Toms River Parents Tell Board To Say No On Sex Ed, Masks, Vaccine

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A group of Toms River Regional School District parents who oppose curriculum changes and fear potential masking and vaccine mandates from the state Department of Education had a message for the school board Wednesday night: Don't follow the law.

"How about all of you instruct the teachers not to teach CRT, not to teach the sex stuff," said Joseph Steffer, a parent from Toms River. "You're not gonna go to jail. Protest on our behalf."

"We are a nation of laws," Toms River school board attorney Stephan Leone said, emphasizing the school board must follow state laws. "If you don't like the laws, go to Trenton and tell the senators, tell the assemblymen, stop passing these laws."

Steffer has been a frequent attendee at Toms River school board meetings in recent months, demanding the school board reject state mandates on masks for students in school, as well as other rules.

At the last two meetings, however, sex education has become one of the biggest concerns, with multiple parents speaking out against changes that critics believe push explicit lessons at very young ages.

The sex education changes, defined in the New Jersey Student Learning Standards, were supposed to be implemented by school districts for September, but the state has postponed those curriculum changes to Fall 2022.

The curriculum, which is updated every five years, includes using medically accurate terms for body parts, sexting, consent and personal boundaries, and cyberbullying, and says the curriculum should be age-appropriate. It is required by state law to stress abstinence.

The standards also address gender identity and sexual orientation.

Parents who oppose it say the curriculum goes too far and crosses into sensitive territory that should be left to parents, citing concerns about discussions of masturbation and anal sex, and conflicts with their religious beliefs.

"I feel like this is grooming our children," one parent said.

State law allows parents to have their children sit out sex education lessons.

Board vice president Anna Polozzo said the same concerns expressed by Toms River parents were being expressed to the state Department of Education during meetings in 2020 when the curriculum changes were being developed. The response of education department officials was the changes were mandated by state law, she said.

Interim Superintendent Thomas Gialanella said there is a great deal of discussion about how to implement the curriculum standards, which is part of the reason the state delayed it until 2022. Districts have some leeway to implement the standards in ways that "take into account the sensibilities of our community."

Gialanella said he believes there will be changes to accommodate the widespread criticism.

"I'm hoping that the end of the process is going to show us something that is much more workable than where we are now," he said. "I think it's going to be better but it's not going to be great."

The sex education changes weren't the only ones raised by parents. Others expressed concerns that critical race theory is or will be in the curriculum.

Critical race theory is not part of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards or curriculum updates from the state Department of Education, Assistant Superintendent Cara Dimeo said at the June 30 meeting when it came up.

"It's not age-appropriate," she said, adding it's a theory discussed in colleges, particularly law school.

Critical race theory is a decades-old legal and college-level academic framework that looks at and critiques how race and racism shaped the U.S. laws and institutions that remain in place today and help perpetuate racism and a kind of caste system that continues to the disadvantage of people of color. But the phrase now has become a catchall for various claims about racism and race relations in the United States having nothing to do with critical race theory itself.

Parents who expressed concerns on those topics urged the board to take a stand against both issues. They also urged the board to continue to make face masks optional for students when school opens in the fall.

Rising numbers of COVID-19 infections, driven by the delta variant, have sparked concerns that Gov. Phil Murphy will reimpose a mask mandate. Murphy has said that is not a consideration so far.

But information in the education department's guidance for resuming classes in September with the virus still a concern has parents wary and wanting assurances from Toms River's administration that masks, COVID-19 testing and vaccines will not be forced on their children.

"My children are sent to school to receive an education, not to be given medical advice by someone who is not a medical doctor," one father said.

Steffer, who has been confrontational with the board, was more direct.

"They're teaching very inappropriate stuff," he said. Steffer suggested cameras be installed in every classroom so parents could monitor what their children are being taught.

Board attorney Bill Burns said cameras in the classroom are illegal under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which governs the privacy of students in the classroom.

"You can't videotape teachers teaching in classrooms," Burns said. "It's also against the law to videotape kids learning in classroom."

"Stop with the law," Steffer replied. "To sit there and cite a law, it's a washing of your hands."

"Why are we not protesting this law? It always seems, for this reason or that reason, for this authority or that authority, nothing ever can get done and it is frustrating," he said.

"Stop with the law and the this and the that," he said, to applause from parents who agreed with him. "It's immoral, it's garbage; it should be kicked in the garbage forever."

"This board and you and I are bound to follow the law," Leone said. "Not to deny it, not to disregard it. There are some laws I'm sure you follow that you respect and think are valid. In this case you don't think these laws are valid. You have a right to do that."

"If you want to change the law, change the law, but you don't have the right to tell people to violate it," Leone said.

Note: This article has been updated to correct the date of the state Department of Education meetings on the sex education curriculum updates.

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