Legal Name (New Jersey)

This new tab offers districts an area to maintain accurate records for students who have changed their name. Based on the Transgender Student Guidance for School Districts (https://nj.gov/education/students/safety/sandp/transgender/Guidance.pdf) the NJDOE has established guidelines to provide direction for schools in addressing common issues concerning the needs of students, and to assist schools in establishing policies and procedures that ensure a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment.

The document states:

If a student has expressed a preference to be called by a name other than their birth name, permanent student records containing the student’s birth name should be kept in a separate, confidential file. This file should only be shared with appropriate school staff after consultation with a student. A separate file containing records bearing the student’s chosen name may also be kept.

Districts shall report to the New Jersey Department of Education through NJ SMART a student’s name or gender based upon that student’s chosen name and corresponding gender identity. Changing the name or gender identity from what was reported in previous years will not affect the reliability of the data reported.

If a district changes a student’s name or gender identity, it must also maintain locally a separate record reflecting the student’s legal name and sex assigned at birth until receipt of documentation of a legal change of name or gender.

WHO HAS ACCESS

Only users who are given the SIS: Student View Legal Name resource will be able to see the Legal Name tab.

HOW TO ACCESS

1. Click on the Student Info tab
2. Choose the People option
3. Open a student record
4. Click on the General tab
5. Scroll down to expose the sub-tabs
6. Click on the Legal Name tab

7. The fields included in the tab are:

   • Legal First Name
   • Legal Middle Name
   • Legal Last Name
   • Legal Prefix
   • Legal Suffix
   • Legal Gender

REPORTING

There are two reports:

• NJ Student Transcript Report
• NJ Student Transcript Report (Condensed)

These reports have the new Student Name Source parameter. This parameter allows you to choose to include students' Legal name or Default (Chosen) name in the report.