Last night was the second read to repeal Policy 5756. The BOE voted to repeal it by a vote of 5-4. We knew this was going to happen. What I think is so important to mention, is how many students and residents showed up to speak out against this repeal.

PLEASE take the time to go watch the public comment HERE. 

Before I get into the public comment for 5756, I want to be sure to mention that BOE member Milde brought up that the following policies were being reviewed … 9712 (Distribution of Publications on School Grounds) and 2530 (Resource Materials, meaning they are coming for more library books) and stated that they were discussing appropriate changes. 

What is interesting about these policies is who brought them up last month, none other than a local Moms For Liberty member!  Interesting to see how quickly the board follows their directive. 

Getting back to 5756 – Of the people who spoke up to SUPPORT 5756, there were TEN  students who spoke so bravely and eloquently! 

Other supporters of 5756 were:

The Roxbury Education Association Union president speaking on behalf of the union,

Prism club advisor,

Four parents from the district, one of whom spoke about her experience as a child protective services worker. 

The principal of Roxbury HS did not comment specifically but did speak to the students there and remind them that they are loved unconditionally. 

The people that spoke FOR repeal, meaning they want to remove protections for transgender students were:

ONE local parent (who is one of the people being sued for defamation by the high school librarian).

NONE of the other people that spoke in favor of removing policy 5756 were Roxbury residents.

We had a man from Aberdeen, 

Gregory Quinlan, who I have mentioned before, is the founder of Garden State families and repeatedly likes to let everyone know he is “ex gay.” 

Dawn Fantasia, Roxbury’s assembly person district 24, who spoke about hypotheticals of a girl possibly feeling uncomfortable with a trans student being in health class with her, as well as concerns for trans girls in sports. 

Barabara Eames – Who is the founder of Morris Patriots and Working Together for NJ, which she described as “faith-based organization that adheres to and encourages the implementation of Judeo-Christian values and principles in our New Jersey governance “  

Jeryl Maglio -State Liaison for New Jersey Moms for America- organized and participated in the “Parental Rights & Freedom Rally”.  

Paul Szesko – Hanover resident who has had to be forcibly removed from his local BOE meeting for refusing to wear a mask during COVID.

Dan Kleinman was on the  list to speak but must have left – He is the founder of the “safelibraries” website and advocates for charging librarians with obscenity crimes. 

So to clarify, that is 16 locals in favor of keeping 5756, versus one who is against. Then FIVE nonresidents, many involved in extremist organizations, many in favor of bringing (their) religion into schools. 

Why do we have so many non residents from these extremist groups coming to our meetings?  

Are they being asked to come by our local M4L members? 

One of M4L’s favorite talking points, is that people that speak out in opposition to them, are not locals, that they are “shipping people in from out of town”….. yet here we clearly see that is not true, and that they are guilty of exactly what they claim others are doing.

The board then voted to repeal, and only BOE president Coakley and BOE member Scheneck spoke about their concerns regarding repealing the policy. None of the BOE members who voted to repeal spoke. 

I implore you to take the time to listen to these public comments, especially the amazing students who were so brave to get up and speak.  Below I will include some quotes from the speakers in order by speaker. 

Listen HERE

Roxbury Student – “I cannot express to you how deeply policy 5756 has affected me and others in Roxbury, but by rescinding 5756 you are not protecting the kids you’re actively putting them in extreme danger.”

Roxbury Student – “In our district there are tons of different students. Here at Roxbury high school, [there are] white, Hispanic, black, gay, straight, transgender and so many more. One thing that we all have in common is that we are all students and, above that, is that we are all human beings. This policy is one of the most important parts of keeping our transgender minority of students safe. This policy is suicide prevention. This policy is a guide, and this policy allows those students to come to school feeling comfortable.”

Roxbury Student – “I love the Roxbury community but the fact that this is even a discussion lets me know that not all of this community loves me. So instead of potentially ruining lives I want you to let these kids take their discovery in their own hands on their own time.”

Roxbury Student – “Today there was a walkout staged at Roxbury high school to protest the removal of this policy. This walkout, in which upwards of 50 students showed up and spoke out about their experiences, fears and the importance of policy 5756. Today we walked out not only to show support to our peers but to show the people of this community that we care about this issue.”

