By Sunayana Prabhu
COLTS NECK – The township’s board of education passed a contentious Parental Bill of Rights at a recent school board meeting after a tense – and at times emotional – back-and-forth between advocates and critics of the policy.
The Colts Neck School Board unanimously voted to adopt the articles at its Nov. 19 meeting. The bill of rights consolidates and protects parents’ ability to access information about their child’s education, health and school records. It generally spells out how parents can review curriculum, opt their children in or out of certain services, and be notified about significant changes affecting their child, particularly information pertaining to any gender identity changes requested by the students.
“This district is a predominantly conservative district, and all nine of us (school board members) represent majority views in this town, and those majority views basically are that they want academic excellence over anything,” said Angelique Volpe, board president, in a forceful rebuttal to the LGBTQ+ advocacy groups that criticized the measure during the meeting. “Sexuality does not play a big role in schools, nor should it.”
The district has been singled out for national attention. The school board will host U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during a public meeting at 7:45 a.m. Dec. 5 at Cedar Drive Middle School.
The Parental Bill of Rights
The Colts Neck School District comprises preschool through eighth grade with an enrollment of nearly 1,000 students. The Parental Bill of Rights now allows parents in the district to access their child’s student records and gives them greater control over classroom content and school-based services. The policy allows parents to review information such as name or pronoun changes and a student’s use of gender-specific facilities like restrooms and locker rooms, and requires parental consent for health or counseling programs. It also permits families to opt their children out of sex education or lessons they believe conflict with their moral or religious beliefs.
Supporters of the bill have said the measures strengthen transparency, while opponents warn it could compel schools to reveal a student’s gender identity without the student’s consent.
According to a state report published on the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) website, an education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students, New Jersey has 55,000 LGBTQ+ youth aged 13 to 17, including 3,850 transgender youth, out of a total public school population of about 1.4 million.
Opponents of the Policy
Opponents, including mental health professionals, educators, LGBTQ advocates, and residents, warned the bill could endanger student well-being. “Outing students without their consent is psychologically damaging; (it) is discrimination and is illegal in New Jersey. I implore you to recognize that, as a body, it is your responsibility to protect every student and reinforce the rights protected by law,” said Lucas Enrique, a licensed counselor.
“By allowing parents to opt their students out of sexuality and sexual health education, it signals to the entire student body that these topics are polarizing. It does not have to be this way,” said Caroline Monahan, a teacher.
Jacqueline Sophia London, a Keyport resident who described her lifelong struggle as a transgender person, pleaded with the board. “My heart is pounding right now, but I think I owe it to the students, the children, and the younger generations to say something today.”
London said she lived in fear her entire life before coming out as transgender. It wasn’t until the age of 35, she said, that she finally had the courage to reveal her true gender identity “after multiple suicide attempts, including shooting myself.”
“Please do not pass this bill of rights,” London urged. “By supporting this bill of rights, you’re taking something away from them. You’re going to be hurting them.”
Sue Henderson, a former guidance counselor, added, “The suicide rate is off the roof, and if you install something like that, you will show your students in your district you do not support them. Don’t go down that road.”
Official suicide statistics from the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) and county-level reporting track suicides overall, but do not classify those numbers by demographic characteristics such as LGBTQ+ status, which is why the exact number of deaths in those communities is challenging to assess. However, a 2024 state-level report by The Trevor Project – the nonprofit that leads suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ young people – estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13 to 24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ youth found that 39% of young people in those communities seriously considered attempting suicide in 2023, including roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth.
Larissa Garcia, community organizer for Garden State Equality, read a statement from advocacy director Lauren Albrecht. “I am keenly aware of the movement associated with the disingenuously named Parents Bill of Rights.”
“Just because you can introduce a policy like this, and you can because the law still stands, absolutely does not mean you should.”
Supporters of the Policy
Not everyone in the room was against the policies. Some residents from nearby towns came specifically to voice their support at the Wednesday meeting.
“Parents are not the problem,” said Shawn Hyland, director of advocacy for New Jersey Family Policy Center, a faith-based organization. “Parents are not only taxpayers, they are the primary stakeholders in public education. They nurture, protect and guide their children every day, and they deserve transparency.” He noted that “keeping secrets from parents” violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment and that the board’s policy “only complements the federal protections at the local level.”
“I want to express my strong support for the parental bill of rights being considered tonight,” said Valentina Mendez, a parent from Marlboro. “What I appreciate most about this is, what is being presented is not about politics. It’s about restoring trust, strengthening communication, ensuring that parents and schools work together.”
Some residents appealed to the board to go beyond these political issues and focus on “what most parents would love to see,” said Mallory Reardon, a Colts Neck resident. “And it’s not the bill of rights.”
“As a resident, I want changes to test scores, maintaining school safety, the best food in the lunchrooms, the use of technology. I know that’s what parents care about… I really think that you guys, because you are of one pretty united mindset, you can pass things unanimously, you have a really good opportunity to make great changes in this school.”
Board President’s Statement
“If keeping parents in the heart of our kids’ education is right-wing extremism, I wear that title proudly,” Volpe concluded after hours of public comments and criticism from advocacy groups like Garden State Equality and NJPEC (New Jersey Public Education Coalition), which also posted online letters against the policy.
“With the adoption of the Colts Neck Bill of Rights, this board makes our position unmistakably clear: parental rights will remain at the forefront of every decision we make,” Volpe said. “We will not permit any sexual content, ideology or identity to take priority over the rights of our families or the educational mission of our schools.”
“Our commitment to academic excellence, child safety and parental authority is absolute, and we will defend these principles without hesitation.”
Volpe’s statement, however, may not be the final word on the implementation of the policy.
Like Colts Neck, four other school boards in the state, including three in Monmouth County, adopted similar policies in 2023 but were sued by the state Attorney General’s Office and the Division on Civil Rights and are currently barred from implementing them. Hanover Township in Morris County was the first to enact such a policy, followed by Middletown, Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown Regional school districts. The state attorney general alleged that the policies violated New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) and directly conflicted with guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education on maintaining student confidentiality and privacy.
The article originally appeared in the December 4 – 10, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
