Page 16 - 40thAnniversaryNJPSA

In the 2020-2021 legislative session for example, NJPSA • Amended proposed legislation that would have required
obtained amendments to legislation that did the following: principals to annually report the number of disciplinary
warnings issued in school each year, disaggregated by
• Significantly revamped a proposed overhaul of the Anti- race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Bullying Bill of Rights which would have had School
Resource Offices (SROs) investigating HIB allegations, • Successfully stopped legislation that would have required
Executive County Superintendents determining the NJPSA members to produce a burdensome amount of
consequences of HIB cases, and removed a principal’s data on student learning outcomes during the pandemic;
authority in HIB cases. instead proactively advocated for a waiver of certain
student academic assessment requirements from the
• Modified proposed legislation that would have mandated federal government.
depression screening of all students grades 7 through 12,
via computer, on an annual basis; instead, promoting a • Continued a multi-legislative-session battle over student
grant program for interested school districts to participate journalists rights on school-sponsored publications and
in such a program, which was enacted into law. media all the way to the Governor’s desk, ultimately
convincing the Governor to issue a conditional veto to
• Obtained significant amendments to legislation that would legislation unanimously passed by the Legislature. In the
have obligated principals and superintendents to honor end, the Legislature voted to restore language recognizing
a parent’s request to retain their student in a current our position and the school principal’s right to exercise
grade level based solely upon the parents’ perception of editorial control under certain circumstances.
their child’s learning levels as a result of the pandemic.
The ultimate legislation that passed retained the school’s
authority to make the final decision on parental retention
requests after consultation with the student’s teacher,
guidance counselor, parents and relevant professional staff.