Woodbridge BOE Asked: Are Parents Informed Of A Child's Gender Change?

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — At the most recent meeting of the Woodbridge school board, held Jan. 19, a member of the public asked a theoretical question: Would the school district inform parents if a student sought to change their gender? And does the Woodbridge school district have a policy in place should this issue come up?

The question was asked by Paul Lund, a Hopelawn resident who has run as a Republican for Woodbridge Council in the past.

"If a child decides they want to change their pronouns and their mode of dress, even their records ... do you have a policy as to whether the parent is informed?" asked Lund. "If you don't have a policy, is it pretty much up to each school and administrator to make a call as to whether a child's parents should — or shouldn't — be informed about something as serious and life changing as changing genders?"

His question comes at a time when transgenderism is a hot topic in America, including minors changing their genders. The question of whether or not a school district should inform parents when a minor seeks to change genders is currently being debated across the nation.

In 2108, the New Jersey Department of Education put this policy in place that says NJ schools must accept a student's chosen gender identity, but are not required to notify parents of a student's choice. California and Maryland have similar policies in their schools.

Meanwhile in Indiana, Republican state lawmakers are pushing a bill that would do the exact opposite: School districts would be required to notify parents when a child expresses interest in changing their gender.

Jonathan Busch, who is the Woodbridge school district attorney (and also the Democratic mayor of Metuchen), responded with a lengthy answer to Lund's question.

Busch stressed that this "is a very complicated area ... We need to be as flexible as necessary to accommodate the facts that are before us," he said.

"The gender of a child is obviously something that is a very private and serious matter, similar, for example, to a child's pregnancy," Busch responded at the Jan. 19 meeting. "There are some circumstances where guidance counselors may not share information about like — a pregnancy, for example — with a parent. I'm telling you that there is a ... progressing body of law, which is beginning to suggest that there are some things that are so personal to a child that it may actually go beyond a parent's right to know."

(To which Lund can be heard in the recorded meeting saying "wow.")

"Because there have been some stories in the news over the years about, for example, the abuse that children have taken at home as a result of certain information that was revealed from school officials," continued Busch. "It's a very fact-sensitive matter where we have to look at a child's privacy rights ... A lot of that is in flux even at the federal level right now."

In summary, school district lawyer Busch said he would "not advise" the Woodbridge school board to "take any further steps on its policy with respect to a child's gender ... At this time, we need to be as flexible as necessary to accommodate the facts that are before us."

Watch the Jan. 19 school board meeting there; Lund asks his question at the 35:30 mark: