Districts for Democracy Weekly Newsletter

͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ Happy Friday, Friends! We’d like to start our weekly update with some good news! Hanover Township BOE Revises Policy That Could Out LGBTQ Students On June 6, the Hanover Township Board of Education voted to repeal a recently adopted policy that would have required teachers to out LGBTQ students to their parents. The board replaced it with a [revised version]( after critics argued it would violate a child’s right to privacy and state Attorney General Matt Platkin sued the district to stop implementation. The original policy [laid out specific criteria]( that teachers were expected to use to inform parents about “concerning behavior” that included sexual orientation and gender identity. Gender identity is considered confidential information if a child decides to discuss it with a teacher or counselor. As we highlighted last week, extremist school boards across New Jersey have been working to introduce similar anti-LGBTQ policies. This action should make it more difficult for other boards, including those in Colts Neck, Marlboro, and Middlesex, to successfully implement them. We’d like to emphasize that progress like this would not be possible without concerned people showing up and pushing back on bad faith policies that harm teachers, students and schools. We urge everyone to make a point of regularly attending your local school board meetings this year. Roxbury Places 11 Books Under Review Speaking of showing up, if you live in the Roxbury area of Morris County we encourage you to wear red and attend the BOE meetings on June 12 and June 26 at 7:30PM. Locations vary; [you can check here to confirm.]( Amid the ongoing fight to remove books from Roxbury’s classrooms and libraries, the board of education has put 11 books under review. Many of these titles center LGBTQ+ stories and are being challenged in other districts across New Jersey. Click [here]( to learn more about these books. Local volunteers tell us that Moms for Liberty activists are planning to again show up in force to these meetings because they see an opportunity to take these books out of our kid’s hands. The Roxbury BOE still has a non-partisan majority; it’s vital we show up to support them and [school librarian Roxana Caivano.]( The Education Culture Wars Are Coming for Climate Change This week, New Jersey skies turned orange, outdoor sports and activities were canceled, and residents were advised to stay inside because of air quality issues. Why? Smoke from [wildfires burning across Canada]( drifted down and smothered the Northeast. And while wildfires are a regular occurrence in Canada, their frequency and intensity is exacerbated by climate change. Did you know New Jersey is the first state in America to adopt [standards for learning about climate change]( They’re designed to prepare students to understand how and why climate change happens, the impact it has on our local and global communities and to act in informed and sustainable ways. But, [as reporter Anya Kamenetz writes in Grist this week]( it looks like climate change is next up in the war on education. At the May 3 New Jersey Department of Education public hearing, organized right-wing activists testified against teaching the new climate change standards, including several who identified themselves as part of [Team Protect Your Children]( (Team PYC). This New Jersey-based group has spent years organizing against “the unsuitable normalization and glorification of abortion and the homosexual lifestyle” in public schools, in the words of one woman who spoke. “Climate change is based on weak science,” said a Team PYC member named Kathleen Kirk, citing a roster of discredited scientists and a climate-denying documentary available on YouTube. “This global warming theory is very scary for little children.” We’ll be watching this emerging issue closely, and hope you will do the same. How Can You Help? Boards can't do good work without good members: Are there candidates who reflect your values running for school in your town? If not, can you help recruit some? Would you consider running for school board yourself? The [New Jersey School Board Association has great candidate resources]( you can check out to learn more about it. I’d like to learn more: GLAAD, in partnership with [EveryLibrary]( has created [Book Bans: A Guide for Community Response and Action]( informs and prepares community members to organize, create authentic messages, and work with the media to ensure diverse local voices are heard by all in the community against book bans and in support of LGBTQ+ people and all people of color. We encourage you to check it out. I have five minutes: Find and bookmark your local Board of Education website. It will list contact information for members, minutes, and the schedule of upcoming meetings. Start following what’s going on in your district, and be ready to email members and attend meetings to support non-partisan public schools! Thank you all again for your attention, and your time. Together we’re going to keep New Jersey public schools number one in the nation. Sincerely, Darcy Executive Director Districts for Democracy --------------------------------------------------------------- Districts for Democracy will work one school board, legislative, and congressional district at a time to recruit and support candidates committed to freedom of inquiry, thought, and speech for everyone. We want to keep the culture wars out of our schools, return school board elections to their nonpartisan roots, and keep our schools and universities focused on their central mission: helping our kids become educated and engaged citizens of these United States. ONCE]( MONTHLY]( Paid for by Districts for Democracy Districts for Democracy P.O. Box 01 Ringoes, NJ 08851-0001 United States If you need to you can unsubscribe here: [unsubscribe]( You can also [click here to donate](.