Parental notice policy adopted

Hanover was warned it violates LGBTQ+ rights

By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... The Hanover Township school board gave final approval Tuesday [06/13/2023] night to a parental notification policy that was revised after the state Attorney General's Office sued the district, saying the original policy violated the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ students.
..... But the Attorney General's Office has said even the revised version would still unlawfully discriminate against LGBTQ+ children.
..... The original version of the policy laid out critics that teachers were expected to sue to inform parents about concerning behavior exhibited by their children related to a range of problems, such as eating disorders and depression, but also sexual orientation and gender identity.
..... The Attorney General's Office argued that both the original and revised versions of Policy 8463 could violate a child's right to privacy by exposing gay and transgender children, who are protected by New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination.
..... Last week, [06/07/2023] the board rewrote the policy and took out any language about sexual orientation and gender identity, but lawyers of r the state said it still not pass legal muster and repeated their request for a temporary injunction to be put in place until the lawsuit is resolved."
..... Even the amended policy "is likely to unlawfully discriminate against LGBTQ+ students," the state attorney general said in a letter to the school Monday, [0612/2023] responding to the school board's argument that the legality of the original policy was "moot" after it changed the language.
..... "We are grateful that while the Superior Court considers this matter, it has continued the temporary restraints prohibiting Hanover Township from implementing any policy that would require staff to out LGBTQ+ youth to their parents in violation of the law," the Attorney general's Office said in a statement released Tuesday [06/13/2023] after a court conference involving the judge, lawyers representing the Board of Education and the Attorney General's Office.
..... Assignment Judge Stuart Minkowitz did not rule at that meeting and did not lift the status quo emergency restraint on the original policy.
..... Yet, just hours later, Hanover Township's school board adopted the revised policy. The policy is "in effect," board attorney Matt Giacobbe told NorthJersey.com after Tuesday [06/13/2023] night's Board of Education meeting, where people praised or criticized the trustees for the policy.
..... Supporters included a self-described "former homosexual" who called LGBTQ+ a "made-up ideology," a former state senator, and a parent who said schools must inform parents about "everything: and that children do not get to decide.
..... Critics included public school teachers and speakers who said they did not trust the board's intentions behind the amended policy, even after it removed language that describes sexual orientation and resigned,.
..... Giacobbe told NorthJersey.com the policy was in effect not withstanding the Attorney General's Office's statement about the restraints staying in place.
..... "The revised policy is adopted, it is in effect, and we will continue working with the judge and the attorney general," Giacobbe told the audience at the meeting.
..... He also said the parties are scheduled to meet in court for another mediation conference next week aimed at reaching an agreement. The meeting in state Superior Court in Morris County is scheduled for June 20 [2023] at 9:30 AM.

LGBTQ+ a protected category

..... The board's decision appears to up the ante with the state over the question of whether parents should be informed when the children confide in teachers or counselors about heir gender identity or sexual orientation. State law treats this information as confidential, because LGBTQ+ children are a protected category under the Law Against Discrimination.
..... The Attorney general's Office said it had evidence that the district's intention with the first version of the policy was to expose these youth, and it has indicated that it opposes even the reworded version. The two parties could not come to a "mutually agreeable solution," the office said in its letter to the judge.
..... Speakers of "overreach" and argued that the state Education Department's guidance encourages teachers and children to "keep secrets" from parents.
..... the Murphy administration was trying to "stronger" parents, said Tayfun Selen,a Morris County commissioner. "I commend you for doing this," he told the board. "Let our parents raise our kids."|
..... Public school teacher Stacey Van Segern criticized the board for floating policies that create mistrust toward teachers and hurt children seeking out trusted adults in the safe space of a school to talk to.
..... "No teacher is looking to keep information away from parents,: Van Seggern said. "I stand here in solidarity with the educational community." Putting additional reporting burdens on teachers would drive them out, she told the board.

'You spit in the judge's eye'

..... Retired Newark schoolteacher Terri Baird told the trustees that they were relying on bad legal advice in adopting the policy. "He's laying the groundwork for taking this to the state supreme court, and it's on our die," she told the school board, referring to Giacobbe, the board attorney.
..... "You poke the bear, and now you spit in the judge's eye," Baird said. "Because the attorney general did not approve that change in that policy and you just went ahead."
..... Baird's spontaneous outage made both audience and board members chuckle in the middle of a tense meeting. She chided "the group of five" - the board members who approved the policy - for siting "stone faced" on stage, and then pointed out that they had broken into knowing gins while she spoke.

Parental rights platform

..... Christine Egbert, Gina Johnson and Gregory Skiff, members who won last election took office in juryman, [2023] campaigned under "Hanover Education First," a parental rights platform that was endorsed by the Florida-based parental rights group Moms for Liberty. Board President Lisa Bomengo supported the original policy's intention to have teachers inform parents if their children wanted to change their sexual orientation, according to meriting minutes form April 25. [2023] Bomengo was elected in 2021.
..... Meanwhile, the state's request to Minkowitz for an injunction to be put in place while its lawsuit plays out remains in limbo. The school district's "eleventh-hour amendment to the policy odes nothing to lessen the need" for an injunction, the Attorney General's Office told the judge in its letter Monday. [06/12/2023]
..... The injunction was necessary also because of the district's "steadfast refusal" to include in the new policy any information about the Department of Education's Transgender Student Guidance for School Districts, it said.
..... The revised policy requires all staff members to "take necessary steps" and "promptly inform a student;s parent(s) whenever a student discloses an issue and/or exhibits behaviors that may have an adverse impact" on their well-being.

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