New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy doesn’t think parents have a right to know of major decisions their kids make at school about their gender identities — even as the state pressures staffs to honor the kids’ choices.
Children (whose brains aren’t even fully developed) know best, the Murphy folks believe.
It’s beyond outrageous.
State Attorney General Matthew Platkin actually went to court Tuesday to stop three districts — in Middletown, Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown — from requiring schools to notify Mom and Dad if their kids want to switch genders.
Platkin got an injunction against such policies back in June; the judge in Tuesday’s hearing will decide any day whether the three districts can go ahead anyway until the larger case is decided.
Under New Jersey law, kids can claim to be any sex they choose — and schools must accommodate them, letting them use any corresponding bathroom, locker room, etc.
Even without parental consent.
That’s radical enough: After all, teachers need parental permission for everything from administering medicine to showing movies to offering snacks.
Worse, though, Team Murphy thinks schools shouldn’t even have to tell parents about their kids’ decisions — rather, teachers and other staff should actively deceive Mom and Dad.
Indeed, the issue arose last year when teachers were found to be using one name at school on standardized tests and another on the tests sent home to keep parents from finding out.
Telling a parent, Murphy and Platkin pretend, would be “outing” the child, an act of discrimination — even though everyone at school (and so, much of the entire community) would know, since that’s what the kid wants.
Parents clearly disagree: “I firmly believe that teachers choosing to withhold this type of information about my child is morally wrong,” Caterina Skalaski told The Post.
“I do not, will not ever co-parent with the government.”
The Marlboro school board’s attorney, Marc Zitomer, argues: “Keeping parents in the dark about important issues involving their children is counterintuitive and contrary to well-established Supreme Court case law that says that parents have a constitutional right to direct and control the upbringing of their children.”
Moms and dads point out that they can’t help their kids if they don’t know what is happening.
Duh. Parents need school support, not the silent treatment.
New Jersey should be moving to encourage parents’ involvement, not keeping secrets from them.
Let teachers worry about teaching; parents have every right to do the parenting.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
