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.

Democrats target another college trustee over Free Speech

Rob Jennings of the Newark Star-Ledger is reporting how some far-Left Democrats are, once again, attempting to muzzle free speech and shut down the expression of any differing opinion. This time their victim is a trustee at Raritan Valley Community College. Her name is Dr. Felecia Nace.

Her crime? Speaking at an event in Boston, where she criticized the Legislature’s recent implementation of an unfunded mandate – the newly imposed “LGBTQ” curriculum requirement. Dr. Nace posed the question: “Where is the overwhelming need to teach lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual history that supersedes basic academic success.”

The Legislature imposed the new requirement without any additional funding – while it slashed education funding in most of New Jersey’s school districts.

Dr. Felecia Nace

Dr. Nace argues that the emphasis on LGBTQ education distracts from academic achievement and could even distort history. Citing examples from a similar curriculum used in California, she noted that it questioned the sexuality of President James Buchanan, the only unmarried U.S. president, and 19th Century poet Emily Dickinson.

“This reckless questioning sets children on a slippery slope. We have honored these individuals for their contributions to society, and what a slap in the face to their memories to now question their sexuality," Dr. Nace said.

"For most children, their gender is a fundamental part of who they are. The vast majority of children are not confused about their sex, and it’s something that they were never, ever preoccupied with until today.”

Dr. Nace taught language arts in the Montclair public school district, was an adjunct professor of English at Mercer County Community College, and worked as an education specialist with the state education department.

The community college issued a statement on Dr. Nace, who has been a trustee since 2017, pointing out that Dr. Nace was “present as a private citizen” and made her views accordingly. Of course, that wasn’t enough for the anti-speech, far-Left Democrats, who called for Dr. Nace’s resignation.

One such authoritarian politician – a certain Melonie Marano – put out a statement in opposition to intellectual diversity: “At a time when our county is becoming more diverse, and our young college students are becoming more understanding about LGBTQ+ issues, we cannot have board members who actively try to exclude gay studies from education.”

Marano’s statement reeks of religious conversion rather than democratic debate. Of course, true Democrats (those worthy of the name) understand that ALL unfunded mandates thrust upon the property taxpayers by the Legislature are open to question and debate. That is the very idea of democracy – a concept Marano apparently hates.

Marano is a long-time politician and candidate for Freeholder in Somerset County. She is affiliated with the far-Left group Indivisible and is endorsed by the Somerset County Democrats. In August, the Somerset Democrats went on social media to encourage those who “hate our country” to run for office. The media reported:

Somerset County Democrats disavowed a since-deleted Facebook post encouraging those who “hate our country” to run for public office, donate to political campaigns or otherwise engage in politics that drew fire from the county’s Republicans.

The leadership of the Somerset County Democrats did not take responsibility for what was posted on its social media and instead blamed a “volunteer” who they claimed was angry with… you guessed it… Donald Trump. The Democrats refused to name the volunteer.

Apparently, HATING AMERICA is now a qualification for office with some Democrats, so it should come as no surprise when we read statements from Melonie Marano in opposition to the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

State Democrats huddle over Sanctuary… decide to attack Christian clergy

An old trial lawyer once asked, “What is the single most important thing in a trial?  Answer: A sympathetic victim.” 

Whatever you think about the “re-tweets” concerning Congresswoman Omar or Tliab or A.O.C. or even about Sharia Law… there is a real dearth of sympathetic “victims” to this saga.  That, coupled with two facts, suggests what is happening has nothing to do with the pretense of outrage by some Democrats.    

First, the Democrats neglected to even file candidates for Sussex County Freeholder this year.  Yes, the Republicans are running unopposed.

Second, Donald Trump has actually said and tweeted (original content) far worse than anything Jerry Scanlan has been accused of “re-tweeting” and… wait for it… does anyone, in their wildest imaginings, believe that Donald Trump will not carry Sussex County by 60 percent or more?  So… the point of this exercise is…??? 

Yes, it becomes obvious that the intensive efforts by state Democrats in Sussex County are about something else.  That something else is Governor Phil Murphy’s illegal Sanctuary scheme. 

