Mrs. Bowen Continues to Lie

Patti Bowen once again makes a concerted effort to “just ask questions” as a way to mislead the public on the district’s transgender student policy.

First she wanted to know the origins of the transgender student policy, she wanted to know what the ramifications would be if we just ignored the state requirements, she wanted to know where each board member stood with respect to transgender rights. Then, she provided a 50 page document with proposed changes, mostly sourced from anti-LGBT organizations, to eliminate any mention of gender within the transgender student policy. Then, she was concerned with the lack of any legal obligation for the school district to notify parents about students who wish to be referred to by a different name or with a different pronoun. Then, she was concerned about if the school district would intentionally lie to parents. And now, she’s concerned with language in the guidelines which she claims are “directing school staff to report parents to DCPP.”

It doesn’t. Oddly, Mrs. Bowen actually quotes the policy directly in her latest blog post. It states “many support resources are available through advocacy groups and resources from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families and New Jersey Department of Education’s ‘Child Abuse, Neglect, and Missing Children’ webpage.”

What does the DCF website provide? Resources which support members of the LGBTQI+ community. These are support resources. A list of organizations which can help members of the community for which Mrs. Bowen expresses such abject disdain. Organizations such as The Anti-Violence Project, Babs Siperstein PROUD Center, Edge New Jersey, Garden State Equality, the Trevor Project, and more. These are all resources which a school district may reach out to for help and assistance, to which they can direct students who may not have a supportive environment at home, and who may be abused or neglected because of their gender. 

But, if a child, any child, is subject to abuse or neglect, it is absolutely the school district’s obligation to file a report with the appropriate authorities. That Mrs. Bowen would question the school’s obligation to protect children is frankly alarming. 

In Madison, there were 38 households where both parents signed a petition demanding changes to the health and public education curriculum. Those changes were predominantly focused on the LGBT community. At least 38 households in Madison where students who are members of the LGBT community may, at best, have no support and where school may be the only safe environment. 

But, Mrs. Bowen is equally curious about the confidential nature of a student’s request to be referred to by another name or to use particular pronouns. It appears she is acutely unaware that students have rights, independent of their parents. School districts have an obligation to follow the NJ Law Against Discrimination. NJLAD includes “gender identity or expression” as a protected class. Were the district to not respect the requests of a student to be called by a different name or to use particular pronouns, they would be in violation of state law. The NJ Department of Education has made it abundantly clear that the transgender student guidance follows directly from NJLAD. 

From the onset of Mrs. Bowen’s infatuation with this policy, she has made it abundantly clear she is unwilling to do any research to answer the questions she poses to the Board of Education. 

It is frankly shameful that Mrs. Bowen continues to waste the time and energy of the Madison Public School District and the Board of Education demanding responses to her questions which reflect little more than her inability to comprehend the policy without hand holding and demonstrate little more than her abject bigotry toward members of the LGBT community.