the winds may be shifting over contentious policies involving gender and lgbtq issues in schools Boards of Education from two different school districts in the state this week polled policy votes from their agendas both centered on what's been dubbed parental rights requiring school officials to notify parents of a student's sexual orientation and gender identity it appears those boards are looking to avoid lawsuits like the one recently filed by New Jersey's attorney general against a similar parental notification rule in a North Jersey school district senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports you need to be informing parents about what's going on with their children in these schools Mike collodi and several other speakers expected Colts Neck School Board to vote on a new proposal requiring schools to notify parents of gender identity or sexual orientation changes in kids from pre-k through grade 5 instead the board yanked it off the agenda but that didn't stop folks from speaking out I hope and I pray that this school board will stand firm and affirm parental rights and policies that are in the best interest of our children we're just being used by those who have a political ends and see it's a winning issue it's got everyone up in arms I don't want kids to be outed this seems like political grandstanding and a waste of our time and our money the debate unfolds as an ongoing legal battle rages between Hanover Township and New Jersey's attorney general over a similar policy which the state charges illegally discriminates against and endangers lgbtq and trans kids after judge Stuart minkowitz asked both sides to find a compromise Hanover adopted a new amended policy that removes references to gender and sexuality but the Attorney General rejected it noting defendants have not demonstrated that the amended policy has cured the legal defects nor have they demonstrated that the alleged wrongful conduct will not recur now proparental rights activists want other towns to get involved so we're encouraging school districts Statewide to Simply sign on to a letter to judge minkowitz asking for time to discuss the possibility of joining a motion to intervene in this case Sean Holly Jersey family policy Center a conservative religious group that's Distributing a letter template to school boards across New Jersey it states the tremendous public importance of this issue demands that all interested parties affected by a decision be allowed to participate in the Hanover case and asks the judge for 60 days to let the board file a brief supporting Hanover we don't want to see Hanover's Case by this division of civil rights overturn overrule what you did here in this Township so I would encourage you to sign that letter so we can tell the judge to give you time and school districts time to decide what you want to do in this case but Colts Neck board members expressed doubt vote for something that we have don't even have in our college today what could be interpreted as is a supporting Hanover's policy and we intentionally wrote a policy that was different from hanoverse the Colts Neck board voted against drafting a support letter it'll consider its own policy at a later meeting other districts like Marlborough Middletown and Hamilton are watching the Hanover litigation meanwhile a group called Jersey conservative is promoting a public petition also aimed at influencing the case by moving it to a different venue we now have boards and and residents who are being manipulated by national groups they're involved in everything from the book bands um to to these transgender policies Mike gotchman founded a New Jersey coalition to combat anti-lgbtq policies he doubts the court will accept briefs from other boards in the Hanover case but the parental notification movements gaining ground he says to other districts now are submitting modified versions of the Hanover policy um where they're removing the lgbtq language just like Hanover tried to modify theirs he says that didn't satisfy the attorney general which is holding a hard line on the issue Hanover will be back in court next week I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News