So I called the New Hampshire School Board Association about the Hampton Falls Super saying that JBAB was being pulled by the NHSBA... - Granite Grok

So I called the New Hampshire School Board Association about the Hampton Falls Super saying that JBAB was being pulled by the NHSBA…

NHSBA NH Logo Screen Grab

Based on Ann Marie Banfield’s post on the Hampton Falls School Board’s rejection of the NHSBA Policy JBAB due to lawsuits, I called the NH School Board Association yesterday morning and talked with Susan. She told me that the person to talk to was Will Philips, the NHSBA’s Staff Attorney and Director of Policy Services but he was on another phone line at the time.  You know, the guy that (I believe) is supposed to make sure that all of the policies that they push out to the local school boards are in compliance with both NH State and Federal Law. Given that there are now three lawsuits (e.g., Gilford, Exeter, and Manchester) going on in NH concerning Policy JBAB (e.g., canceling the Free Speech of others when referring to transgender students and demanding that their staff lie to Parents about the transgender status of their child), I’m really curious about:

  • Has the NHSBA actually pulled Policy JBAB from its portfolio?
  • Are they (CAN they) do a recall of that policy from Districts that have put it into place?
  • How did the NHSBA justify its wording – what are the supporting NH RSAs/State Statutes?
  • And what is the NHSBA going to do about those Districts, implicitly accepting that they wouldn’t get sued over an NHSBA generated Policy? Who is legally responsible?

And, given that I’ve seen this same verbiage in school board policies all over the nation – WHO was the primary author of this?  WHO generated the original version – and then deployed it all over including to New Hampshire?  Why didn’t the NHSBA vet this?  Did not a light bulb go off and say “In this Dillon’s Rule State, what is the authorizing Statute” (and the same thing in each District)?

I didn’t hear back from Counselor Philips, so I called back around 3:30 pm yesterday after I hadn’t heard back. Susan answered the phone again and said he had left for the day.

So I’ll be calling again today. And then again, if required.

And I just did so (9:28 am); Susan, once again, answered the phone and relayed that he was out of the office again – all day.  Perhaps it is time to go up a level.

 

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