Atlantic City School Superintendant LaQuetta Small is providing guidance to help transgender and gender nonconforming students feel safe and supported, in compliance with N.J.A.C. 6A:7-1.1 et seq.
AC School district personnel will avoid the phrase “sex change.” Gov Murphy and LaQuetta Small believe it’s an inaccurate description of the transition process.
Murphy and Small believe the process is more accurately described as “gender-confirming.”
Atlantic City parents afraid of calling Marty and LaQuetta Small… ‘groomers’.
Transgender Student Guidance for School Districts
Sexual Orientation describes a person’s enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another person.
Following the science. Can a man become a woman? Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. A transgender person may be straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or asexual. For example, a person who transitions from male to female and is attracted solely to men may identify as a straight woman.
Marty and LaQuetta Small Support Transgender Use of Female Restrooms and Locker Rooms.
Male students that identify as a woman, may use the ladies room. These biological males may also use woman’s locker rooms.
All students are entitled to have access to restrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities in accordance with their gender identity to allow for involvement in various school programs and activities.
School districts must allow a transgender student to use a restroom or locker room based on the student’s gender identity.
Marty and LaQuetta Small Support of Transgender Activities That May Harm Young Girls.
Boys that claim to be a girl, must be allowed to participate in girl’s sports.
Transgender is a term for an individual whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from those typically associated with the sex and gender assigned at birth.
Transition is the process by which a transgender person recognizes that their authentic gender identity is not the same as the gender assigned at birth, and develops a more affirming gender expression that feels authentic.
Some individuals socially transition, for example, through dress, use of names and/or pronouns. Some individuals may undergo a physical transition, which might include hormone treatments and surgery.
LGBTQ is an acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning.”
A school district shall accept a student’s asserted gender identity; parental consent is not required.
A student need not meet any threshold diagnosis or treatment requirements to have his or her gender identity recognized and respected by the district, school or school personnel. Nor is a legal or court-ordered name change required.
No duty for school district personnel to notify a student’s parent or guardian of the student’s gender identity or expression.
A parent or guardian may object to the minor student’s name change request.
School districts should consult their board attorney regarding the minor student’s civil rights and protections under the NJLAD.
School district personnel should have an open, but confidential discussion with the student to ascertain the student’s preference on matters such as chosen name, chosen pronoun to use, and parental communications.
• School districts shall ensure that a transgender student is addressed at school by the name and pronoun chosen by the student, regardless of whether a legal name change or change in official school records has occurred.
• School districts shall issue school documentation for a transgender student, such as student identification cards, in the name chosen by the student.
Gender Transitioning could include: puberty blockers, bottom and/or top surgery, hormone therapy.
School districts shall ensure that school counselors are knowledgeable regarding issues and concerns relevant to transgender students, students facing other gender identity issues, or students who may be transitioning.
Confidentiality and privacy, Atlantic City parents being kept in the dark?
School personnel may not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status except as allowed by law.
Schools are advised to work with the student to create an appropriate confidentiality plan regarding the student’s transgender or transitioning status.
A school district shall keep confidential a current, new, or prospective student’s transgender status. Schools should address the student using a chosen name; the student’s birth name should be kept confidential by school and district staf.
If a student has expressed a preference to be called by a name other than their birth name, permanent student records containing the student’s birth name should be kept in a separate, confidential file.
If the student has previously been known at school or in school records by a birth name, the principal should direct school personnel to use the student’s chosen name and not the student’s birth name.
shame on radio hosts that say that the governor is their friend just to inflate their ego so they can feel entitled.
Time to leave NJ. I wil NOT let my kids go to school here. PERIOD.
John Smith