| TRENTON, N.J. – Activists who approve the normalization of extremist views in classrooms to New Jersey’s 1.4 million schoolchildren must be kept off the state Board of Education, Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and Paul Kanitra say. They oppose Gov. Phil Murphy’s plan to stuff the state Board of Education with far-left activists who will set the educational agenda for years to come.
Grassroots efforts by parents to thwart a Senate vote on Skillman, N.J. resident Serena Rice proved successful in March. Still, pressure to keep her confirmation off the Senate’s April 15 agenda must continue, the Assemblymen said. They will send a letter to Senate President Nick Scutari demanding her nomination be held.
“She thinks fathers and mothers who don’t want their sons and daughters exposed to sexually explicit material are bigots and is furious that anyone has a problem with children viewing drag queen shows,” McGuckin (R-Ocean) said. “If she wants to live in some unsustainable leftist fantasy, have at it. But stay the hell away from the rest of us and our children who live and compete in the real world.”
The 13-member state Board of Education is responsible for adopting the administrative code that dictates how state education law is implemented. Members also advise the state Department of Education commissioner on educational policies. They are nominated by the governor and must be vetted and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee before being voted on by the full Senate. They serve six-year terms.
Rice currently leads Abiding Peace Lutheran Church in Budd Lake. Previously, she was the executive director of the Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey and managing director of the Poverty Research Institute of Legal Services of New Jersey.
One of three nominees named by the governor at the end of 2023, Rice raised the ire of parents who flagged her Facebook posts—all since removed from her public profile. She claimed that “white male patriarchy” causes mass shootings and mocked concerns over biological males competing in girls’ sports as “absurd” and “not a problem.” She further stated that local school board candidates running on a parental rights platform were “reactionary candidates who want to make schools unsafe for queer kids under the misguided claim of protecting parental rights.”
“Call me a crazy conservative, but I don’t think this is a person who should be anywhere near deciding what happens in our kids’ classrooms,” Kanitra (R-Ocean) said. “Her hostility toward parents, toward female athletes, and quite frankly, childhood innocence, should disqualify her.”
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