Despite Governor Murphy saying he would order a review, New Jersey’s state Board of Education decided this Wednesday that there would not be a delay of the state’s radical new sex education standards.
“It is a disservice and actively harmful to deny our students medically accurate, age- and developmentally appropriate information about their bodies, and about the personal and interpersonal relationships that shape childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood,” Acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan told the state Board of Education according to the NJ Monitor.
The new standards are set to take effect with the 2022-2023 school year.
Allen-McMillan’s remarks to the state Board of Education led to an immediate outcry from opponents of the standards which have resulted in examples of extremely inappropriate model lesson plans for small children.
“By ignoring the legitimate concerns raised by parents across the state and rubber-stamping the Murphy Administration’s agenda-driven priorities, the education commissioner and state board members failed the families of New Jersey,” said state Senator Joe Pennacchio (R-26) on Thursday. “Parents who feel their rights and responsibilities being stripped away Trenton politicians are hurt and angry. They don’t want a political bureaucracy deciding what and when their kids will be taught about sexuality.”
The standards themselves resulted from a process undertaken in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Little notice was offered to the public, and there was scant opportunity for public comment from parents.
“Without transparency and without accountability, a dozen unelected appointees have taken it upon themselves to radicalize the education of New Jersey children,” Pennacchio added. “These standards reflect a profound emphasis on political and ‘woke’ agendas that many find unsettling. The Department of Education has codified the idea that children as young as 5 years old have an ‘unconscious bias’ that requires reprogramming.
“The purpose of the board of education is not indoctrination, it is education. How dare they elevate their own political agenda over the rights of parents to determine what should and shouldn’t be taught in health and sex ed classes?” Pennacchio continued.
