Various requests for public records from your school district
Dear South Amboy School District,
In accordance with the New Jersey open public records Act, we hereby request for response to the following request hold
1) Please provide documents indicating the total number of students enrolled in all public schools and charter schools in your District for the 2022-2023 school year;
2) Please provide documents indicating the total number of students whose parents have availed themselves of the opt-out provisions of N.J.S.A.18A:35-4.7 and opted their child out of all or a portion of the 2020 NJSLS-CHPE mandate or curriculum promulgated in accordance thereto for the 2022-2023 school year. Please provide documents indicating the number of opt-outs by individual grade levels.
3) Please provide a copy of the document(s) used by the district by which parents can opt-out or opt-in their children from all or a portion of the curriculum mandated by the 2020 NJSLS-CHPE in your district.
4) Please provide documents showing how you implemented the “parent opt-out” for the 2020 NJSLS-CHPE and Health & Physical Education curriculum and a copy of the document by which parents can opt-out their children from all or a portion of the curriculum mandated by the 2020 NJSLS-CHPE in your district. Including but not limited to forms, flyers, emails to parents and/or a website.
4) Please provide documents showing how the 2020 NJSLS-CHPE mandate was implemented in your district, for example: a) in the classroom; b) at home by parents; c) as a homework assignment; d) in an assembly; e) as a webinar; f) being taught on the last day of school; g) any methods but with elements removed; h) not at all.
6) Copies of the BOE policies and regulations regarding the composition of your “Book Review Committee,” as well as policies controlling book reviews or book removal requests.
7) Copies of any book removal or review requests made by residents of your school district since November 1, 2022 to present.
8) If any books have been removed from curriculum or from public school libraries as a result of a demand for removal or by the Board action in accordance with your book removal policy, copies of all documents relating to the review or removal.
9) Any documents, policies or regulations relating to the review of current textbooks or the review of new textbooks or textbooks being considered for purchase.
10) Copies of all legal bills from the Board Attorney or from any outside council from January 1, 2023 to present
Yours faithfully,
Michael Gottesman, Individually and as Founder of the
New Jersey Public Education Coalition
Per your recent OPRA request:
1. 544 Elementary Students and 584 Middle/High School Students
2. The District does not maintain a document indicating a total number of
families who exercised their opt-out rights as indicated in the
request. Additionally, the total number of such opt-out(s) for the
2022-2023 school year is less than 10, so providing the exact number
may identify individual students and cannot be provided pursuant to
OPRA.
2. The District does not have its own form for parent opt-out or opt-in
of State curriculum standards.
2. No documents responsive to this request exist. See the response to
number 3, above.
3. The request is overly broad as it fails to identify a specific record
and is denied accordingly. The District’s Health and Physical
Education curriculum implemented for the 2022-2023 school year can be
found online
here: [1]https://www.sapublicschools.com/departme...
4. Board Policy 6161.2 and all other Board policies can be found online
here: [2]https://boardpolicyonline.com/?b=south_a...
5. No such records exist.
6. No such records exist.
7. The request is overly broad as it seeks all documents regarding a
specific subject rather than identifying a specific record as required
by OPRA, and is denied accordingly. See the response to #6, above for
Board policies.
8. Please see the attached monthly the summary sheets