SCHOOL DISTRICT TO ADOPT TRANSGENDER-RIGHTS POLICY

The Board of Education on Monday plans to consider an extensive new transgender rights policy that allows students to choose which gender with which to be identified. 

If they are in fifth grade or younger, it allows a parent or guardian to choose.

The policy states, in part:

The responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student or, in the case of Grades Pre-K through Five students who are not yet able to advocate for themselves, with the parent or guardian. SOMSD staff shall accept a student’s asserted gender identity when it is a sincerely held part of the student’s core identity.

Staff and schools shall not question or disregard the students’assertion of their gender. There is no threshold medical or mental health diagnosis or treatment requirement that any student must meet in order to have his or her gender identity recognized and respected by the district or SOMSD staff. The Board recognizes that for many transgender students, the experience of gender transition involves no medical intervention and that many transgender youth experience gender transition through a process referred to as “social transition,” whereby they begin to live and identify as the gender consistent with their gender identity.

Similarly, a student is not required to have obtained a court-ordered name or gender change in order to have his or her requested name and gender identity recognized and respected by the district, any school or SOMSD staff member.

And, of course, bathroom choice is also up to them.

See that portion below:

Schools may maintain separate restroom facilities for male and female students. However, students shall have access to the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity (N.J.S.A. 10:5-12(11)(f)(1)). Where available, a single stall, “gender neutral” restroom (such as in the health office) may be used by any student who desires increased privacy, regardless of the underlying reason. The use of such a “gender neutral” restroom shall be a matter of choice for a student and no student shall be compelled to use such a restroom. As a proactive measure, school principals shall take reasonable measures to identify private gender-neutral restrooms on their campus, as well as to de-stigmatize the use of such private options. Principals shall also establish and communicate clear guidelines and expectations with regards to students’ physical privacy and boundaries, either through student handbooks, posted expectations, staff training or meetings, or through orientation and other processes for familiarizing students and guardians to the school and its facilities.

The entire policy can be found HERE.

The board meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday at the board offices, 525 Academy St.