There has been much debate over whether teachers should keep information about students’ gender or sexuality confidential, even if the student has said they don’t feel safe letting their parents know about it.
The policy in New Jersey is that teachers should honor such confidences, and polls show widespread support for that, but Steven Baker of the New Jersey Education Association said there are those who disagree.
“There have been moves in districts around New Jersey to repeal that policy and replace it with essentially forced outing policies, where if a teacher even suspects a student is expressing a different gender identity that they would be required to report that to the parent,” he said.
A recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows 54% percent say teachers should not be required by law to inform a student’s parents about their transgender identity if the student does not want it.
But an equal percentage of Republicans polled said teachers should be legally required to tell parents.
“That’s concerning, that’s really concerning, it concerns me that 54% of any group of adults would disregard the safety of students in that way,” he said.
He said teachers overwhelmingly support the state’s policy in this area.
“As we see time and time again in polling and elsewhere, a vast majority of voters, a vast majority of parents, share our belief and the belief of teachers that student safety has to remain as the top priority,” said Baker.