Board Advocates Parents’ Bill of Rights; Resident: What’s the Plan to Save Maternity Services?

Advocated by Commissioner E. Marie Hayes, a grandmother of six, the document cites the state Department of Education’s guidelines, signed into law in 2020 and 2021, when many were sheltering in place due to Covid. 

“Teaching our children sex education in school is wrong, starting in kindergarten,” said Hayes.  

“Teachers are scared to death of losing their jobs. I talked to teachers who wanted to teach another 10 years, but they are retiring,” Hayes continued. “They do not want to be forced to teach sensitive material.”  

“The state did not offer parents an adequate opportunity for public comment and/or input into this disturbing and highly sensitive material that will be taught to our young children,” the resolution states. 

Hayes was shocked that school districts that did not teach sensitive sexual subject material could lose state funding. 

“Are the kids that expendable that they are attached to money now?” Hayes asked.  

Director Gerald Thornton lauded Hayes for supporting parental rights.  

Legislation offered by two Republican state senators, Kristen Corrado (R-40th) and Anthony M. Bucco (R-25th), would mandate districts to give parents information on what is being taught and expands their ability to opt out of lessons they deem inappropriate for their children.  

No Maternity, No Families, No Workers 

Mary Fox, of Lower Township, voiced concerns over Cape Regional Medical Center’s maternity services ending in September and the justification for closing the county Health Department’s Family Planning Clinic. 

Commissioner Jeffrey Pierson, who oversees the Health Department, said he was awaiting an answer from Health Officer Kevin Thomas about the clinic’s January closure.  

Family planning services remain available in the private sector, Pierson said. 

Further, he stated the board was unaware of the medical center’s intention to close its maternity services until news stories were published. That resulted in contact with residents concerned about the action. He added that talks are planned with Cape Regional officials regarding the maternity department situation. 

“More urgent is the closing of maternity care,” Fox said.  

“Here we are talking about protecting our children. We won’t have to worry about it if we don’t have any. If people cannot raise their families, if they don’t have good health care here, you can’t raise a family if you don’t have children. Then we are really defeating all the other motions. We don’t need housing if we can’t have children. We don’t need schools if we don’t have children,” she continued. 

“You basically pull the rug out from under Cape May County women. The people this is hurting are the 94,000-95,000 people here who work for all you folks,” Fox added.  

“I’m a small business owner. I want to know what actions you are planning to take to influence the decision of Cape Regional because the (hospital) board is local. They are from our community,” Fox said. “How can you convince them to revamp it? That’s going to be a question that will be coming up. Elections are coming, and I figured I would be the first one here to raise that.”  

Fox told the board that hospitals with maternity departments in Cumberland and Atlantic counties are at least an hour away, if not longer, in the summer. 

“People who are making the bread and butter here are being hurt,” Fox said, noting that many mothers are permanent county residents, not visitors. 

“We need to know we are being taken care of; we are here in January,” she said. 

Pierson cited the county’s “significantly aging population” year-round. Still, he also noted the plight, as mentioned earlier by Commissioner Will Morey, of young people who are moving out of the county due to a lack of affordable housing, and the need for more of that housing to attract young families. 

Fox cited a “catch 22” and added, “If we can’t offer good health services, we’re not going to attract good employees.” 

Raise Vets’ Property Tax Deduction? 

Over 7,000 county military veterans would get a $1,000 property tax deduction if a state constitutional amendment were to win voter approval. 

The board approved a resolution to support an Assembly concurrent resolution sponsored by three Republicans, including Ronald S. Dancer (R-12th), that would boost the deduction from its present $250 annually to $1,000. First, it must get on the ballot. 

The veterans’ property tax deduction has not been hiked since 2003. If the Assembly resolution were to be placed on the general election ballot, the increase would increase in the future based on the Consumer Price Index rounded to the next highest multiple of $1. 

Other counties have passed similar resolutions.