## Facts

- In 2018, the New Jersey Department of Education issued guidance stating that a student’s transgender status should generally be kept confidential and private.
- The 2018 guidance stated that schools had no affirmative duty to notify parents of a student’s transgender status and should not disclose that status unless required by “a specific and compelling need,” such as student health and safety or a bias-related crime incident.
- In 2019, the Hanover Township Board of Education adopted a school policy intended to create a safe and inclusive environment for transgender students, consistent with the 2018 confidentiality guidance.
- In 2023, the Board adopted a new policy requiring staff to notify a student’s parent(s) if a staff member learned facts or circumstances that “may have a material impact” on the student’s physical health, mental health, safety, or emotional well-being.
- The 2023 policy identified as reportable, among other subjects, a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and whether the student was transitioning.
- Public comments attributed to Board members were cited as indicating the policy’s purpose was to require parental notification when a school learned a student was gay or transgender—i.e., to “out” the student.
- The policy contemplated that if the school believed telling the parent might result in abuse or neglect, staff still had to inform the parent but would also notify the appropriate state authorities.
- In May 2023, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, Sundeep Iyer, filed an administrative complaint with the Division on Civil Rights alleging that the 2023 policy unlawfully discriminated against students based on protected characteristics, including gender identity.
- The same day, Platkin and Iyer filed this Superior Court (Chancery Division) complaint seeking a temporary injunction to stop enforcement of the 2023 policy until the administrative matter was resolved.
- The complaint alleged the policy treated LGBTQ+ students differently than other students, subjected them to heightened monitoring, and created a risk of unwanted disclosure to family or peers.
- The complaint further alleged that forced disclosure conflicted with the State’s 2018 confidentiality guidance, denied students a safe learning environment, and created risks to students’ mental and physical health, including increased suicide risk.
- The complaint asserted that any compelled disclosure could not be undone and would cause serious harm, justifying temporary restraints and preliminary injunctive relief while the Division on Civil Rights decided the underlying discrimination claims.

## Issues

1. Whether the court should issue temporary restraints and a preliminary injunction preventing Hanover Township from implementing or enforcing its 2023 parent-notification policy while the Division on Civil Rights adjudicated the State’s administrative LAD complaint.
2. Whether the State was likely to succeed on its claim that the 2023 policy unlawfully treated students differently based on characteristics protected by the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, including sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
3. Whether the State’s alleged harms—especially compelled disclosure of a student’s LGBTQ+ status and resulting safety and health risks—qualified as immediate and non-compensable harm warranting interim equitable relief.

## Decision

- This Quimbee excerpt summarizes a complaint seeking a temporary injunction; it is not a final merits decision and does not provide a court’s holding or rule of law.
- In the complaint, the Attorney General and the Director of the Division on Civil Rights asked the Chancery Division to temporarily bar Hanover Township’s Board of Education and public schools from enforcing the 2023 parent-notification policy until the related administrative discrimination case was resolved.

## Legal Principles

- The complaint relied on the New Jersey Department of Education’s 2018 guidance that a student’s transgender status should be treated as confidential and that schools generally have no duty to notify parents absent a specific and compelling need tied to safety or a comparable concern.
- The complaint’s legal theory was grounded in the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination’s protections against unequal treatment based on protected characteristics, including sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, in the context of public education.
- The complaint treated compelled disclosure (“outing”) as a form of harm that cannot be repaired after the fact, because once private information is disclosed, confidentiality cannot be restored.
- The complaint invoked ordinary equitable standards for temporary restraints and preliminary injunctions, arguing that interim relief was necessary to prevent immediate harm and preserve the pre-policy status quo while the Division on Civil Rights addressed the discrimination claims in the administrative forum.
- The complaint linked the risk of disclosure to alleged safety, mental-health, and physical-health consequences for affected students, including elevated self-harm risk, as part of its showing of urgent harm.

## Conclusion

In *Platkin v. Hanover Township Board of Education*, the New Jersey Attorney General and the Director of the Division on Civil Rights filed a Chancery Division complaint seeking temporary and preliminary injunctive relief to stop Hanover Township from enforcing a 2023 policy requiring staff to inform parents about a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or transition status, arguing that the policy conflicted with State confidentiality guidance, treated LGBTQ+ students differently under the LAD, and risked serious harms that could not be fixed after disclosure.


Platkin v. Hanover Township Board of Education, Morris County Docket No. C-000042-23 (2023)