Large NJ school district Edison reverses course, keeps state trans policy

🔳 NJ school district backs off dropping policy on trans students

🔳 Edison among largest districts that considered ignoring state guidance

🔳 4 hours of public comment at meeting

EDISON — One of New Jersey’s largest public school districts reversed course — opting to keep the state’s recommendation in place for handling transgender students without notifying parents or guardians of a child’s preference for gender identity.

The Edison School Board of Education initially voted 5-3 on a motion to repeal policy 5756 at its Sept. 30 meeting, with one of the board’s nine members missing.

The item had not been on the agenda that night and the lack of public comment was criticized by supporters of the policy.

A month later, it was a much different scene.

Read More: NJ school district votes to drop state guidance on trans students 

For four continuous hours on Tuesday night, speakers gave comments both in support of the policy and some against it.

Some were residents of Edison — while others both for and against the policy came from further New Jersey communities, including Montclair, Mountainside, Colts Neck, Neptune and Old Bridge.

One man who favored rolling back the policy also gave a suggestion: give everyone three minutes to speak next time — “we’ll be home quicker.”

The board then voted 6-3 to keep the state policy on the district's books, which also followed advice from outside counsel, as MyCentralJersey reported.

Edison Township School District has nearly 17,000 students across 20 schools, making it the fifth largest New Jersey district, according to its website.

Garden State Equality, the state’s leading LGBTQ+ organization, applauded the move.

Over a year ago, the state Attorney General’s Office confirmed that the orders from Gov. Phil Murphy were actually "guidance," when it came to following a student’s wishes on gender preference, without notifying parents of a change.

SEE ALSO: 'Bombshell' admission over NJ school trans policy 

In fall 2023, Hanover’s school board was the first in New Jersey to approve rescinding state guidance policy 5756 — followed by Colts Neck and Lacey Township.

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