The Parental Rights and Education Freedom Rally occurred at the State House Annex in Trenton, New Jersey, on Monday.
The event brought together concerned individuals, parents, elected officials, and representatives from various organizations, all united in their efforts to address crucial challenges and advocate for parental rights.
The rally featured 15 represented organizations and attracted approximately 150 to 200 concerned citizens, according to Paul Laud, one of the event organizers and a chapter director of No Left Turn in Education.
Laud highlighted three significant problems plaguing the current educational system: the government’s monopoly on public schools, financial limitations that confine parents to generational reliance on public schools, and the increasing indoctrination of children.
Laud emphasized that indoctrination poses a danger to children’s well-being.
“We feel quite honestly (it is) dangerous to children’s health and welfare,” he told The Epoch Times.
New Jersey State Senator Edward Durr joined the rally, showing his support for parental rights, school choice, and vaccination rights.
Durr criticized “the overbearing and overreaching” nature of the education system.
“I believe that parents are not fully involved. And they should have the right to decide what is taught,” Senator Durr told The Epoch Times. “Ultimately, it comes down to what is age appropriate. Parents should decide what is age appropriate for a child.”
Sheila Montague, a mother and lifelong educator, echoed Senator Durr’s view.
“Right now, the government is calling the shots. And we don’t need government calling the shots for children. Parents are the first teachers. Parents should be calling the shots,” said Montague to The Epoch Times,
“When it comes to sex education for kindergarteners, it is morally wrong, is ethically wrong. We don’t want that. We want our students to learn about science, math, reading, and writing.”
Jennifer Makar, a member of the Board of Education in Central Jersey’s Union County, thinks the main issue is that there is “one-sided.”
“We have to agree with everyone on the left, and everyone on the right is ignored,” she told The Epoch Times.
“I think that we need to come together and make everything the focus on the kids and their future and academics.”
What Parental Rights Mean
Parental rights emerged as a central theme at the rally, with participants advocating for greater decision-making authority and transparency.“Parental rights means that they should make up the principal authority on the health care and education decisions concerning their children,” Laud said.
He said curriculum content should be transparent.
“And it should cultivate good citizenship and success as someone competing in a job market. But it’s not doing that anymore,” Laud said.
Senator Durr echoed the sentiments on parental rights.
“They (parents) are the ones who are responsible for the upbringing of their child. They’re responsible for their moral beliefs and their education. They are the ultimate ones that have responsibility and trust.”
Durr said parents’ involvement in decision-making processes and determining age-appropriate curriculum is essential.
Among the rally attendees was Michael Minaides, a lawyer, who highlighted the interference of schools and government officials in parental responsibilities and the deterioration of education over time.
When asked about his motivation for attending the rally, he said, “I came here today because I feel like it is parents’ job to teach their children values and pass on the wisdom of earlier generations. And that’s being interfered with by the schools and government officials, where they have no place at all.”
Minaides said there has been a shift from foundational principles within the education system.
“Our education had deteriorated dramatically from early America when education was based on biblical principles and reading the Bible. Children were more knowledgeable, wiser, more educated,” he said.
He expressed concerns about inappropriate topics related to sex, sexualization, and gender being taught in schools, which he deemed unsuitable for children.
Minaides advocated repealing New Jersey State Board of Education laws that mandated such content and called for parental rights and school choice.
“If we don’t want the children learning about certain things,” Minaides stated, “we should be able to... either not have them learn that in school or pull the kid out of the school and get the vouchers to pay for a private school.”
Makar expressed her motivation for joining the school board, driven by a desire to bring about positive change. “My community, they’re desperate for people to stand up,” she said.
She cited three priorities for change: to get people to realize what’s happening in school, eliminate the school’s propaganda, and ensure that “we have the right administrative assistants and leaders in the schools so that we can move forward and get past all this indoctrination.”
Makar also stressed the importance of focusing on the children’s future and academics, urging unity and collaboration.
Montague emphasized the need to shift power back to parents, asserting that the government has no authority over their children’s education.
She also cited instances of censorship and the suppression of voices, including her own.
“I’ve been a lifelong educator … This has been the sixth time I’ve been ejected from educational teaching jobs within the public-school sector, ” Montague told The Epoch Times, “because of my stand as a parent, because I spoke out about not having people come into our schools to teach small kids sex education.’
The rally served as a platform to unite concerned citizens to voice their opinions and draw attention to critical issues in the educational system.
“It’s important that people see that other people are very passionate about maintaining the integrity and protection of our children as it pertains to education. And this allows us to do that in a public way,” said Montague.
Durr said that such concerns are gaining momentum among the public.
“I think this is a starting point; I think that as we go on, you’re going to see more and more people get involved,” Durr said. “It’s like a snowball rolling downhill; once it gets momentum, it becomes greater in size, and it will continue to do that.”
