OLD BRIDGE – After months of debate, the Board of Education has reversed course by rescinding a policy which granted protections to transgender students.
Old Bridge became the first school district in the state on Dec. 7 to affirm the seven-year-old state policy under which school districts are not required to inform parents if a student confides in a teacher about their gender identity or sexual orientation. The policy also allows transgender students to participate in gender-segregated activities and use school facilities, such as bathrooms or locker rooms, that are consistent with their gender identity.
Supporters called the policy an extra “security blanket” for the most marginalized of students while opponents have argued the policy infringed on “parental rights.”
But now with new board members seated at the beginning of the year who ran on a platform of repealing the policy, Old Bridge joins a small list of districts that have chosen to abolish it.
Tuesday’s vote was 5-4. Board President Matt Sulikowski, Elena Francisco and Kristina Mazzone who were sworn in last month joined with Salvatore Giordano and Leonardo Marchetta to rescind the policy.
Sulikowski, who added the motion to rescind the policy to the agenda on Monday, gave a personal reason why he switched his vote.
He said a granddaughter he is raising is “confused” and “doesn’t know what she wants or what she is.”
“I’m totally against that,” Sulikowski said. “Parents have to know everything that is going on in their (children’s) lives.”
In casting his vote, Sulikowski said, “Yes, to protect all the kids.”
Voting to keep the policy were Jennifer D’Antuono, Jay D. Slade, Lisa Lent and Marjorie Jodrey.
Several community members pleaded with school board members to keep the policy in place because it “hurts no one,” said Elena Zaccario.
“I am also a parent, and I would never put my comfort, my rights, in front of that of my child,” said Benjamin Jodelka, a teacher at Carl Sandberg Middle School and a member of the LGBTQ community. “I would never want my child to be humiliated by having a secret for something that they are not ready to share with me by someone else. And if you as a parent are supporting this because you want to know what the child doesn’t want to tell you, then that’s an issue you have at home. If your child can find safety and comfort in school, how dare you try to take that away from them.”
But another resident said rescinding the policy is “on the right side of history.
“There were three candidates who ran together under a platform that they opposed (the policy),” she said. “They were for parental rights. They were for good, solid academics. And they won and they’re sitting here tonight. So I just want to remind the board that this community did speak and they spoke against (the policy). I think if you vote against it, you’re on solid ground. It does not protect all kids. There are a lot of girls who are afraid to use the restroom. They don’t use the restroom all day.”
Also supporting the policy reversal was North Carolina Pastor John Amanchukwu who campaigns across the country for his “Taking on America’s Wokest School Boards” agenda.
After using derogatory terms in his remarks, Amanchukwu was asked to leave. He refused, was given more time to complete his allotted five minutes, and when he continued to use derogatory words, he was escorted out by police.
There were four township police officers on duty at the meeting.
The reversal was lamented by advocates of the policy.
“Despite the public outcry at this and prior meetings to retain (the policy), the Old Bridge Board of Education voted last night, without a second reading, to rescind the policy adding the district to the very small minority of those that have rescinded policy,” said Mike Gottesman, founder of the New Jersey Public Education Coalition, whose stated mission is “to protect our public schools and communities from right-wing extremism.”
“The Board completely ignored the fact that this policy is designed to protect the legal rights of transgender students and to help the Board avoid potential violation of over two dozen state and federal laws that apply,” Gottesman continued. “The more interesting question is why this Board of Education that voted at a previous meeting to affirm (the policy) has now flipped 180 degrees? What has changed since that prior vote? Absolutely nothing except for the fact that certain board members voted in accordance with their personal views and ignored their legal and ethical obligation to represent ‘all’ students and especially the marginalized ones.”
Superintendent of Schools David Cittadino said the school board’s reversal should technically change little in the schools because there is no reason to report a “discussion” to parents, unless a child is in danger.
“There’s no law you can put in place to mandate that teachers have a conversation with a child and immediately call home and tell them what the child said, unless that child is in danger,” Cittadino said. “And student assistance counselors can receive confidential information from a student, even about the use of drugs or alcohol, in which the policy according to law, they cannot break that confidentiality. I don’t think anything’s really changed. The law before didn’t say that they couldn’t talk to the parents; it said that they have no responsibility to talk to parents. Now with (the policy) abolished there’s nothing to say whether they talked to them to establish that conversation with the parent or not because there’s nothing that talks about it. So notification is probably even more ambiguous at this point.”
email: cmakin@gannettnj.com
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter forMyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
