Vin Gopal: We need curriculum transparency

By Rubashov

We need transparency and open government. Patrick Henry said, “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”

We need transparency about what is being taught to school children and what government is paying contractors to create the materials to teach them. The concealment of the truth exposes government’s lack of respect for parents and taxpayers.

Democracy is impossible without transparency.

Senator Vin Gopal seems to agree. This is important, because Senator Gopal is the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He recently posted:

In response to multiple articles relating to curriculum education in our schools, I have read through the 66 pages of the Department of Education Guidelines '2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards - Comprehensive Health and Physical Education' as well have spoken in detail with New Jersey Acting Commissioner of Education Angelica Allen-McMillan. Here is what I have learned:

1) Much of what I read in these articles is not in the guidelines. There is generic language on identifying gender roles and treating all kids, regardless or their gender, with respect. Anything that is more specific than that is coming from a specific Board of Education locally.

2) According to the Department of Education Commissioner, these guidelines are not being mandated - they are recommended. It is up to a local board of education to use them if they want but they don't have to.

3) According to the Department of Education Commissioner, any parent can opt their kids out of this if they choose to. I have re-confirmed this with our Monmouth County representative to the State Board of Education which approves the adopted guidelines.

Given the amount of misinformation out there and questions coming from parents, as Senate Education Chair, I have formally called on the Department of Education and the Governor's office to provide clarity on all of these items and issue it publicly before any further action is taken on implementation.

This is an important public admission from a majority party politician. You can read the full post here:

https://www.facebook.com/100003265460331/posts/4911458728972927/?d=n

As a starting point, let’s remember how we got here. After extensive lobbying by activists – including Governor Phil Murphy's wife, Tammy – the New Jersey State Board of Education, in a split vote taken in 2020, adopted new “Comprehensive Health and Physical Education 2.1 Personal and Mental Health by the End of Grade 5” learning standards. The New Jersey Department of Education instructed local boards of education to consider this new curriculum a mandate for the 2021-2022 school year.

What is the New Jersey State Board of Education? It is a state government agency. According to its website (www.nj.gov/education/sboe/):

The New Jersey State Board of Education has 13 members who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the New Jersey State Senate. These members serve without compensation for six-year terms. By law, at least three members of the State Board must be women, and no two members may be appointed from the same county.

The Commissioner of Education serves as both the secretary and as its official agent for all purposes. The State Board also has a nonvoting student representative selected annually by the New Jersey Association of Student Councils.

The State Board adopts the administrative code, which sets the rules needed to implement state education law. Such rules cover the supervision and governance of the state’s 2,500 public schools, which serve 1.38 million students. In addition, the State Board advises on educational policies proposed by the Commissioner and confirms Department of Education staff appointments made by the Commissioner.

The State Board conducts public meetings in Trenton on the first Wednesday of each month. The State Board Office publishes an agenda in advance of each meeting to notify the public of the items that the State Board will be considering.

The public is invited to participate by providing comments on proposed rules either at a public testimony session or by submitting written comments on proposed rules.

Proposed rules for education in the state are also published in the New Jersey Register. Written comments on proposed rules are accepted 30 to 60 days following publication in the Register and may be sent to the State Board office at the Department of Education.

The Minutes of the June 3, 2020, meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Education read:

Resolved, the State Board of Education reaffirms its commitment to ensuring the Standards both set expectations for and meet the needs of New Jersey’s students and by adoption of this resolution hereby directs school districts to integrate the New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Visual and Performing Arts, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Computer Science and Design Thinking, World Languages, and Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills in kindergarten through grade 12; and be it further

Resolved, the State Board of Education hereby directs that the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Visual and Performing Arts, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Computer Science and Design Thinking, World Languages, and Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills will serve as standards of quality for public school students in kindergarten through grade 12 programs in New Jersey; and be it further

Resolved, district boards of education shall fully comply with this resolution and shall implement the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science, Visual and Performing Arts, World Languages, and Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills by September 2021 and Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Social Studies, and Computer Science and Design Thinking by September 2022, align their curricula with the standards, and ensure students learn and are assessed as required by federal law; and be it further

The entire Minutes of the June 3, 2020, Meeting can be accessed here:

www.nj.gov/education/sboe/meetings/minutes/2020/June%203,%202020.pdf

If the above sounds like religious training, that's because it is.

Taxpayer-supported, faith-based assumptions.

A revolutionary Elite is getting paid by government to erase the past and replace it with some pseudo-religious vision of how things should be.

Nobody voted for this. It isn’t popular.

To paraphrase Joseph Stalin (and this is the view from Trenton): A single act of bullying is a tragedy, a million people bullied is a statistic.