Father sues over school district policy allowing students to change names, pronouns without parental consent

PHILADELPHIA -- In the latest growing battle over parental rights in New Jersey, a Cherry Hill father has filed a lawsuit over a policy that doesn’t notify parents when transgender students change their name or preferred pronoun.

If successful, the federal lawsuit by Rick Short challenging the policy in the South Jersey school system could have statewide implications. He contends the guidelines, modeled after a state policy, violate his rights as a parent.

“I don’t agree with the policy,” Short said. “To me, it’s so out of whack that a parent doesn’t have the right to know what’s going on in their child’s life. I just want to know.”

Cherry Hill, the 12th-largest school system in the state with about 12,000 students, adopted what it described as a “student-centered” transgender policy in 2019 that accepts “a student’s asserted gender identity.” Parental consent is not required, according to the policy.

“A transgender student shall be 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,” according to the policy.

In the lawsuit, filed Oct. 12 in U.S. District Court in Camden, Short is seeking to rescind the policy or add a provision that requires parental involvement.

Barbara Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Cherry Hill district, declined comment, citing the pending litigation.

A policy under fire across the state

Many of New Jersey’s nearly 600 public school districts have used the state’s transgender policy, known as Policy 5756, to draft local guidelines. The policy...