Progressives are still failing to read the room when it comes to parental rights. After years of indoctrinating their children and implementing policies designed to keep parents in the dark about what is happening in the classroom, the blowback hasn’t fazed them one bit.
Indeed, even after Terry McAuliffe tanked his gubernatorial campaign in Virginia after insisting parents should not have much of a say in how their children are educated, they have not learned their lesson. A story out of New Jersey is the latest in a series of examples in which the hard left continues to argue that parents should keep their mouths shut when it comes to the schools tasked with educating their kids.
Fox News reported:
A lawyer for a school board in New Jersey gave his interpretation of the law at a recent board meeting, in which he said parents do not have a right to decide the curriculum schools teach to their children.
At a Lawrence Township Board of Education meeting on October 19, lawyer John Comegno said the right of parents “is not to dictate what their children are taught, it is to determine where they attend.”
“In public schools, we have curriculum that is aligned with New Jersey state learning standards,” Comegno said.
“But please know… if your students attend these awesome schools, they’re going to be instructed in this curriculum, which is consistent with state learning standards,” the lawyer added. “That’s not binding. If you choose to have your child attend elsewhere, that’s your right. That’s your right as a parent.”
Comegno’s remarks were in response to criticism coming from parents regarding the school district’s transgender policy, which was imposed in 2016. The measure “generally makes it unlawful for schools to subject individuals to differential treatment based on gender identity or expression.”
It mandates that schools “accept a student’s asserted gender identity” and that “parental consent is not required.”
“A student need not meet any threshold diagnosis or treatment requirements to have his or her gender identity recognized and respected by the school district, school, or school staff members,” the policy explains. “In addition, a legal or court-ordered name change is not required. There is no affirmative duty for any school district staff member to notify a student’s parent of the student’s gender identity or expression.”
During the public comment segment of the Board of Education meeting, residents excoriated the district for “encouraging children to question their gender and for the controversial books taught to students as early as kindergarten,” according to Fox News.
In pure Marxist fashion, the verbiage of the law categorizes this matter under “discrimination.”
It’s nothing more than clever wordplay because nobody wants to see LGBTQ students discriminated against. However, the notion that keeping a kid’s gender identity issues from the parents is about discrimination is ludicrous on its face. The fact that they are employing such a policy while simultaneously encouraging transgenderism in the classroom illustrates their true intention: to indoctrinate children into far-leftist ideology related to gender identity.
While the district insists it does not facilitate medical or surgical treatments among minors, they are overseeing the social transition of children who might be suffering from gender dysphoria. This mirrors policies adopted by school districts all across the country – even in red states.
Even worse, New Jersey does not have much of a school choice program, contrary to what Comegno asserted during the meeting. Parents can move their children to public schools in other districts, but there are no voucher programs in which taxpayer funding follows the students. This means that unless a family is wealthy, they are largely unable to enroll their children in private schools.
Since most of the state’s public institutions are likely pushing this progressive propaganda, simply moving one’s child to another school is not a viable solution. Democrats are well aware of this, which is why they feel so emboldened to use these measures to continue indoctrinating students. When you have people in leadership who believe children belong to the state, not the parents, this is what you end up with.
