'Reckless Assault On Parental Rights': Brick Mayor Rejects NJ Schools Transgender Policy

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township Mayor Lisa Crate called a state Department of Education policy that prevents school districts from notifying parents about their children's desire to change their gender identity a "reckless assault on parental rights."

Crate, speaking during her comment period at the end of Tuesday's Brick Township Council meeting, said she was raising the issue to address not only discussions in the news but also to respond to specific claims made as the 2023 mayoral election campaign heats up.

She did not name anyone specific but a recent press release from 10th District Assemblyman John Catalano, the Republican challenging Crate in the mayoral election, accused Crate of "transgender advocacy for even the youngest of children" in her role as an educator.

Crate is president of the Jackson Education Association and a teacher in the Jackson Township School District.

The state Department of Education policy that bars teachers from notifying parents if a student is using a different name or identifying as a different gender has been a heated issue for months across New Jersey. At least three school districts, including Middletown and Marlboro, are subjects of civil rights lawsuits filed by the state Attorney General's office over policies their local school boards adopted requiring teachers to notify parents.

State legislators have responded to the state Board of Education with stinging criticisms of the policy, and in late August Catalano and his 10th District counterparts, Sen. Jim Holzapfel and Assemblyman Greg McGuckin, announced they have drafted legislation that "would require schools to increase transparency with parents, by disclosing vital information like sex and gender, grades, and physical and mental health."

Catalano is calling for a special session of the Legislature to consider the bill.

"Under the reckless direction of Governor Phil Murphy and his administration, schools in New Jersey were forced to adopt radical policies and are teaching inappropriate sexualized content that parents find harmful and inappropriate for their young children," Catalano said. "School administrators and Trenton bureaucrats do not have the authority to obstruct parental rights. Hiding information about a child’s mental, physical, and sexual health violates our children’s rights by preventing their access to care by family members that know them best."

Crate, in her statement, said she supports open communication between parents and teachers:

"I would like to address an issue that has been in the news lately regarding parents’ rights and the education of their child and Governor Murphy’s policy on gender identity and transgender rights. As I’ve stated before, I have been an educator for over 30 years and as a professional, I know what works in the classroom," she said. "The best way to ensure that educators can provide a healthy and productive environment for all of our students is to have open communication between parents and teachers.

"I have and will continue to consistently state that if parents have any concerns about anything that is going on with their child during their time in school or anything going on within the classroom, they should first call their child’s teacher to have a discussion about it," Crate said. "We are all working toward the same goal: the success of our students."

"Under Governor Murphy’s policy, educational professionals cannot have those discussions with parents, and that’s wrong. I oppose Governor Murphy’s reckless assault on parental rights," she said. "Parents have the right to be informed about their child’s mental, physical and sexual health."

"Educators have worked for decades to open these doors of communication for the betterment of all of their students and this policy makes it impossible for them to continue to do so," she said.