These powerful words were spoken by a Middletown resident at the June 20, 2023 Middletown Board of Education voting meeting directed at Frank Capone, Middletown Township BOE President, ahead of the vote that puts the safety of transgender students at risk by “outing” them to their parents and school community.
“As you leave school and move on to the next chapter in your life, I encourage you to remain true to yourself, never lose sight of your goals, and most importantly, never give up,” said Mr. Capone. “The road ahead may not always be smooth, but with determination, courage and wisdom, you will overcome any obstacle that stands in your way.” That’s what I heard at graduation this year and honestly I can’t believe you were talking to all students knowing the policy that you had revised because Right now the obstacles that stand in the way of your Transgender students is you! This community has stayed “true” to themselves, they have had the real “courage” it takes to walk through those doors everyday despite whispers and bullying. The goals of these students is to be able to learn in an environment without threat of being exposed and opened up to mental and physical abuse that could be brought upon them by your harmful policy changes.
Perhaps you forgot the code of ethics when you took this job and need to be reminded. The Board member will:
Make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability, race, creed, sex, or social standing.
Perhaps you also forgot when Middletown was on the wrong side back in 2014 when a child at Thorne Middle School came back from summer vacation dressed as the opposite gender she was assigned at birth. Middletown Board of Education refused to let her back in school dressed in a skirt. There was a legal battle and Middletown lost not only money but was seen nationally as the school who discriminated against a child who just wanted to live authentically as herself.
Don’t make this mistake again and put Middletown students back in the spotlight for such a hateful and disgusting policy. You will only end up using taxpayers money to wage the war of a few citizens that have no real interest in the welfare and safety of all of Middletown’s students.
You will also be known as the school district who violated our students civil rights under Title 9:
The department’s Office for Civil Rights states, “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation.”
So if this policy passes tonight Middletown board of education will be in for a fight and i will take the advice Mr. Capone gave to our graduates this year I will stay true to myself and with determination and courage I will never give up on making sure this policy never harms our children.”
Sloan Timson
Let the BOE know your thoughts on this matter…..
Ms Sloan Timson Speaking
To see the full policy here and what was deleted and what was added click here
Middletown Township BOE
District Policy
5756 – TRANSGENDER STUDENTS (M)
Section: Students
Date Created: May 2019
Date Edited: May 2019
Transgender Student Guidance for School Districts
https://middletownk12org-22-us-east1-01.preview.finalsitecdn.com/uploaded/5_23_23_Workshop_Voting_Meeting/Policy_-1_REVISED_5.23.23.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2_KISnP4KDN8TXN9M2I-E09WPctD6fSW1k7-qtG2o5zbFFt1K24BZ7CeY&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
Adopted: 1 May 2019
For reference:
USA Today:Transgender teen may go to other schools
N.J. school board meeting erupts as district votes to change transgender student guidelines
Asbury Park Press: New policies targeting transgender students roil some Monmouth County schools
