Westwood BOE moves to undo work of rights slate
Tensions flared again at Thursday’s Westwood Regional School Board meeting, as a new board majority moved to undo two changes adopted by a “parental-rights” slate last year.
The board voted to reinstate a rule on how to treat transgender children that last year’s majority had dropped. And it also moved to scrap a parental notification policy adopted last year.
Both measures advanced by a 5-3 vote but must still survive a final vote and a public comment session at next month’s meeting before they become official.
Thursday’s nearly three-hour meeting at Westwood Regional High School grew heated, as holdovers from last year’s more conservative board objected to efforts to undo their work. Superintendent Jill Mortimer, however, said she favored reinstating the gender policy and rescinding the notification requirement.
The district serves about 2,800 students from Washington Township and Westwood
Why board voted to restore rule
The transgender-student rules, known as Policy 5756, became a target in several New Jersey school districts last year for critics who said they infringe on parents’ rights to know what’s going on with their kids. The policy, which is based on state guidelines, requires district staff to respect the gender and pronoun choices of students and says schools don’t have to notify parents of such decisions.
Last year’s board voted to drop the policy in December, despite a defeat in the November election, in which local voters rejected four parental-rights candidates.
On Thursday, new school board president Jay Garcia read an opinion from the board’s attorney, Vittorio LaPira, recommending the district restore Policy 5756.
“We believe having a clear policy outlining the rights of transgender students and responsibilities of staff
members when dealing with these issues and staff following that policy best protects the district against potential claims of discrimination or lawsuits,” said Garcia, reading LaPira’s statement into the record.
‘Parental exclusion’
Laura Cooper, one of the holdovers from last year’s board, asked what other policies were considered that “might have served as a better model that did not exclude parents.”
“I think the crux of the issue is the parental exclusion, not the protection of trans students,” she said.
Her ally on the board, Kristen Pedersen, complained that “the board has not done its due diligence behind this policy,” adding, “I would like to understand why that happened.”
Superintendent Mortimer said the issue had been debated for months and argued against further delay in reinstating the policy.
Board members received a nine-page opinion from the district attorney last November recommending the transgender policy stay in effect, she said. The fee for that legal work was $612, with additional charges in November and December totaling $2,187, Mortimer said.
“This is my recommendation to the board. That’s why it’s on the agenda this way,” she said Thursday.
“I feel every professional, myself included, has done due diligence to the board as to what the attorney’s recommendation is and what the guidance is. I really feel at this point, the board should proceed with the first reading of the policy; a lot of money has been spent on it and the attorney has been extremely clear with his opinion.”
Parental notification
The parental rights policy enacted by the previous school board requires the district to notify parents when children display behavior deemed harmful. The policy adds that notification cannot be based solely on characteristics protected by the state’s anti-discrimination law, including race, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Opponents questioned the need for the measure last year, saying the policy duplicated parental notification rules already in place. But Pedersen, a supporter, said there were “gaps not covered by policy,” including “anxietylike or depression-like” behavior.
“Practice is optional but policy is mandatory,” she said.
Mortimer, however, said parents rights were protected by existing rules and procedures. “This policy is unnecessary which is why it is on the agenda at my recommendation that it be rescinded,” the superintendent said.
The votes to revoke that measure and restore the transgender policy were the same, with Garcia, Heather Perin, Loni Azzolina, Jorge Pertuz and Andrea Peck voting yes and Doug Cusato, Cooper and Pedersen voting no. Nicole Martin was absent from the meeting.
Superintendent, livestreaming return
The meeting marked a return for Mortimer, who was away from the district since January for an unexplained absence. Westwood Regional High School principal Frank Connelly served as acting superintendent until her return.
Thursday also brought a resumption of livestreaming of school board meetings for residents who could not attend in person.
The practice was stopped while the former board majority was in power last year. Pedersen, at the time the board vice president, said last year that the district administration had decided to end the livestreaming.
The return of livestreaming was not discussed in-depth at the meeting, but Azzolina, who sits on the policy and governance committee, said the committee had recently finalized discussions about streaming, which she was “glad to have back.”