A Hackensack school board member upset over a new state law requiring schools to teach LGBTQ history recently asked whether she might have a right to request to opt out her child from such instruction.

But will opting out be an option when the law takes effect in middle and high schools in 2020-21?

The law, as written, has no provision that allows for parents to opt out. Advocates say such an option would not be practical, since the intent of the law is for lessons to be weaved in throughout the year rather than taught only as stand-alone lessons.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Englewood, one of the primary sponsors of the legislation, said opting out was not part of the law, nor should it be.

"Our children should not be able to 'opt-out' of LGBT history," she said in a statement. "They should not be allowed to 'opt-out' of lessons surrounding acceptance and equality.

"I am proud that the LGBT curriculum is the law of the land," she said. "Providing parents with the option to remove their children from these lessons would only dilute the critical progress that we have and will continue to make through this law.”

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On Jan. 31, New Jersey became the second state in the nation after California to adopt a law that requires schools to teach about the social, political and economic contributions of LGBTQ individuals. The law, which does not apply to private schools, also requires that schools teach about people with disabilities.

Days after the law was signed, Hackensack Board of Education member Frances Cogelja wrote in emails to acting Superintendent Rosemary Marks that she was "disgusted and appalled" by the law and wanted to know her options as a parent. Marks responded that she has the right to request that her child not participate.

Marks said this week that she did not know whether such a request could be honored. When the emails were exchanged, the law had just been passed and the state had not given guidance to districts on how it would be implemented, she said.

"A parent has a right to submit the request," Marks said. "It doesn’t mean we could guarantee it. We would follow Department of Education-mandated regulations on what to do with parents who have requests. The DOE might say, 'Nope this is our curriculum.' "

Asked about parental requests to skip lessons, Michael Yaple, a spokesman for the Department of Education, also said the law "does not contain an opt-out provision."

Under the law, each school board is expected to adopt policies, curriculum changes and textbooks aligned with the state’s learning standards on LGBTQ instruction. School boards have to update standards in time for the 2020-21 school year. The Department of Education is working with advocates of the bill to create policy guidelines for local school boards.

Garden State Equality, an LGBTQ rights organization that is developing a model curriculum that can be used by schools, said districts should plan to teach about LGBTQ contributions when a lesson calls for it.

"You will not be able to opt out of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, the same way you would be not be able to opt out of science classes or black history, due to ill-informed or closed-minded personal beliefs," said Jon Oliveira,a spokesman for Garden State Equality.

"The way the law is written is that political, social and economic contributions of LGBTQ individuals will be integrated into New Jersey's curriculum throughout the year, across all relevant subjects," he said. "That's because LGBTQ individuals have contributed to our nation's history in the same way the women, people of color and immigrants have contributed."

New Jersey’s law does not specify how the state will monitor compliance by school districts.