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Parents and residents press Edison board to rescind policy 5756 and broaden STEM access
Summary
Multiple public commenters urged the Edison board to rescind policy 5756 (concerning gender-identity handling in schools) and asked for expanded, fairer STEM admissions; speakers cited parental rights, student safety and equity while the district said it has expanded STEM seats and will provide more information at upcoming meetings.
Several residents used the public-comment period to press the Edison Township Board of Education on two related topics: district policy 5756 (the policy referenced by commenters regarding gender-identity practices) and access to selective academic pathways.
Kim Lling, who identified herself as a parent and former teacher, urged the board to rescind policy 5756, calling it "a catalyst to separate the child from the parent" and arguing that teachers and social workers should not be empowered to withhold information from parents. "Policy 5756 breaks that trust that is required to have a solid teacher-parent relationship," Lling told the board.
Religious and safety-focused objections were voiced by other speakers. Anthony Mara said the policy "keeps parents in the dark" and urged the board to abolish it. He framed his remarks in religious terms and raised hypothetical safety risks described during public comment.
On STEM access, resident Tarendra Lakhankar asked the district to expand the applicant pool for selective pathways (biomedical and STEM academies) and to allow more students to take qualifying assessments. The district said it recently increased STEM seats from 24 to 48, opened assessments to eligible students who had not taken geometry and administers a rubric to evaluate candidates. "We opened this up to every eligible eighth grade student regardless of path," an administrator said, noting additional pathways will be launched in 2026–27 to provide more opportunities for students who do not perform well on tests.
District leaders said policy and program details will be presented at the next meeting and urged commenters to review the formal presentations. The board did not take any immediate action to rescind or change policy 5756 during the meeting; speakers requested that the board formally review the policy and consider parental-notification changes.
