerable and must stop! 

 

If elected, I will make a major push to involve the Board in enlisting all parents and the entire community to put an end to bullying in our schools.

​

​

​

​

​

​