The New Jersey Family Policy Center urgently calls on Gov. Murphy to withdraw Serena Rice’s nomination to the State Board of Education. 

This is a matter of great importance, and immediate action is needed.

Controversial nominee’s advise and consent vote was held from consideration at the last Senate Session on March 18, a testament to the power of public opposition and the impact of the nominee’s extreme social media posts. ___________________________________________________________

Trenton, New Jersey:  The New Jersey Family Policy Center, a respected pro-family organization and part of a vibrant national alliance of 42 state policy councils, is demanding Governor Phil Murphy remove Serena Rice’s nomination from consideration to serve on the New Jersey State Board of Education.

On Monday, April 15, 2024, the New Jersey Senate will potentially have the opportunity to vote on Serena Rice’s nomination to the State Board of Education. We, along with an overwhelming number of parents, advocacy groups, and community members, strongly oppose this nominee based on her extremely divisive, offensive, and bigoted social media posts and her apparent lack of any qualifying professional experience.

A sampling of Serena Rice’s social media is as follows:

• She was “deeply bothered”by local moms and dads who ran for school board under the slogan“respecting parents.”  In her view, she said, they are “reactionary candidates who want to make schools unsafe for queer kids under the misguided claim of protecting parental rights.” Oct 21, 2023, Facebook
• She claims parents who share their concerns and objectionsto their local school board regarding sexually explicit lessons are “making schools less safe for trans students” because of their “bigotedbacklash to the NJ state curriculum standards.” Nov 7, 2023, Facebook
• She shared and celebrated a post that claims mass shootingsare not caused by mental health problems but by “white males.” Furthermore, “This is not a mental health problem. This is a white male patriarchy problem.” Mass shootings are “more about racism, sexism, privilege, and entitlement than anything else.” May 26, 2022, Facebook
• She stated since some athletes have “physical advantages” over other athletes, protecting girlsfrom physically competing against biological males is “absurd” and it’s “not a problem…. we should focus on REAL problems.” May 6, 2021, Facebook
• She shared and endorsed a post that said, “…I celebrate drag queens… and I am furious with those who don’t.” Furthermore, she personally said about those who don’t support drag queen shows for young children, “I genuinely do not understand what people are afraid of from a particular subculture just existing in their spaces.” March 8, 2023, Facebook
• She believes that rejecting transgender ideology is a sin. “Transphobia is a sin. Let us call out and denounce the sin of transphobia in our communities and institutions…” Jan 15, 2023, Facebook

The New Jersey Family Policy Center urges Governor Murphy to withdraw Serena Rice’s nomination to the State Board of Education before the next Senate voting session scheduled for Monday, April 15.

“Governor Murphy recently signed Executive Order No. 309 to establish the Task Force to Address Public School Staff Shortage. A real problem. The State Department of Education released a new scorecard highlighting the extreme learning loss children suffered due to the unnecessarily prolonged shutdowns. Chronic absenteeism is plaguing our State, with an average of 16.6% of children missing 18 days or more of school per year. A number of our public schools’ ratings were as low as 1.08 out of 100, with 84 schools in New Jersey scoring below 5.0 out of 100.

With this information, we strongly urge Governor Murphy to withdraw the nomination of Serena Rice who has a history of bigotry, without any teaching experience or school board experience to adequately address these issues. The families of New Jersey deserve better.”

Allan F. Wright, Executive Director

“Serena Rice has made numerous social media posts that reveal a strong bias and a personal and passionate commitment to forcing gender ideology on all children. She has no education experience. She has never been a teacher or served on a school board. Her lack of experience makes her unqualified, and her social media posts disqualify her from serving on the State Board of Education. I can only assume that Governor Murphy’s office was unaware of these postings before she was nominated.”

Shawn Hyland,  Director of Advocacy, New Jersey Family Policy Center