Someone asked me to look into this a bit ago – another School District believing it could override the US and NH Constitution and numerous court decisions. It’s the same problem I fought for over two years and finally won in having my School Board.
That they couldn’t simply do what some Transgender Activists groups (The Trevor Project and GLSEN) demanded and make people “accept and confirm” their sexuality as adults and indoctrinate children as young as kindergartners.
Seriously – kids who are still potty-training in some cases and the Trans-Authoritarian set want to sexualize them at the K-3 ages? That’s grooming – and complacent school boards appear no longer willing to protect the innocence of the children placed into their care by unsuspecting Parents.
So, another Right To Know was launched based on the same Principle: where, in Law, can they do such things?
August 22, 2023
RE: Right to Know Request per RSA-91A: Legal basis for Milford’s Policy JBAB
[Art.] 8. [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.] All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive…The public also has a right to an orderly, lawful, and accountable government…
Background:
In order to hold such “officers of government are their substitutes and agents”, there are incidents of outright lawbreaking and incidents of ethics complaints by which normal citizens are held responsible to use to “at all times” keep such people “accountable to them.
It is clear that SAU40’s Policy JBAB (https://www.milfordk12.org/apps/pages/JBAB-R) is unconstitutional and illegal in two areas:
1) IV. GUIDANCE C. Names/Pronouns
“A student has the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to the student’s gender identity.”
2) IV. GUIDANCE A. Privacy
School personnel should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents and other school personnel, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure.
New Hampshire is a Dillon’s Rule State as opposed to a Home Rule State. The latter means that a subdivision of the State, in which a school board is a mere subdivision of the State, can enact rules, regulations, and ordinances as long as they don’t violate any State or Federal laws.
The former, however, strictly proscribes what a subdivision of a State can or cannot do. Thus, a subdivision’s actions must comport with enumerating / authorizing Laws duly passed by the State. Multiple court cases have affirmed this point of Law.
Demand:
Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A:4 (I) ), I am demanding access, within 5 business days, to the below enumerated governmental records for Citizen complaints against NH State Government staff members:
- To Item #1, above, that declaration concerning compelled speech, can be translated as:
In this Dillon’s Rule State, where does this mere subdivision of the State gain the Power (governments have Powers, Individuals have Rights) to grant a new Right to a minor child to coerce the speech of others and that it has the Power to subvert the First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech as well as the NH Constitution’s Article 2
Thus, given that many of the District’s other Policies cite specific NH State Statutes (“RSAs”) and/or Department of Education Rules (having the force of Law) and that your Policy JBAB has no such citation(s) allowing this Dillon’s Rule State subdivision to act in such a manner, produce such Governmental records (e.g., RSA(s) supporting the District’s actions in this matter.
- To Item #2 above, given that a “lie” can be accomplished either by commission (deliberately stating an untruth to deliberately mislead others) or by omission (withholding information so as to mislead others), Item #2 can be translated as:
In this Dillon’s Rule State, where does this mere subdivision of the State gain the Power to force/mandate that its Staff either directly lie (“commission”) to its students’ Parents about their child’s gender dysphoria/transgender status simply to make the Board members feel good about themselves? Or by withholding information (“omission”) so as to deflect, misdirect, or misinform a student’s Parents?
Thus, given that that your Policy JBAB has no such citation(s) allowing this subdivision to act in such a manner, produce such Governmental records (e.g. State RSA(s) supporting the District’s actions in this matter.
If this cannot be fulfilled within that 5 business day mandated window per RSA 91-A:2, II, please advise when the Responsive Record(s) will be made available.
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption (RSA 91-A:5) used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
Additional: It is not up to the Requester to be made to look up the subjects or materials that are the focus of this Right To Know (e.g., from the Respondent: “here’s the URL so do the search yourself”). It is the responsibility of the Respondent to fully supply all demanded materials.
As you are aware, in 2016, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that a governmental body in possession of records is required to produce them in electronic media using standard common file formats: Green v. SAU #55, 168 N.H. 796, 801 (2016). Unless there is some reason that it is not reasonably practical to produce such, explain why it is not practical to comply.
Please also note, per RSA 91-A:4 III, III-a, and III-b, you are required to maintain the safety and accessibility of such Responsive Records. This also includes such responsive records (e.g., emails, query files, policies) which may have been deleted from respective local hardcopy or software systems but are still available on the applicable servers or in application or archival system(s) either in-house or hosted.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the records to me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com. If the volume is turns out to be substantial, I’ll be happy to supply a backup drive sufficient to hold all of your responsive records.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Skip Murphy
Founder
GraniteGrok.com
I really hope that this isn’t going to take another two years but, you know…
