Curricular Mandates

NJ Amistad Commission: "The Amistad Bill (A1301), which became law in 2002, calls on New Jersey schools to incorporate African-American history into their social studies curriculum. This legislation also created the Amistad Commission, a 23-member body charged with ensuring that African-American history, contributions and experiences are adequately taught in the state’s classrooms."

NJ Commission on Holocaust Education: "In 1994 the legislature voted unanimously in favor of an act requiring education on the Holocaust and genocide in elementary and secondary education and it subsequently signed into law by Governor Whitman. The law indicates that issues of bias, prejudice and bigotry, including bullying through the teaching of the Holocaust and genocide, shall be included for all children from K-12th grade. Because this is a law and in Statute any changes in standards would not impact the requirement of education on this topic in all New Jersey public schools."

Dating Violence Education: "Legislation (P.L. 2011, Chapter 64) (N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.23a, 18A:37-33 et.al) enacted on May 4, 2011 requires each school district/charter school to approve a policy to prevent, respond, and educate their students, as well as their school community on incidents of dating violence. A safe and civil school environment is necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards. A student who is a victim of dating violence suffers academically and the student’s safety at school is jeopardized."

Stress Abstinence Law: "N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.19 et seq., known as the “stress abstinence law,” requires schools to stress abstinence as the one completely reliable method of prevention when discussing contraception. It also requires schools to address the failure rates of various contraceptive methods (Adult failure rate data is the only information currently available.)."

LGBTQ/Disabled Person Law: "A board of education shall include instruction on the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, in an appropriate place in the curriculum of middle school and high school students as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards."

Diversity & Inclusion Law: "Beginning in the 2021 - 2022 school year, each school district shall incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion in an appropriate place in the curriculum of students in grades kindergarten through 12 as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards."

The Bernards Township School District does not have - and is not planning to implement a “Critical Race Theory” curriculum or any other new curriculum related to any of these mandates. The 2014 and 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) and the Bernards Township School District curriculum does include an examination of a number of historical events related to the struggle of different groups of people to achieve equality throughout our history. Further, an overarching goal of the NJSLS in all content areas is for our students to develop their critical thinking and reasoning skills and apply those skills in reaching their own conclusions about important issues. A consistent theme of the NJSLS is that students are asked to analyze a variety of sources from multiple perspectives to develop an understanding of the diversity of thoughts, beliefs and experiences of those in our community, the nation and throughout the world. The school district is responsible for implementing the recent state mandate on diversity and inclusion. Our primary goal in the implementation of the mandate is to ensure that our curriculum builds student understanding and respect for diversity throughout the world. Any changes to our curriculum at any time takes place as part of our curricular review process, which culminates with approval from the board of education.

The district curriculum can be reviewed on the "District Curriculum" page of this site. You can "browse" to review any course in its entirety or you can use the "search" feature to look for specific topics or terms anywhere in our curriculum documents. Course syllabi are shared by teachers at the start of the year as part of the introduction to their courses.