Roxbury Student – “Yes, students should trust in their parents, but sadly sometimes it’s just not possible, and it’s not safe.  you need to accept that and not assume that every parent will be jumping with joy that their child is transgender. Personally, I have known two people who have been kicked out or threatened to be kicked out of their home under the age of 18, just because they found out that their kid was trans. Removing this policy won’t help kids, it will only strip them away from their voice, their shouts being carried away by hate and ignorance.”

Roxbury Parent – “We hear the term parents’ rights. I think that that language can be a little deceptive because it sounds really good, but there’s a subtext where you risk that meaning the deprivation of rights of young people.  We cannot infantilize them, we have to let them make their own life decisions. We have to let them decide what timing is right for their families.  Also, if you repeal this policy that puts not only students but the teachers in a really difficult place.  I think what we really need to do is extend our tolerance and kindness and understanding to a population of young people that are really beleaguered right now.”

Roxbury Education Association – “I’m here tonight because a lot of focus and attention has been put on hypothetical scenarios where a teacher would feel it is appropriate to somehow try to usurp the significant profound and irreplaceable relationship a child has with their parents. The reality is that is not happening. It is not happening and yet here we are. You are about to possibly vote down a policy that comes straight from the New Jersey Department of Education, not from the REA not from the Morris County chapter of NJEA and not from NJ EA itself. It is coming from the New Jersey Department of Education.  

We love our students.  We encourage them.  We support them.  At no point in REA history has our support, love or encouragement turned into inappropriate and unprofessional therapy sessions. If something like that had happened or similar to the scenarios that members of this very board and some members of the public have spoken of,  I’m quite positive it would be wallpapered all over the various social media platforms that so many members of the public use. Teachers and staff are not “coercing students to travel down a path of mutilation and sterilization.” (remember this was what M4L said at the last meeting) To make such a claim with zero ounce of evidence against any of our teachers and staff is deeply upsetting and discouraging.

Until we can start actually talking about actual instances during which this policy has resulted in teachers abusing their positions, I humbly ask you to start to focus on the issues I know to actually be impacting our faculty, our community, and most importantly our students, mental health, anxiety, depression, defiant behaviors, literacy concerns, attendance, addiction, social media obsession, low motivation, physical, mental abuse, neglect and bullying. with so many real issues the REA is hoping you will stop focusing on hypothetical ones.”

-I just want to applaud this man!  He did a great job spelling out the real issues versus the made-up ones. 

Prism Club Advisor – “Most of our student body and community of parents will never be impacted by this policy,  whether we have it or not, but for the few that it does affect, its impact will not be forgotten. We currently have 44 students enrolled in our prism club Google Classroom. That’s roughly 3.5% of our student body at RHS. This policy affects a small group but it is necessary and life affirming for that group. According to a survey from the Trevor project only 24% of LGBTQ youths say they can definitely be themselves at home. Only 32% of transgender youth found their home to be gender affirming. 48% of LGBTQ youth say their families make them feel bad for being LGBTQ. 67% of LGBTQ youth hear their families say negative comments about LGBTQ people. LGBTQ youth are three times more likely to attempt suicide than their non LGBTQ peers,  and of that 41% are transgender students that attempt suicide. As it stands our policy directs staff to keep name changes confidential until the student is ready to share this change with their parents. Please consider the fact that the policy we have in place directly supports our students and in some cases could save one life.”

Roxbury  Parent – “16% of trans youth are homeless due to mistreatment at home. I would love to believe that every parent in this community loves their children enough,  that no matter what their religious or personal beliefs,  that if their child came out to them as transgender,  that they would not mistreat their child or disown them or kick them out.  I want to believe that,  but the harsh truth is that you can’t know.  You cannot know.  As a parent it’s my job to foster an environment where my child feels safe.”

