NJ parents group rips state AG for 'waging war' on parents, children by suing schools over trans policy
State Attorney Gen. Matt Platkin called school policies that require staff to inform parents of child's decision to transition 'discriminatory'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin is stepping in to make sure a number of local school districts rescind their policies requiring staff to inform parents of their child's decision to transition genders, filing "emergency" lawsuits against them over the allegedly "discriminatory" policy.
"Without question, the discriminatory policies passed by these boards of education, if allowed to go into effect, will harm our kids and pose severe risk to their safety," Platkin said.
Nikki Stouffer, the founder of the New Jersey Project, a union of parents from across The Garden State, said the policy is not only what parents want, but it's also what her group has pushed to put in place.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey, speaks to members of the media after meeting with President Biden during the National Governors Association Winter Meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. (Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"We want transparency with the school," she told Fox News' Will Cain on Sunday. "Our children are safer when we know more about what's happening in school. Why in the world would the AG and [Gov. Phil] Murphy think that it would be appropriate to hide any sort of information from parents?"
"[They think] we would only hurt our kids if we found out that they were being bullied and at risk for suicide," she continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The three school districts in Platkin's line of fire – Middletown school district, Marlboro school district and Manalapan-Englishtown Regional school district – approved their transgender student policies just last Tuesday, one day before the lawsuit.
New Jersey officials are pushing back against three school districts for allegedly violating state guidance on transgender students. (Fox News)
The controversial policy states that faculty and staff must alert parents if their child begins using a different name, pronoun or bathroom contrary to their biological sex.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}State officials, on the other hand, allege that "outing" the students will not only facilitate a more harmful environment at home, but would also mean schools had failed to foster "safe" learning environments.
"He [Gov. Murphy] thinks we're monsters. He thinks that we would torture our kids. We would never torture our kids. We were trying to get the masks off for two years because he tortures our kids and now that he is losing control of his school boards because we're getting people elected, fighting the NJEA (New Jersey Education Association), getting our parents in to make these kinds of changes… He's going to use the A.G. to make sure that we can't do these things.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Marlboro School District is one of those being sued by New Jersey officials over its policy requiring school leaders to inform parents of their child' intent to change genders. (Fox & Friends Weekend/Screengrab)
"He has waged war on parents and children for three years," Stouffer later added.
Officials' lawsuit failed against the district additionally allege the policies violate existing state guidance on transgender students, which states parents cannot be informed of what their child does in school.
When reached for comment on the lawsuit, the Attorney General's office directed Fox News Digital to a press release published last week that criticized district policies as "unlawful."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"As the complaints assert, the policies enacted by the Middletown, Marlboro, and Manalapan-Englishtown Boards expressly target transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary students by singling them out for differential treatment, requiring parental notification for those students but not their peers," the release read in part.
"The complaints also assert that the parental notification policies have disparate impacts on transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary youth: by imposing a requirement that school staff must "out" these students to their parents, the policies expose these students to the potential for severe harms to their safety and mental health. The policies also disregard and contradict guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education concerning the confidentiality and privacy of such information."
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Platkin, per the press release said, "In New Jersey, we will not tolerate any action by schools that threatens the health and safety of our young people. Without question, the discriminatory policies passed by these Boards of Education, if allowed to go into effect, will harm our kids and pose severe risk to their safety," adding, "Simply put, these policies violate our laws, and we will not relent in protecting our LGBTQ+ community—especially our children—from discrimination."