Colts Neck Board Adopts Parents’ Bill of Rights Amid Clash With State Guidelines

COLTS NECK – The township board of education just adopted a “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” reinforcing what it says is a longstanding policy.

“Parental rights will remain at the forefront of every decision we make,” is how Angelique Volpe, the board president, put it. The policy was unanimously adopted at the board’s Nov. 19 meeting.

The Monmouth County town has a population of just under 10,000 and about 1,000 students in a K-8 district.

Here are the key provisions:

Parents should have access to student records, including if their child changes pronouns, their preferred name, and use of gender-specific facilities, like bathrooms and locker rooms.

Parents should have a right to consent to or decline any mental or physical health services offered through the school, including counseling groups and mentoring programs.
Parents should have a right to opt their children out of health and sex education.
Parents should have the right to opt their children out of lessons that contradict their values or religious beliefs, like health curriculum.
Parents have a right to safe, secure schools and for information about those safeguards.
Parents have a right to protect their children’s personal information – like gender identity, religious affiliation and sexual orientation –  from research surveys and third-party software.

The problem, according to a number of critics who spoke at the meeting, is that the policy may conflict with state guidelines.

The New Jersey Department of Education through a policy known as 5756 advises school districts to protect a student’s privacy in regard to the pronouns they wish to use and how they dress. These principles are also protected by the state’s law against discrimination.

Supporters of the parents’ rights initiative said it mandates that parents should know what’s happening with their children in schools.

Opponents argued that may sound good in theory, but not necessarily in practice.

For example, some students wrestling with their sexuality may feel more comfortable discussing such things with a teacher or adviser than their parents.

One critic said the adopted policy may be “psychologically damaging” to some students. Another said the board should consider what’s best for students.

Nothing happens in a vacuum and the issue of how schools handle sexuality reverberates across the state.

Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican candidate for governor, made returning public education to the “basics” part of his campaign. He often said that sensitive topics should be discussed at the kitchen table, not in school.

His defeat, however, suggests state policy in this regard may not change, thereby keeping the issue in front of local boards of education.

The action in Colts Neck was also criticized as “a direct attack on the rights of the LGBTQ/transgender” community by the New Jersey Public Education Coalition, a progressive public interest group

By William Swanson, Special to The Central Observer