Over the weekend, top Democrats from around the state huddled in an effort to try to get their Sanctuary State scheme back on track.  As we begin to count the first victims of Murphy’s scheme (literally, the body count has begun) and he gets push back from the media, from individual towns and counties, even from elected Democrats – the Murphy team is getting worried.  And it’s not just their failing Sanctuary scheme they need to be worried about.  Murphy and the Democrats are suppressing victims in a rape case – no, not “tweets” or “re-tweets” but violent, sexual assault, which (unless you are a Murphy Democrat), is one hell of a lot more egregious than a “re-tweet” or even… a “tweet”.  Rape trumps Tweet.  Always.

Then there is the Democrats’ attack on a Disabled American Veteran, their embrace of a group designed a “terrorist organization” by one of America’s best Islamic allies in the middle east, the Rain Tax, the cuts in funding for kids’ education, their economic failures… jobs, spending, infrastructure, debt… Murphy and his merry crew are a pack of fools. 

And now it is going to get worse.  What they discussed and decided to do (all of them, the group of them, for which they should be held to account individually and collectively) is to put the New Jersey Democratic Party on record as opposed to the Christian faith because it is “not LGBTQ… enough”.  No kidding.

That was the outcome of all that huddling.  Desperate to change the focus from their illegal Sanctuary debacle, they came up with this.  Maybe the heat got to them? 

Just wait until State Democratic Chairman John Currie starts fielding questions from outraged clergymen in his community.  We would love to be in on those calls… and we just might be.

The summer keeps getting better and better!

Assemblyman Wolfe: Another of those “different” kind of Republicans?

What ever happened to the Republican Party being the party of local citizen control of education?  What ever happened to the Republican Party that opposed big government mandates?

Apparently, in New Jersey at least, the Republican Party is of a mixed mind on these once universally agreed upon principles.  See, this is why they lose.  Nobody can tell what they stand for anymore.

The Democrats today in committee – all of them – in lockstep, voted to send to the floor A-1335 (S-1569) which MANDATES that local school boards, paid for by local property taxpayers (unless you are a Democrat Party machine-controlled Abbott District), adopt a new curriculum that is centered on the accomplishments of individuals based on their physical disabilities and sexual preferences.  Once upon a time, average Republican voters could have expected ALL of their elected representatives to oppose such an overreach by a central government.

Now everyone can agree that Dr. Alan Turing OBE was a great mathematician and scientist.  Whether or not his sexual appetite figured into his great mental capacity is speculative, but he should be honored and remembered for his achievements in science and in war – not for how he got off.  That was his personal business.  Of course, the post-war Labour government never forgave him for being Churchill’s man.  The Left was obsessed with the private affairs of Dr. Turing (who, by-the-way, earned his doctorate at Princeton University). 

Today the Left is still more obsessed with Dr. Turing’s penis that with his brain – and while his penis may or may not have been particularly interesting, it was the quality of his mind that earned him a place in history.  Now the New Jersey Legislature – Democrats (all) and Republicans (some) – is set on elevating Dr. Turing’s penis above his brain.  Demanding that we see his sexuality before his science.  That’s sad… and puerile… and stupid.   

Dr. Turing was victimized by a Labour government because they could not get past his being a “gay” man.  They refused to see the scientist and insisted on only seeing the sex act.  Today a committee of the New Jersey Assembly has asked the full Legislature to mandate that children be taught to see the sex act before the human accomplishment.  Today a committee of the New Jersey Assembly has gone on record to state that what you do with your pecker and who you do it with is the principal measure of a man.  They are on record as stating that it is more important than our common humanity, than our shared aspirations, than the greatest accomplishments of science and art.  They’re like a bunch of high school wankers… obsessed with their new toy.  They can think of nothing else… can’t get past it.

It’s sad… puerile… and stupid.   

This foolish over-reach by big government has already been passed by the State Senate, courtesy of those three moes… Senators Addiego, Bateman, and Brown. 

So when will the Republican Party step up and speak for citizen control of local education?  When will it start opposing big government mandates?