NJ challenges Hanover Township schools' new rule to out LGBTQ+ students

New Jersey's attorney general has filed a civil rights complaint against Hanover Township Public Schools, looking to block a policy requiring school staff to disclose students' sexual orientations and gender identities to parents.

"Because the policy requires school staff to 'out' LGBTQ+ youth to their parents, it exposes them to severe harms to their safety and mental health," Attorney General Matthew Platkin's office wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

The policy, which the Hanover Township School Board adopted on Tuesday night, violates the state's Law Against Discrimination and Department of Education guidance, according to Platkin's office. His office is also seeking a temporary injunction in Superior Court to block enforcement of the policy while the administrative complaint is adjudicated by the Division on Civil Rights.

Under the policy, the school district would "immediately, fully and accurately" inform parents when school staff is made aware of any facts that could have a material impact on a student's physical, social or emotional well-being — among them, "sexual activity; sexuality; sexual orientation; transitioning; gender identity or expression."

The state isn't challenging aspects unrelated to sexual orientation or gender — such as notification of bullying or substance use. The policy additionally requires notice about firearms, peer pressure, school performance, suicide, gang activity, eating disorders, pornography and "preoccupation with antisocial music."

Hanover Township school officials said in a statement on Wednesday that they'll "vigorously defend this common-sense policy that protects parental rights and ensures the safety of all schoolchildren."

"The Hanover Township Board of Education believes that parents need to be fully informed of all material issues that could impact their children so that they — as parents — can provide the proper care and support for their children," the district wrote.

Under the Hanover policy, if school staff believe disclosures to a parent would put a child in harm’s way, the school would instead notify legal authorities and child protection services.

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination prohibits schools and other places of public accommodation from subjecting individuals to differential treatment based on a variety of factors, including “sex, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability or nationality,” Platkin’s office notes in its complaint.

Guidance issued by the state Department of Education in 2018 directs schools to accept students’ asserted gender identities, without any requirement for parental consent. It also states there is no “affirmative duty” for a school to notify a parent or guardian of a student’s gender identity or expression.

The guidance generally describes a students' transgender status as confidential, but also includes direction for disclosure in the case of a "specific and compelling need, such as the health and safety of a student or an incident of bias-related crime."

When a parent and student disagree about a name or pronoun to be used, a district should consult with its board attorney about the student’s civil rights and protections, the guidance says. But staff “should continue to refer to the student in accordance with the student’s chosen name and pronoun,” and may consider connecting families with counseling and support resources, according to the guidance.

The New Jersey School Boards Association, in a sample policy it provides to districts, warns disclosing confidential information, including to parents, could violate privacy laws. It says students who don't want parents or guardians to know about transgender status should be addressed on a case-by-case basis, mindful that disclosure to parents carries risks such as a student being kicked out of their home.

Within New Jersey school boards, debates over the implementation of the state's LGBTQ+ student policies as well as its standards for sex education and LGBTQ-centered curricula have escalated in recent months. Earlier this year, Colts Neck school board members shot down a policy proposal to notify parents when students newly assert or question their gender identities, and to impose bathroom and locker room restrictions on transgender students.

On Thursday, the New Jersey Project — a coalition of parents that opposes the sex education standards, LGBTQ+ curricula, and which says parents need more say over students’ education — backed the Hanover policy in its “Chaos and Control” newsletter. It said Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration was using LGBTQ+ rights as a “smokescreen to mask anti-parent and statist policies.”

“Sure, some progressive parents may be OK with this move from the perspective of ‘saving’ some LGBTQ+ children from bigoted parents,” the newsletter’s authors wrote. “But life isn't a Netflix movie. One day, the same principle of ‘don't tell the parents about their own child’ will be used in a way they don't like — and by then, there will be nobody left in this state to fight back.”

In a joint statement on Thursday, Republican state Sens. Joe Pennacchio and Senator Ed Durr described Platkin's challenge as "misguided," and argued that parents should be informed whenever issues relating to their children arise. Durr, last year, introduced a bill prohibiting any classroom discussion of sexual or gender identity for students in kindergarten through the sixth grade, and requiring parental consent for such discussions afterward. He was the bill's only sponsor, and it never moved forward.

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, tweeted support for Platkin's legal challenge on Wednesday night, saying the policy jeopardizes students' well-being and mental health.

Steve Baker, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Education Association, told NJ.com the policy seemed to "cruelly equate LGBTQ+ identity with a host of other illegal and violent activities."

"It will have a chilling effect in the district and leave already vulnerable students fearful for their safety and unable to seek the support they need to thrive," he said. "It’s a terrible example of what happens when the culture wars waged by adults to foment division for political purposes trickle down to harm children.”

District Superintendent Michael Wasko replied to an email on Thursday morning seeking more information with a copy of the district's statement. School board president Lisa Bomengo and board attorney Matthew Giacobbe have not yet returned messages left on Thursday seeking comment.

This story has been updated to include additional information about the Hanover school district's new policy, the New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, state guidance to school districts and ongoing debates around LGBTQ+ policies in schools.