By Stephen Appezzato
HOLMDEL – The Holmdel Board of Education voted during its Sept. 27 meeting to abolish its transgender student policy, state Department of Education guidance Policy 5756. A second confirmation vote, slated for its next regular meeting in October, will officially repeal the policy if it passes. Until then, Policy 5756 remains in effect.
The vote came two weeks after the Colts Neck Board of Education voted 6-2 to pass a resolution removing the same policy from its handbook.
Policy 5756 has come under scrutiny as some parents and school board members say it squashes parental rights. A clause within the policy states that if a student informs a school worker they wish to be addressed by a different gender identity, the school is not obligated to inform the student’s parents. Those who support the policy view the clause as a necessary protection for children whose parents are not supportive of their identity.
Members of the public voiced their views on the action during the Holmdel meeting, prior to the initial vote.
Resident Reham Taha said she firmly believes Policy 5756 does not belong in the Holmdel community. “This policy tricked its way into our district. And now that we have learned that this policy is merely a guidance and not mandatory, I hope the board members tonight will make the necessary and clear decision of rescinding it,” Taha said.
Another resident, Anthony Libecci, echoed this view, saying removing Policy 5756 “is really just the start” of “the step in the right direction against our state government making decisions about our children’s health and well-being.”
Taha and Libecci are Holmdel Board of Education candidates in the upcoming election, running with parental rights as a campaign focus.
Rev. Loren McGrail of Holmdel Community United Church of Christ spoke on behalf of her congregation, firmly opposing the repeal.
McGrail said her congregation believes the repeal of 5756 is “a new effort to undermine the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and its youth – especially trans youth – in the guise of protecting parental rights.” McGrail described the matter as “fraught with legal problems” and a “travesty of injustice for trans youth.”
Resident Barbara Garrity said while parents want to be informed of their children’s actions, she does not think the “presumption should be made that parents should be told if a child does not feel that it’s safe for them to do so.”
School board vice president Terence Wall stressed that rescinding the policy would not infringe upon the rights and protections of students, noting the Law against Discrimination and other civil rights legislation remains to protect all students.
Numerous other residents spoke out both in support of and against removing the policy. Ultimately, the board voted 5-2 to repeal the policy; a second vote will be required to confirm the action.
Some board members tabled drafting a new transgender student policy that would serve as a middle ground, supporting both student autonomy and parental rights.
Over the past four months school boards around New Jersey have considered policy changes concerning transgender students as the state pushed back in court.
State Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed civil rights lawsuits against the Middletown, Manalapan-Englishtown and Marlboro boards of education following their decisions to scrap Policy 5756 in June. Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman ruled in August that the school districts could not enforce their policy changes until the lawsuits are resolved.
However, during a similar case against the Hanover School Board in September, Deputy State Attorney General James Michael said Policy 5756 was not, in fact, mandatory, but rather guidance for districts. This development opened the door for Colts Neck to repeal its policy and Holmdel to consider the same.
As school boards become less hesitant to remove their transgender student policies following the Hanover case, other districts around the state may follow suit.
The article originally appeared in the October 5 – 11, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