Roxbury Parent – “Board members stating that calling DCPP is the answer,  are suggesting that the demands of these parents to be notified about these details of their child’s life are more important than that child’s right to safety and privacy. Children are not property. If parents want to know these things about their children they should endeavor to be the type of parent that their child feels comfortable talking to. This policy does not prevent staff from speaking to parents. Talk to any teacher and you know that their goal is never to keep secrets from parents. This policy simply does not mandate parental notification for those children that are unsafe. Please uphold this policy. Even if one child is harmed due to any confusion about this policy, it is one too many. “

Roxbury Parent – “Not only would repeal risk that pose risk for transgender students who may not have a safe home environment,  but it would also open up our school district to costly litigation and possible civil liability. .you can decide to repeal or pass or do whatever you want tonight,  but people in this community are paying attention to what happens and when there are,  and if there is lawsuits associated with this you are spending our taxpayer money associated with those lawsuits and it is not going unnoticed.”

Only Roxbury Parent for repeal –  “Under policy 5756 these counselors, teachers and staff are guided to keep secrets from parents and ultimately strip us from our inalienable rights as parents.  There’s an unprecedented attack in war by proxy going on.  Neo Marxist theology are using the governor’s mansion, state legislature,  state and local BOE’s as proxies and this attack in war on the American family,  dads moms children and more than religious values.”

He stated that if  “the no votes have their way how many puberty blockers will be prescribed,  how many penises and breasts will lay on operating tables without parental consent,  how many lives will be reversibly damaged.”  To clarify, 5756 has nothing to do with any medical care or treatment. It simply allows youth to use the name and pronouns of their gender identity at school. Suggesting otherwise if either willful ignorance or purposeful misrepresentation. He also claimed that the people who spoke in support of upholding 5756 were making “every parent an enemy of their own child,” which makes me wonder if he listened to any of the testimony, because no one said that. 

Greg Quinlan (non-resident from Garden State Families) – “I am very disturbed to see the number of groomed children that come to all of these board meetings no matter where they are in the state. drove in shipped in but groomed because nobody is born LGBTQIA dash XYZ plus plus plus plus plus, nobody.”

He also repeatedly claims that there is no “gay gene” as proof that being LGBTQ is a mental illness. I hate to break it to you Mr. Quinlan, but there is no straight gene either.  He continually seems to represent this study, which I have talked about in prior posts. 

Barbara (non-resident from Working Together for NJ)- She claimed that at the age that children are learning to tie their shoes (kindergarten, I’d assume) children are “ now assaulted with ideas like they may have been born in the wrong body and that it’s unacceptable to take this it’s acceptable to take puberty blockers and chop off party body parts to fix an apparent mistake that God made while you were in your mother’s womb.” She also claimed that “our rights of religious freedom that designed to protect biblical principles and not eradicate them “  Whenever someone comes to the BOE and repeatedly speaks about their religion and wanting it to be in school, that is a red flag for me. Religious freedom laws are not about protecting biblical principals, especially IN SCHOOL.  That is delusional. 

Jerlyn (non-resident from Moms for America) – She claimed that God was on the side of the BOE for repealing this policy. She stated that “top professionals in sex education agree that marriage is the optimal standard for sex Ed.” To be honest I am not sure what she meant. Should people not have sex ed until they are married? Or only be taught abstinence until marriage?  Studies are against her if that’s what she meant. She then spoke to the students in the room telling them that God loves them and they don’t have to change their body, they should just seek God’s love. 

Paul (non-resident) – He stated that the policy is discriminatory because it doesn’t talk about bulimic kids or kids with stutters who also have high rates of suicide. Perhaps Paul should read up on the Laws against discrimination, and what a protected category is.  He then compared being called when his son almost got into a fight, with a student being outed by school, which was a nonsensical comparison if I ever heard one.  

Roxbury Student – “Not only do we have multiple deaths in the school with students especially who killed herself and I think there is blood on our hands in terms of the school and the school climate. I think this is just endeavoring that into killing people’s stories.”

Roxbury Student – “I’ve heard a lot of stuff at a lot of these meetings about restricting parental rights and ultimately it is not up to a parent to impose their ideas on their children.  You know, if my mother had said to me that I cannot be who I want to be just because she doesn’t agree with it, that would not sit well with me.  It would make me feel unloved and I know that so many people in this room who have children can say that they love their kids unconditionally, but if you’re going to restrict your child for how they are, that is not unconditional love. That is love based on your agenda that you are strictly imposing on them, and if you can’t love your kids and your friend’s kids and your kids’ friends unconditionally, then that’s a problem with you, not with the school and not with your children.”

