[News] [NJ, USA] Pascack Valley to codify parents' role in transgender transition

[Stephanie Stevens]

NorthJersey.com, NJ, USA


Pascack Valley to codify parents' role in transgender transition

Catherine Carrera, Staff Writer, @CattCarrera

6:38 p.m. EST December 2, 2016


MONTVALE — Transgender students in the Pascack Valley Regional High School District have been able to use the restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity since April, when the board adopted a policy spelling out their rights.

Now, the school board wants to codify parents' role in that process.

The board is expected to vote Monday on an amendment to the district's transgender policy that states a student would have access to his or her desired restrooms and locker rooms after a consultation with the child's parent. In effect, this puts in writing what the district has already been doing, according to Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen.

“If a student makes a public enough decision that they’re going to start using new restrooms and locker rooms, their parents need to be made aware," Gundersen said.

But if a student objects to a consultation with parents, Gundersen said the district would respect his or her wishes. Further, if a student's parents were consulted and they did not agree with their child’s decision, the district would still allow the student to use the facilities he or she wishes to use, he said.

The board feels parents will inevitably learn about their child’s transgender status by word of mouth, he said.

“We believe it’s more important for a parent to find out about their child’s transgender status by having a productive conversation with us facilitating that conversation,” Gundersen said. The parents’ reaction “would most likely not be as positive” if they hear about their child’s transgender status by the rumor mill, he said.

Experts have said that privacy protections for transgender students are important, given high suicide and homelessness rates among transgender children whose families do not support them.

Of 62 North Jersey high school districts, 47 have transgender policies in place, The Record reported last month. Pascack Valley is one of 10 that provided privacy for transgender students even from parents.

The board proposed the new language in part as a response to parents who were concerned that they would be excluded under the original policy from the process of a student's transition, Board President Jeffrey Steinfeld said.

But, said Steinfeld, "the modified language doesn't change the fundamental purpose of the policy. The policy remains first and foremost a policy to protect our students."


http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/education/2016/12/02/pascack-valley-codify-parents-role-transgender-transition/94299140/