Holmdel BOE passes first vote to repeal its transgender student policy

HOLMDEL – The Board of Education took its first step in rescinding its Transgender Policy #5756. In a 5-2 vote with two board members absent, the board voted to introduce the “Approval to Rescind and Abolish Policy #5756.” Its final vote could take place at the board’s next regular meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 25 at 6 p.m. at Holmdel High School.

Board member Surekha Collur described the two camps that people have largely been divided into during Wednesday’s board meeting.

“One group is afraid that schools are lying to parents, is afraid Marxist ideas are being pushed and this could lead to genital mutilation, extremely strong words that are of course scary,” she said, emphasizing later that there is nothing in the policy that would allow transgender students to take medication or consent to surgeries without parental notification. “The other side is afraid for the child who has no other resort with an unsupportive family. A family that is not yet ready or a child who is not yet ready to tell their family …, even if the family were to turn out to be supporting later.”

What is Policy #5756?

Policy #5756 outlines specific ways schools can create a “safe and supportive environment” for transgender students and guard against harassment, intimidation or bullying. It establishes that transgender and gender nonconforming students should be allowed to participate in sports and use restrooms in accordance with their gender identity.

It allows transgender students the choice of using single “unisex” restrooms or the nurse’s restroom if they feel uncomfortable using sex-segregated restrooms or locker rooms.

It also states that in certain incidents, parents and students may disagree on what names and pronouns the student uses.

The policy states, “there is no affirmative duty for any school district staff member to notify a student’s parent of the student’s gender identity or expression.”

What is mandatory?

Other school districts including Monmouth County’s Middletown, Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown school districts have amended their transgender policies to require school officials to alert parents if their children change their pronouns or gender identity. The three school districts are currently being sued by the state Attorney General’s office, which argued that the new policies violate the state’s Law Against discrimination.

A number of other school districts including Monmouth County’s Colts Neck and Hanover Township in Morris County have repealed their transgender policy this September, arguing that the old policy was not mandatory.

Board president Peter Reddy followed in the argument that the policy is not mandatory. He said there are current anti-discrimination laws “so all the students are still protected.”

In a statement read after the vote, Reddy said the decision to rescind the policy “pertains to the initial communication with this policy to the Board of Education by our policy consultant Strauss Esmay, who indicated that this policy was legally mandated when in fact it was not.”

He continued, “This crucial discrepancy denied the Holmdel Board of Education the opportunity to thoroughly consider the policy as a whole. … Our objective is to create policies that not only adhere to legal requirements. But also strike a reasonable and equitable balance between students and parents rights. … Our district’s dedication in offering safe and affirming spaces for all students remains resolute. The rescinding of this policy should not be construed as a departure from this commitment. Rather it presents us with an opportunity to reevaluate this policy from a more accurate perspective as an elective policy.”

In a statement Philip Nicastro, one of two attorneys with Strauss Esmay, wrote, “No school district was deceived in 2019 when Policy Guide 5756 was distributed to school districts as school districts were told, in writing, the Policy Guide was aligned with the NJDOE Guidance and any changes to made by a local school Board should be reviewed by the Board’s Attorney.”

He continued, “Strauss Esmay does not advocate a position on this or any other school policy matter. Should the Guidance be revised by the State or by a New Jersey Court, Strauss Esmay will revise Policy Guide 5756 accordingly.”

He wrote that Strauss Esmay has a policy classification system that has been used since “1972 without any issue until recent attention to our Policy Guide 5756 – Transgender Students over the last several months.”

In an interview, he said there are three tiers of school policies: mandated, recommended and suggested. He said the purpose of the policies is to put school districts in compliance with the law and protect school districts from liability. The policies also allow school districts to have a uniform standards for all schools in the district.

He pointed to state law concerning the “development, distribution of guidelines concerning transgender students” and “Managing for Equity in Education” as strongly suggesting and requiring that school boards “adopt and implement written educational equity policies addressing protected categories of individuals, with transgender students being a protected class.”

He wrote that the state has argued that the existing NJDOE Guidance, of which Policy #5756 mirrors itself, “is the correct implementation of the anti-discrimination laws for transgender students in public schools.”

In a press release the company wrote, “Strauss Esmay may classify a Policy Guide as mandated because the issue has significant health and safety or liability implications for a school district. However, a Board of Education is free to accept, reject, or modify any Policy and/or Regulation Guides provided by Strauss Esmay Associates.”

It said, failure to adopt certain policies or regulations that are within state monitoring, “may result in the school district losing points in QSAC monitoring.” QSAC or Quality Single Accountability Continuum is the state’s school monitoring system.

As Policy #5756 is currently written, he said, "to my knowledge no school district in the state has had a legal challenge to the implementation of the policy since 2019."

He said the current policy is aligned with the state's guidance, but "If a court determined that the state’s guidance is not accurate and needs to be revised, we will revise policy guide 5756 accordingly."

What did the school board say? 

Superintendent J. Scott Cascone said the schools’ approach to working with transgender students is not going to change. During the board’s September 20, Committee of the Whole meeting, Cascone said school staff currently direct transgender students’ concerns to the schools’ licensed counselors, who would have nonjudgmental conversations with the students. He said it could take multiple conversations before the students would feel comfortable coming out to their parents.

Cascone said at Wednesday night’s board meeting that the schools have worked with transgender students on a case-by-case basis, “always with the goal, sometimes in the immediacy, in the immediate term, but as soon as it is possible and safe, to build that bridge to the parents.”

He said counselors have “an ethical principal” to work with parents and “not operate in isolation of the parents.”

Board member Terence Wall said transgender students are protected under existing policies regardless of if the policy is rescinded. He also spoke against hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender children.

Two board members disagreed with rescinding the policy.

Kimberly Tuccillo said, “We are – in my mind – rushing into this.”

She said before the board’s first policy meeting even took place; it decided to vote on Policy #5756.

She said she wishes that the board would keep the policy in place for the time being and research other transgender policies. She said she agrees with the current policy’s stance on schools accepting a student’s gender identity without parental consent. However, she believes there should be different policies for different age groups.

She said she likes the New Jersey School Boards Association’s 5756 policy, which she believes is closer to how the district’s schools current work with transgender students, namely on a case-by-case basis regarding parental notification.

Board member Collur also disagreed with rescinding the policy, saying that the procedure has been rushed.

“Historically, the LGBTQ community was treated with prejudice and their fury (is) understandable.”

She said she would like to board to look at arguments from both people who advocate for parental notification and those who are concerned about the wellbeing and safety of transgender students who do not come from supportive families. She said she would like the board to spend two months looking into a policy to replace the current one and debate topics like an age limit on parental notification.

Members of the public were divided into two groups with one group arguing that there are easily persuadable children and another group claiming that LGBTQ bullying has happened in Holmdel public schools and not all families are supportive of transgender children.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Holmdel BOE moves to repeal its transgender policy