NJ Education Board removes gender labels from equity policy despite parental objections.
The New Jersey Education Board Adopts Gender-Neutral Policy
The New Jersey Education Board made a significant change last week by adopting an equity policy that promotes inclusivity and replaces the terms “female and male” with the gender-neutral term “all” when referring to students.
The board’s approval of the equity policy came after a narrow 6-5 vote on Wednesday, as reported by New Jersey Spotlight News.
The new policy, which can be found here, replaces the phrase “minority, female and male” with “all” students, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity in education.
During the board meeting, parental rights advocates packed the room to protest the changes and urged the board to vote against the equity policy. One group, Protect Your Children, with 5,000 members across New Jersey, voiced their concerns.
Following the adoption of the policy, some parental rights advocates reportedly threatened lawsuits, expressing their disagreement with the new approach.
At one point during the meeting, board member Mary Beth Berry said, “locals want parental rights,” prompting cheers from the audience.
More than 850 people submitted public comments on the equity policy, with some expressing support and others expressing their disapproval.
One commenter quoted C.S. Lewis, stating, “a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive,” and criticized the changes to the equity policy as being “anti-biology.”
In response to one commenter, the department emphasized that gender identity and gender are more complex than suggested by the commenters.
Another commenter argued that the changes go beyond the state board’s authority and warned of potential legal challenges.
Yet another commenter expressed concern that the removal of “gender” would have a “devastating” effect on the education of New Jersey’s children and would remove girls as a protected class, urging the Education Department not to take a “rash and radical stance.”
The policy defines equity as “students having the opportunity to master the goals of the curriculum in an educational environment that is fair, just, and impartial to all individuals.” It emphasizes consistent and systematic access to curriculum, resources, instruction, and environments for all students to ensure excellent outcomes.
According to the outlet, Democrat Governor Phil Murphy’s office stated that the equity code has been protecting students based on sexual orientation and gender identity since 2003.
However, Republican lawmakers in New Jersey disagreed, arguing that the state should not create divisions between parents, teachers, and students.
“All kids deserve the opportunity to succeed in-and-out of the classroom, but the best way to ensure this success is by bringing their parents, teachers, and local school administrators together, not by driving a wedge between them,” said Republican state Senator Anthony Bucco, the minority leader.
The state education board approves an equity policy every seven years. The previous equity policy would have expired on August 29, according to the governor’s office.
Gender transitions at school have become a contentious issue for many parents across the country, including in New Jersey. In June, New Jersey’s attorney general filed civil rights complaints against three school districts over their parental notification policies regarding gender, which require schools to inform parents if their children express a desire to change their names or pronouns or request to use the bathroom of the opposite sex.
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