Parents'-rights school boards shook up North Jersey this year. How did voters respond?

After months of debate, voters finally weighed in Tuesday on the parental-rights and gender issues that have been roiling North Jersey school districts.The results weren't as definitive as either side likely hoped for.

In Morris County, candidates who say they're fighting to reassert parents' roles in education did well in Hanover and Roxbury, where the current boards of education have been embroiled in the national debate over parental notifications and LGBTQ-themed reading materials.

In hotly contested board elections in Sussex and Bergen County, however, incumbents lost seats after blocking LGBTQ+ pride signs on school grounds, seeking to remove books from the library or altering policies on transgender students.

Moms for Liberty, the national group dedicated to "empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government," had a mixed night. Five of the 12 candidates it endorsed in Morris County won their races, according to unofficial results.

Here's a look at what happened in a sampling of high-profile races:

Hanover and Roxbury school boards

Voters favored slates that emphasized parents'-rights stances in both districts.

Disputes over reading materials and gender policies have fueled legal fights in both communities: The state Attorney General dragged Hanover into court over a parental notification policy this year; in Roxbury, a high school librarian sued for defamation over the harsh rhetoric directed her way by local residents.

In Roxbury, a "Back to Basics" ticket that declared, "We do not believe in keeping secrets from parents" swept three seats from an opposing ticket more willing to follow state guidelines that grant more privacy to LGBTQ+ students.

A similar scenario unfolded in Hanover in a race for three seats.

"Our team is troubled by the inability to notify parents on the mental health concerns of their children occurring in school property," the winning ticket of William McCabe, Christopher Mattessich and Michele Stricchiola declared online during the campaign.

"We, as a team, believe that the family unit is the core of the American society and believe that parents should be fully informed of the well-being of their children when under the care of outside parties."

Results: NJ election results by town in Bergen, Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties

Sparta BOE faces backlash

The Sparta Board of Education is set to have three new members after the self-described "Stop Raising Taxes" team prevailed in a seven-candidate field in Sussex County's biggest school district. The unofficial results had two incumbents losing their seats.

The district has faced a host of controversies in the past year, including policy changes adopted by the board involving transgender students and mature reading material. The decisions in recent years led to a no-confidence vote by the teachers' union against five board members, including two who finished out of the running on Tuesday.

Frankford favors conservative ticket

But in Frankford, another Sussex district, preliminary results showed two newcomers running under the "Conservative Frankford Parents" ticket, along with one incumbent board member, winning three seats in a tightly contested six-person race.

Tuesday's results would mark the third consecutive year a "Conservative Frankford Parents" slate won seats on the school board, joining a three-person team that swept last year's election and two others who won seats in 2021. The slate would hold seven of the nine Frankford board seats if the results hold.

Westwood BOE race rejects 'divisive' politics

Voters in the Westwood Regional School District appeared to reject a "parental rights" slate of school board candidates in Tuesday's election, ousting two incumbents in the process, according to unofficial results. Four political newcomers were poised to take seats on the nine-person board, based on preliminary vote totals from the Bergen County Clerk's office.

"Everything has been so divisive within our community," said one of the winning candidates, Nicole Martin. "I don't want it to feel like an argument or a fight anymore. I want us to have a really good, intellectual adult conversation and that we can come to a place where we find the middle ground on what's best for our district."

Moms for Liberty endorsements

Overall, the national Moms For Liberty organization chapter saw mixed results from its school board endorsement list. Only five of 12 candidates on its Morris County list appear to have won in Morris County races − three in Washington Township and two of three in Parsippany. Three more endorsed candidates fell short in Pequannock along with single candidates running in Harding, Rockaway Township and for the Washington Township seat on the West Morris Regional Board of Education.

In Sparta, a slate of candidates critical of the local board's conservative stances as well as a big tax increase won three seats on Tuesday, ousting two incumbents, according to unofficial results.

Moms for Liberty, a national parental rights group with chapters in South Jersey and in Morris and Bergen counties has called for the removal of books it deems inappropriate for young readers since 2021. The organization has said it's fighting to allow parents more say in when children are exposed to overly sexual materials and gender issues. It's been labeled an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for undermining public education and opposing inclusive curricula.

The group backed more candidates in Morris County than the rest of the counties in New Jersey combined, but did not make endorsements in Hanover or Roxbury. Kristen Cobo, vice chair for the Morris County Moms For Liberty chapter, is one of four Roxbury residents named as defendants in the defamation lawsuit filed in March by Roxbury High Librarian Roxana Russo Caivano.

Caivano's suit alleges that those residents have labeled her a "child predator" and accused her of "luring children with pornography" because of certain books approved for circulation in the library, including some state-approved LGBTQ+ and gender-themed titles that contain explicit sexual content.

Cobo clarified that she and other defendants in the lawsuit have objected "as private citizens" to "all kinds of books" containing such graphic sexual content and images.

Unofficial results

Some races were too close to call after unofficial results posted last night. All election results are unofficial pending certification of the results by the County Clerk's office no later than Nov. 27.

Staff writers Kyle Morel and Stephanie Noda contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ school board races: How parents'-rights candidates fared on Tuesday