Pennacchio, Testa, Webber on Parental Rights
What does your legislature Say? And review of State BOE
We're doing a series of interviews with various State Legislators this week to focus on what the voters must do by voting on Tuesday to change the direction of education policy in NJ. While we wish we could honestly tell you that good people on both sides of the political aisle that support Parental Rights, that is unfortunately untrue. We'd love to interview a Democrat who stands with us, if you can find one. That should inform you as to how important it is to VOTE NEXT TUESDAY - especially for school board. Visit NJProject.org to Find parent’s Choice BOE candidates.
PLEASE SHARE THESE INTERVIEWS WITH FRIENDS AROUND THE STATE BY EMAIL AND SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE NEXT TUESDAY.
Joe Pennacchio LD26
Senator Pennacchio represents 12 towns in Morris County, effective this election and the changeover in the legislature in January. We discussed this morning's State Board of Education meeting, Parental Rights, and the forces behind the indoctrination of our children as a result of laws passed by the Democratic legislature and signed by Governor Murphy. Many of them came about during the COVID shutdowns, when we were focusing on other important matters.
Thank you, Senator Joe, for your support for Parental Authority, and for being willing to speak common sense - a commodity that seems to be greatly lacking in Trenton!
Jay Webber LD26
Asm. Jay Webber, from Morris County's 26th District, to discuss a topic that is arguably the most prominent issue of next week's general election - the rights of local school boards and parents to direct the education of their children in the public schools.
From a purely factual standpoint, Governor Murphy, along with his Attorney General Matt Platkin, have stood against parental rights. Four NJ school districts are being sued, for trying to pass a parental rights policy or amend the Transgender policy 5756 to include notification of parents if their child sought to change the name of their school registration, or asked to use a bathroom or locker room that differed from their biological sex.
Interestingly, one of the school boards that the Governor and the AG have sued over the Transgender policy is the Governor's hometown of Middletown. Hanover Twp. is still in litigation for a plain-language Parental rights policy that would require a school district:
"To promptly inform a student’s parent(s) whenever a student discloses an issue and/or exhibits behaviors that may have an adverse impact on the student’s physical and/or mental health, safety and or social/emotional well-being."
At a court hearing in August, the judge in the Hanover case compelled the State's attorney to admit that the State's Transgender Policy 5756 was NOT mandatory, and Hanover immediately repealed its policy. Manalapan, Marlboro, and Middletown are still being sued for previously trying to amend Policy 5756. Since then, other school districts have acted to repeal their policy, passed back in 2019, and have NOT been sued.
Perhaps the actions of these Boards of Education sound radical to you. It sounds like common sense to a lot of us, and completely in line with past legal and Constitutional precedent that says that parents have authority to direct the education of their children.
Mike Testa LD1
Senator Mike Testa hails from South Jersey LD 1, representing all of Cape May County, and parts of Atlantic and Cumberland Counties. Mike has been in the Senate since 2019, and serves on the Judiciary Committee, the Joint Committee on Education, and the Budget and Appropriations committee. He is an attorney.
Mike is a strong advocate for children and parents, and has a number of excellent bills that would stand a chance of passing, if the NJ Legislature would ever pass out of the total control of the Democrats, from which it has suffered for the last 19 years. There was only a Republican Governor (Christie) for eight of those years. The rest of that time, NJ residents have endured a Trifecta of Democratic leadership, that controlled both houses of the Legislature and the Governor's office. One might think we're a wee bit overdue for a change!
The Education bills sponsored by Senator Testa include bills to:
1. Require parents to provide legal documents to allow for a name change of their child.
2. Allow vouchers for non-public schools if parents object to the learning material in their public school.
3. Support "Fairness in Women's Sports" Act
4. Prohibit Critical Race Theory in public schools, and prohibit teachers from engaging in political, ideological, or religious advocacy
5. Create Education Savings accounts (ESA's) for parents in districts requiring face masks or providing no in-person instruction.
Like Asm. Webber, Sen. Testa strongly supports the rights of parents to be informed about events at school regarding a child's change in name or gender. He opposes books in libraries that would cause an adult showing such material to a child outside of school to be arrested under Megan's law. He believes that the State Board of Education needs to be reigned in, as it no longer advocates for the best education of children and parents. The Ch. 7 Amendments that were recently passed abolished the term "Equality" in Education, replacing it with "Equity" - a term that many believe will result in a leveling down of educational excellence. They also eliminate "gendered pronouns".
We also talked about the "black apple" signs that have popped up across the State for school board candidates. These candidates are funded and supported by Action Together NJ - a 100% Democrat-supported PAC, which, we would suggest, doesn't really tell you what policies these candidates support.
Update on State School Board Meeting
At Wednesday's State School Board meeting, Board member Andrew Mulvihill, from Sussex County, made a motion to ask the Commissioner to allow the Board to reconsider its recent adoption of Amendments to Chapter 7, "Equality and Equity in Education". Those educational standards will now require sex education classes to be divided accorded to a child's chosen gender identity, not by biological sex. Gendered pronouns are also removed, as well as the word "Equality" in educational standards (that's in the Declaration of Independence).
The discussion that followed the motion fell along partisan lines, with several of the conservative board members supporting the motion to re-open discussion on the Standards, and others either denying the effects of the new standards, or defending the need for "protected classes" to not be singled out for discrimination. Those "protected classes" did NOT include children who identify according to their biological sex, especially females, who might not like to attend a sex ed class with a biological male. In the end, the motion to re-open discussion failed 4-5, with President Kathy Goldenberg abstaining.
During the discussion, it became clear that some Board members not only had no concern for children or parents who believe that Sex is biological, but they also completely dismissed the concerns of legislators of BOTH political parties, including the Democratic leadership in both the Assembly and Senate. After the August adoption, these leaders chastised the board publicly for not consulting them on this matter, and asserted that they stood for parents' rights. Unfortunately, those statements seem to have become empty words.
The State Board meetings take place in Trenton the first Wednesday of each month. Please contact us if you would like to attend the next meeting on December 6. While few parents and citizens attend these meetings, this (and the Legislature) is where all the bad stuff comes from. As the saying goes, "If you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat". No pressure, no change. Only the citizens can do this.
Yes, I've heard Testa talk, we need more like him🙏
I read a message somewhere that Senator Andrew Zwicker's real name is Post-Zwicker. He is related to Tracey Post whose real name is Post-Zwicker (siblings?). Tracey Post was on the board of directors at HiTops, the company behind the scandal (uncovered by Project Veritas) indoctrinating children to being transgender. She has run summer camps for trans children (yes, children) and evidently has a long history working for Planned Parenthood. Andrew works with the Aspen Institute, a think tank for elites. Part of its mission is to solve world population growth. Shouldn't voters know this about Andrew? Why did he and his sister change their name? What is their agenda? Why are they pushing trans ideology on New Jersey's children?