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Parents, residents clash at Fort Lee board over proposed 'Club America' student group
Summary
Public comment at the Fort Lee BOE meeting featured competing views on a proposed student club called Club America: one parent defended the group and a donation, while other commenters cited the Equal Access Act and alleged the group's external materials contained misinformation and bias.
A heated public-comment period at the Fort Lee Board of Education meeting on Tuesday centered on a proposed student group called Club America and whether the district should permit it on campus.
Parent speaker Mike Oso (speaker 12) defended his son's effort to form Club America and said his son raised $2,500 toward the club, asking the board not to exclude the group on political grounds. "He is not a transphobe, a homophobe, or anything else," Oso said, urging board members who know his son to speak on his behalf.
Other commenters questioned whether the initiative was genuinely student-driven. Justin Rivera (speaker 9) said parents sometimes channel political agendas through children and urged the board to distinguish spontaneous student organizing from adult-led efforts. "Before this narrative keeps getting repeated that this fundraising effort was a spontaneous student driven fundraising effort, I think it's reasonable for people to ask how much of this actually originated with the student and how much originated with the adults," Rivera said.
Another commenter (speaker 13) argued the board should bar the group under district policy and invoked the Equal Access Act of 1984, saying that materials linked to the group's external resources included false or misleading content and biased messaging. The commenter urged the board to apply district standards when advancing special-interest groups.
Board members did not take action on the club during the meeting; the public comment period concluded without a board decision recorded in the transcript. Board and administrators were directed to follow established policy and the superintendent was identified as the point of contact for ongoing concerns.
