We want to help them win!
Local races for school board positions used to be dull. Mundane votes regarding budgets, spending, sports programs, and school policies were rarely attended by parents or community taxpayers. Then controversial laws and learning standards were handed down by the NJ Legislature, Governor Murphy, and NJ Department of Education, respectively. Parents quickly realized that what was once known as local public schools can now more accurately be described as state government schools.
However, strong school boards can still use their collective representative voice to maintain local control regarding the offensive Sex Ed learning standards and policy #5756 – Transgender student guidelines, developed by unelected state bureaucrats. At least 27 school boards, and probably more, have already rescinded policy #5756 that kept school officials from informing parents of their child’s mental and emotional health in relation to their gender identity.
If the revised “Freedom to Read” bill ever becomes law, local school boards will be thrust into the frontlines with final discretionary power to restrict access to age-inappropriate books. It will not be easy to face radical voices insisting these books remain available for young children. It will take creative solutions to adopt their own local policy based on the “guidance” from the eventual “model” policy that is still yet to be drafted.
What does this mean? We need public servants on school boards who want to implement the ideas and address the concerns of local parents – not organized activists bused in to intimidate the community.
The New Jersey Family Policy Center wants to help re-elect good current BOE members and help new candidates win this November. If you are running for school board and want us to feature you in an upcoming communication series, please contact our Director of Advocacy Shawn Hyland by emailing: shyland@njfpc.org
If you know someone who is running for school board this year, please forward this email to them. Our vetting process will require a short survey and a recommendation letter from a pastor or a clergy member. More details will be sent by email after completing the form.
Allan F. Wright,
Executive Director
