NJ Vs. Middletown School District Court Hearing Will Be 9 A.M. Tuesday

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The first court hearing for the state of New Jersey vs. the Middletown Board of Education over transgender students will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15 in Monmouth County Superior Court.

This is where NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin says the Middletown school district is violating the civil rights of transgender students by requiring teachers tell parents if their child is transitioning to a different gender in school.

The Middletown Board of Education argues it is defending parental rights.

Several Republican lawmakers, including Monmouth County state assemblywomen Marilyn Piperno and Kim Eulner, said they will hold a rally in support of Middletown at 9:30 a.m. outside the courthouse. The Republican lawmakers said they will be joined by "concerned parents and families as they protest the continued the harassment from Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin over parental notification policies in schools."

The hearing will be held in courtroom 226, the chambers of Superior Court Judge David Bauman in the Monmouth County Courthouse, located on Monument Street in Freehold borough.

The 9 a.m. court hearing will be live and in person; Judge Bauman was at one point considering making it a virtual hearing, but he decided Monday it will be in person. There will be several media outlets there covering the case, including Patch.

On Tuesday, Judge Bauman will hear arguments from lawyers with the Attorney General and the Middletown school board.

Middletown's lawyers successfully had the state's lawsuit moved out of Essex County to Monmouth.

Bauman will decide if a temporary injunction placed on Middletown schools will be lifted. Or there's a chance he may even dismiss the state's lawsuit against Middletown altogether. Bauman was nominated to the judgeship by then-Gov. Jon Corzine.

The state's case against Middletown is being closely watched across the state. How Judge Bauman rules on Tuesday may affect the outcome of the state's similar lawsuits against Marlboro and Manalapan school districts.

This spring, Attorney General Platkin sued the Hanover school district in Morris County, as Hanover schools similarly sought to require teachers tell parents if their son or daughter was gender transitioning.

In late May, a state Superior Court judge ordered the Hanover BOE and lawyers from the AG's office to meet and rewrite the policy together.

As a result, Hanover school board significantly backed down from what they originally wanted:

In June, the Hanover BOE adopted a revised policy that requires administrators "take necessary steps to notify parents whenever a student discloses an issue or exhibits behaviors that may have an adverse impact on the student's physical or mental health, safety or well-being."

"Such notification cannot be based solely on a student’s actual and/or perceived protected characteristics under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination," the revised policy reads.

Policy Outing LGBTQ Students To Parents Revised At Morris Co. School (Morris County Patch)

Middletown School District Defends Transgender Policy In Court Docs

State Of NJ: Middletown's Trans Student Policy Is 'Head In Sand'