Middletown BOE's Capone, Tobacco Defend Trans Policy On Fox & Friends

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown school board president Frank Capone and vice president Jacqueline Tobacco appeared on "Fox & Friends" Thursday morning in a live interview, where they defended their controversial transgender student policy, and explained how the policy originated.

Watch the "FOX & Friends" interview here, which is 3:36 long.

This is the policy requiring teachers tell parents if a student wants to formally go by a different name, use a different bathroom or play on a sports team other than the one assigned to their gender at birth. It has gotten the district and two others (Manalapan and Marlboro) sued by the New Jersey Attorney General; Middletown's court hearing is next Tuesday, Aug. 15.

"There's a fight brewing in New Jersey in Gov. Phil Murphy's own backyard," started off Fox host Steve Doocy. "Jacqueline, this started about a year ago. Explain."

In the 7:45 a.m. interview, Tobacco said the policy was born in the past year out of the district having to hide things from parents, such as having to white out a student's new preferred name on tests and papers sent home, and having to hide from parents if a student wanted counseling for a gender-related reason.

"We had been in a policy meeting and heard from the administration that test scores — the names were being whited out to send home to parents. We were a little concerned, saying 'Are we actually being duplicitous to parents?' Tobacco told Fox. "A few months later we weren't necessarily telling parents if a child needed mental health counseling; we were hiding if it was a gender-related reason. We were kind of just telling them it was anxiety or another reason. We were a little concerned as a board this was going on and not being truthful with parents."

"Exactly," responded Doocy.

"The fact that we're actually even having this discussion concerns everyone," said Capone. "Parents and the children do have a right to know and that's the backbone of education in America and our country ... As elected official, that's not our job to take parents' rights away."

Tobacco said it was "a little shocking" to be sued by the state of New Jersey.

"Frank, what's your message to Gov. Murphy?" asked Doocy.

"We have a governor who is consistently putting politics ahead of children," responded Capone. "He's a lame-duck governor to begin with and the legislators on both sides of the aisle really need to wake up here and take charge here. Our children and parents need to know it's time for them to take action."

At the end of the brief interview, Tobacco said:

"We believe the majority of Middletown thinks like we do on this issue. We alert parents on everything from a child needs an aspirin to signing a permission slip to watch a movie. So this is a very far reach for a lot of parents."

NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin argues in his legal briefs filed Aug. 3 Middletown risks having children harmed by their parents if they are "outed" by the school district, and that Middletown is violating trans students' civil rights.

State Of NJ: Middletown's Trans Student Policy Is 'Head In Sand' (Aug. 8)

NJ Sues Middletown, 2 Other Districts For Transgender Student Policies (June 22)