Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
Considerations for current and future transgender students within the Hillsborough Township Public School District were recently made official by the board of education, as its members unanimously voted in favor of enacting a new policy.
Written in order to comply with state laws already in place to address and combat transgender discrimination, Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff said the policy’s passage on during the December 11 meeting helps students who identify as a gender other than their biological one.
“The district is committed to providing students with a safe and supportive learning environment,” he said.
According to a national survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, approximately 75 percent of transgender youths “feel unsafe at school, and those who are able to persevere had significantly lower GPAs, were more likely to miss school out of concern for their safety, and were less likely to plan on continuing their education.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality recently took a closer look at New Jersey and the experiences of its transgender students and found that they “reported alarming rates of harassment (63 percent), physical assault (16 percent) and sexual violence (13 percent)” while in the public school system. According to the study, the level of harassment throughout the state’s nearly 600 public school districts was enough that approximately 17 percent of respondents left school in K-12 or higher education.
According to the new policy, any issues surrounding a pupil’s gender identity will be handed on a case-by-case basis, with either the superintendent or another designated representative meeting with the student and their parents to discuss those issues.
Under the new guidelines, the district will “honor the request of the parent and student to have the student addressed by a name or pronoun” other than the one associated at birth.
Though the policy states that the district must maintain a student’s permanent record in accordance with federal and state laws that require information to reflect what appears on a birth certificate, the district will use the requested name and pronouns on other school related documents, such as “student identification cards, library cards, school photographs, grade books, posted lists of student names, and any other places where students’ names are commonly written.”
Physical education classes, intramural programs and athletics, and the district’s dress code will be made to accommodate the student’s gender identity.
With transgender rights focusing so much on bathroom use and locker room access on the national scale, the school board sided with allowing a transgender student the right to use the facilities that match their gender identity. The use of a “gender neutral” bathroom, if available, would be a matter of choice for any affected students and the district will provide a reasonable alternative changing area for a transgender student at their request.
“The policy that is currently in place guarantees transgender students have equal access to the district’s programs, facilities and activities,” Schiff said.
While the approved policy states that the school board “believes the responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student, or in the case of young students not yet able to advocate for themselves, with the parent,” board member Thomas Kinst wondered if the district was considering the parents in the policy.
“I want to be compassionate and sensitive, but there’s also a parental responsibility and parental rights and I want to make sure we strike a balance there,” he said.
Though the policy states that the parents would be involved in the decision only when the student in question cannot “advocate for themselves,” district officials said there would likely not be a specific age when student can make that determination. Instead, factors like a student’s maturity level and cognitive ability, among other things, would be considered.
“What’s tricky with these policies is that certainly parental input in that decision is important, however, what you have is a potential situation where perhaps the parents and student do not agree…but if we in some way do not honor the student’s request and functionally discriminating against the student, then the school district is potentially liable for a claim there,” the board attorney said. “It’s tricky and often done on a case-by-case basis.”
