NJ Attorney General Now 'Reviewing' Middletown's Transgender Policy

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Tuesday night, while LGBTQ+ protesters screamed outside the meeting room, the Middletown Board of Education approved a a controversial new policy regarding transgender students.

And by Wednesday afternoon New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said his office is "carefully reviewing" what the Middletown school board has done.

"The Office of the Attorney General and the Division on Civil Rights are carefully reviewing the policies regarding parental notification enacted last night by the Middletown, Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown Boards of Education," said the office of NJ Attorney General in a statement given to Patch.

The Attorney General also hinted that the Middletown Board of Education possibly violated New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination.

"The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination flatly prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression, and we are firmly committed to taking swift action in response to any policy that violates that prohibition," said Tara Oliver, a public information officer for the AG.

In an 8-1 vote last night, the Middletown school board approved a new policy whereby Middletown teachers will now be required to notify parents if their child wants to publicly be known by a different name or pronoun on official school documents; if a child seeks to use a different bathroom or locker room than their gender at birth, or if a child seeks to play on a different sports team.

Middletown schools are now out for the summer, but the policy will be in full effect when they resume again in September.

The new policy directly challenges the NJ Dept. of Education's own policies on transgender students, which say NJ school districts must accept a student's preferred gender identity and pronouns without notifying their parents.

"A school district shall accept a student’s asserted gender identity; parental consent is not required. There is no affirmative duty for any school district personnel to notify a student’s parent or guardian of the student’s gender identity or expression," read the latest DOE guidelines, which you can read here (page 2,3).

Earlier this spring, Hanover Twp. school district in Morris County tried to require teachers disclose to parents the gender identity and sexual orientation of students. The district was immediately sued by the NJ Attorney General.

A Superior Court judge asked the Hanover school district and the Attorney General's legal team to sit down and come up with a new policy that both sides agree on. However, as of Tuesday, neither side has been able to agree on a new policy, and both sides were ordered to appear back in court next week to "hash out" the impasse, the Bergen Record reported.

Outside the Middletown school board meeting Tuesday night:

Middletown BOE Approves Controversial Transgender Student Policy (Earlier today)

Middletown Mulls Parent Notification Policy For Transgender Students (Last Friday)

Middletown's new transgender policy was set by the board members who sit on the policy committee, and they are: Tobacco (chair of the policy committee), Middletown school board president Capone, and Board members Farley and Tulp, who both work as lawyers. Bruce Padula is Middletown school district's lawyer, and he helped write the new transgender parental notification policy.