NJ school district’s hidden camera warning after James O’Keefe comes to town

⚫ NJ school boards are ending the school year with lots of public turmoil

⚫ Many districts are seeing clashes rooted in LGBTQ and gender identity awareness

⚫ An activist’s hidden camera offer prompted a school superintendent’s rebuke

A public school district in Bergen County ended the school year with an explosive board of education meeting as a national conservative activist offered free cameras to “expose” classrooms.

The offer resulted in the superintendent banning media from graduation and warning against students making secret videorecordings in school.

“Students are not permitted to make such recordings, and parents are not permitted to send their children in with hidden cameras or other electronic recording devices,” Westwood Regional Schools Superintendent Jill Mortimer later said in a letter to the community. “I will take swift action if I am alerted to an accusation that a recording has taken place, including school discipline as well as referral to law enforcement.”

James O’Keefe — who founded conservative media outlet Project Veritas, which is now suing him as he started O’Keefe Media Group — was among the speakers at the Westwood Regional meeting on June 15.

There was a large turnout amid recent tensions rooted in LGBTQ awareness, such as a campaign to let pride flags be flown outside schools.

During his turn at the podium, O’Keefe said that as a student at Westwood Regional High in the late 1990s, he personally didn’t see any “bias or political prejudice in the classroom.”

O'Keefe then announced that after being a New York resident for a decade, he has moved back and would be “handing out hidden cameras to a variety of parents and sometimes students” to expose corruption, lies and abuse.

Mortimer described the flurry of polarized activity during the meeting as “unacceptable."

In her letter to the community, Mortimer said "outside groups should have no role in disrupting our meetings and making our students, parents, and staff feel unsafe," NorthJersey.com reported.

“I have nothing but the utmost respect for our educators, and the efforts of some to paint them in a negative light is disheartening. I will not stand by and allow it in my professional 'home.'"

As a “special precaution,” Mortimer said in her letter, "the media will not be permitted on school grounds" at the middle and high school graduation ceremonies this past week.

Township police would also be at the July and August school board meetings as a result of a scuffle outside the school auditorium at the June 15 meeting, NorthJersey.com reported.

The regional school district serves students from Westwood and the Township of Washington.

Spike in non-local attendance at NJ school board meetings

Attendance by non-community members at local school board meetings has spiked in frequency across New Jersey, particularly over the past several years — as previously non-partisan boards have been caught up in political battles.

Conservative groups like Moms of Liberty, NJ Fresh Faced Schools and the New Jersey Project have put calls out on social media for support at specific board meetings.

So have groups looking, most recently, to show support for LGBTQ and gender identity issues within public schools.

The Facebook group NJ Fresh Faced Schools rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely against school policies that required mask-wearing as the health crisis wore on — and also against required vaccinations.

Its social media members have since rallied against Critical Race Theory and “woke” anti-racism efforts, and more recently, against LGBTQ and gender identity-involved matters.

New Jersey Project largely coordinated support for school board candidates around the state last November.

The conservative group then declared victory in a number of towns, where candidates often ran under "parents over politics" or "kids first" slogans.

In the 2022 election, "New Jersey Project Endorsed Candidates" won 151 seats in 85 districts, according to its own website. 

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