Asbury Park Press

At Ocean Township High School in Monmouth County, transgender students can use the bathroom of their choice, but most prefer the private ones in the nurse's office.

A few miles south, the issue is so contentious in the Toms River Regional School District that parents and religious leaders started a petition drive to stop a proposed policy that would have allowed transgender students to choose which bathroom or locker room they use. The policy has since been put on hold.

Nearly a week after the Justice Department issued sweeping guidelines saying all transgender students should have the same access to facilities of their choice, Shore area school districts still have questions about how – and what – they need to do to implement the new directive.

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In New Jersey, some districts were already making accommodations to allow transgender students access to bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities that correspond with their gender identity long before any federal mandate.



But that's not universal, leaving the issue unsettled, particularly for districts that have yet to implement such policies.



The federal directive said schools must “treat students consistent with their gender identity even if their school records or identification documents indicate a different sex; and allow students to participate in sex-segregated activities and access sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity.” The Obama administration says schools that do not comply could jeopardize their federal funding.



Advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students have hailed the memo from the federal departments of education and justice as a victory for equality and providing protections for transgender students. Opponents argue the memo has undercut parents' ability to set rules and make determinations about their children’s future.

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So far, the New Jersey State Department of Education has not issued any official response to the mandate. Michael Yaple, a spokesman for the state department, said he did not know if the New Jersey would take any additional steps to give guidance to local school districts in the wake of the Justice Department memo.







State education Commissioner David C. Hespe said last month in an address to the New Jersey School Board Association that “A positive school climate where all students feel welcome and respected is a key to fostering learning. This principle applies equally in respect to gender identity. “In order to accomplish this, districts should take the opportunity to review their policies and use current events as teachable moments for the school community.”

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But 'taking their opportunity to review' isn't the same as mandating the districts to comply. And while the federal directive is sweeping, some experts say it leaves many questions unanswered. For example, Philip Nicastro, an attorney with Strauss-Esmay Associates -- a consulting firm that helps New Jersey school districts craft policy and regulation manuals -- said the Justice Department did not make clear whether parents or students have the ultimate say which gender-specific facilities they should use.

“That’s always the issue, there is no clear guidance. School districts could be placed in an awkward position if they have a parent and their child disagreeing about what should happen,” Nicastro said.







Advocacy groups say the student should make the choice.



“It’s our position that an individual can state their gender identity,” said Carol Watchler, co-chair of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network for Central New Jersey.

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“We know that in many cases, when a person is very young, it’s the parents that are going to step forward and initiate some steps with the school,” she said. “We know there are some young people, as they move further along in their development, who are aware of themselves and of their gender identity -- but have not been able to receive the support of their parents. Or they have not sensed that they’re able to talk to their parents but are able to state what their gender identity is.

“The school must respect that, Watchler said. "The school is responsible for the safety and well-being of the young person.”



But groups who oppose the policy for transgender students say parental choice should be an important factor in any decision.



“Obviously, we’re definitely falling on the side of parents, parental rights, parental authority, and parents having a say in what happens to their children in public schools,” said Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, which is opposed to letting transgender students use bathrooms and other facilities that do not correspond with their biological sex.



“What we’re seeing and hearing and what the parents are saying is they are coming out to the meetings and the parents are being ignored and the school boards are just going ahead and enacting these policies,” Deo said.



Shawn Hyland, 39, president of Move the Earth Christian ministry, said, “Parents should have the final authority over the children in whatever locker or bathroom they might use." Hyland, who said his children attend private school, helped lead the petition drive opposing the transgender policy in the Toms River Regional School District.

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“It’s not just the parents of the transgender students that should be in this discussion, but the other parents who are now put into a very embarrassing, very compromising situation, of having their child have to take off their own clothes in front of the opposite biological sex,” Hyland told the Press.



For now, the Toms River school district is still evaluating the federal directive along with the policy it already had under consideration.



Tammi Millar, a spokeswoman for Toms River schools, said she didn’t know yet how the Justice and Education department memo would affect the district’s policy process. She said the guidance from the departments would be considered.







Millar said she did not know how many transgender students would be affected by any policy change. “I don’t know if we could tell you that. That’s a student privacy issue,” Millar said.



But a few miles away at Central Regional School District, Superintendent Tommy Parlapanides said that transgender students were already allowed to use the facilities of their choice.

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He said the district will use a policy crafted with assistance from Strauss-Esmay. “It’s the law,” Parlapanides said. “We’ll review the updates on policies and add the mandates in whatever they may be. We’ve had no problems or anything. We have a lot of bathrooms where it’s just one-person bathrooms. You go in by yourself. It’s just the nature of how the school is constructed.”

Sue Henderson, a guidance counselor at Ocean Township High School, said she thought the federal guidance would be easy for schools to implement. “I think schools needed some guidelines, I think they needed a push,” Henderson said.

Parlapanides said the Central Regional school district did not track how many transgender students were enrolled, but estimated there were “around five to 10.”



“It’s a non-issue," he said about the controversy. "We need to get back to education.”