Westwood board adopts parental rights policy: Here's what schools would have to reveal
The Westwood Regional School District board has given final approval to a parental rights policy that requires the district to notify parents when children display behavior deemed harmful, rejecting warnings that it could threaten the privacy of some students.
The policy, however, adds that notification cannot be based solely on characteristics protected by the state's anti-discrimination law, including race, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Proponents see the wording as protection against potential legal action by the state Attorney General's Office, which has sued four other New Jersey districts over policies that the state says could out LGBTQ+ students even when they fear abuse at home.
How the board voted
The resolution passed by a 6-2 vote after a debate last Thursday that grew tense at times between supporters and critics on the board.
The Attorney General's Office has been "weaponized against parents in New Jersey, and we need to take a stance on that so they understand where this district lies," said Doug Cusato, who voted for the measure. ”When there’s something to notify parents [about], you explicitly go out and do it."
Opponents questioned the need for a policy that they said merely duplicated parental notification rules already in place, as well as the speed with which it was adopted. The proposal was first introduced at a meeting last month.
Nobody opposes parental rights, said board member Jay Garcia, but the term "has become an ambiguous catchphrase and a weaponized political campaign slogan that creates confusion and division." Rather than empowering parents, he said, the policy will force children who thought they had a safe place in school to "isolate themselves further."
"If you don’t think children are abused out there and that these things can happen," he said, "that’s who I am specifically protecting.”
Garcia and Andrea Peck were the lone "no" votes. Cusato and Michael Pontillo, Kristen Pedersen, Laura Cooper, Irene Fenarjian and James Parrino voted in favor. Stacey Price was not present.
When parents must be notified
Under the policy, school staff and administrators must notify parents or guardians when they observe an “adverse effect” on a student’s well-being, including the use of firearms, tobacco, alcohol, vaping products or other substances; peer, academic or athletic pressure; a change in school performance; and eating disorders, suicide attempts, self-harm or anxiety, among other triggers.
However, notification cannot be based on characteristics defined by New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, which includes race, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation and disabilities.
If a staff member believes notifying a parent would put the student at risk of abuse or neglect, they must notify agencies including the state Department of Children and Families, the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, or the Westwood or Washington Township police department.
District staff have an obligation "to keep students’ parent(s) reasonably informed with respect to all material matters pertaining to their children," the policy says.
More: Hanover school board's repeal of transgender policy escalates fight with attorney general
Could the state sue Westwood?
Reached on Wednesday, Michael Symons, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, did not comment specifically on the Westwood vote but instead offered a general statement about how districts must not discriminate.
"The state has always respected the rights of parents and agrees that parents should be involved in important decisions regarding their children," Symons said in a statement. "School policies must remain compliant with the Law Against Discrimination and not discriminate against students based on protected characteristics, including but not limited to their gender identity or expression.”
The office has sued Hanover Township in Morris County over parental notification policies, as well as school boards in Middletown, Manalapan and Marlboro.
Tensions flare during board discussion
Before the vote, some residents questioned the need for the policy and warned about the potential legal consequences. Maureen Colombo of Washington Township asked what drove the urgency to adopt the new rules and what research backed up the decision.
Tensions also ran high during the board discussion.
Peck and Cooper engaged in a heated back-and-forth in which Peck asked what new protections the policy provided. Cooper said existing district policies did not require parental notification of tobacco, vaping or firearms offenses. Peer academic pressure and eating disorders were not proactively covered by the current school's suicide prevention notification policy, Cooper added.
But later, when asked by Fenarjian whether a parent would be notified about a student's possession of vaping and tobacco products under the old policies, Superintendent Jill Mortimer said they would.
Cooper said she and Peck were both right: There were many existing policies with parental notification, but the new measure would add more. The urgency to adopt the parental rights resolution was based on the “current climate and way parents feel in the community.”
Peck said the previous requirements were already strong.
“I believe we need to trust our educators, trust our superintendent, trust our principals that they’re going to notify the parent when it needs to go to the parent," Peck said.
Stephanie Noda is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: noda@northjersey.com
Twitter: @snoda11
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Westwood NJ school board adopts parental rights LGBTQ policy