 Roxbury Student – “Mutilating? I don’t understand those terms that people use, mutilating bodies? That’s me expressing myself and my body and that may not affect you, and you don’t have to agree with me and my body, but it’s me and my body.  It has nothing to do with you.  my life and my family life has nothing to do with you and your family life,  and if you feel as though the kids in your school have a great relationship with their family and you think all these kids should be able to come out to their families,  clearly you haven’t seen well you’ve heard the statistics,  but apparently some people don’t believe in real statistics of real studies with real people because they’re just statistics. But like [student] said kids in this school in this auditorium talking to you today are part of those statistics. I am part of those statistics. Me in the flesh. I’m part of that 41-42% but I’m here because I’m able to express myself and you’re taking that away with these policies and taking them away.”

Roxbury Student – “I’m also a transgender man. I’m so absolutely heartbroken over what I heard tonight. I thought I thought we as a community were better than that. I am transgender yes but I’m also so much I’m so much more than a member of the LGBTQ community. I’m a student, I’m a friend, a son, a musician, but most importantly I’m a human being. I am able to be so much more than a transgender man because of policy 5756 and you claim you want to focus on education; however, I have been able to focus solely on my education and solely on my future profession because of this policy and because of the amazing and accepting community here at Roxbury. Removing this policy makes my beloved community a lot less amazing than it was before. I do not understand how me being transgender affects anyone in this life other than myself. To you I’m just a statistic, but to the people around me I am [student’s name] even if you can’t understand what it’s like to be transgender or think that it’s not scientifically possible, it’s real and exists. Anyone in history who advocated for silence or silencing marginalized groups was always the bad guy.”

The last person who spoke was a parent who explained that when he sat down for dinner that night with his daughter, she had told him about the walk about that was held at the HS today over this policy being removed.  “I sat down at dinner, my daughter goes to this high school. She told me,  Dad, I went to a walkout today,  and I had no idea this topic even existed in our school and when she told me that she went to the walk out and what it was for I was so incredibly proud of her for sticking up for the other kids and her friends and putting them first,  and I thought about it and not only was I proud,  I said you know, I’m gonna come here and see what’s going on,  and I didn’t mean to get up here and speak, I did put in a form, but something was really incredible, this policy is being repealed and these kids don’t have a chance to come out on their own terms to their parents to their families whoever it is and I want each and every one of you to think for a second there’s been a time in your life,  multiple times that you’ve had to have difficult conversations.  Maybe you’re leaving the job, maybe you’re telling somebody you love them, maybe you’re telling somebody that you’re leaving them. You’ve had those conversations where it’s gut wrenching, and you’re so afraid to have that conversation. What if somebody took that away from you? Pushed you into it when you weren’t ready? We’ve all felt that. You’ve felt that feeling. You’ve had that that really hard conversation. Now multiply that by magnitudes of a million. That’s what these kids are going through, and you’re robbing them of that. You’re robbing them of their opportunity to come out and have that conversation when they’re ready.  I don’t know what it’s like to be transgender.  I’m not gonna lie, but you know what, that doesn’t affect my life, and we can sit here and talk about all these things about mutilation, and people are going to sneak into the bathroom and look at somebody else or something. These are made-up issues OK. Let’s face it, my parents told me not to listen to Ozzy Ozborne because gonna go bite the head off the bat or be a satanic worshiper, OK.  I was told I can’t play dungeons and Dragons because I’m gonna go down in the sewer and be a creep or something. Crap like that, these were made-up issues. We constantly have made-up issues. As it was said before, let’s focus on the real problems, mental health, all the other things, the social media addiction,  all the things that these kids really need help with,  that’s what’s important, OK. Not made-up crap, not things to throw us off what’s really important in this world, OK. I beg you to reconsider.  The Declaration of Independence says life liberty pursuit of happiness, let these kids have their life, let them have their liberty, let them have their pursuit of happiness, because that’s what this country is really about.”

Parents like this man, are the exact reason I started this blog. I know and have met so many community members who are appalled when they learn of what is going on in the BOE, but yet just had no idea before some issue got them involved.

After those amazing students and speakers, the BOE still voted to repeal.  I hope those students know that there are many people in Roxbury who do support you and were listening last night.