North Hunterdon-Voorhees Board of Ed Needs to Rescind Their Ban
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- North Hunterdon-Voorhees Board of Ed Needs to Rescind Their Ban
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- North Hunterdon-Voorhees Board of Ed Needs to Rescind Their Ban
The school board for the North Hunterdon-Voorhees (NJ) School District must reconsider or rescind their decision to ban 'This Book is Gay' from the school library. A local group of parents, residents, and educators called the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters have been monitoring how the board made its decision, if the board followed school district policies, and if there was a timely and fair hearing about the books. Unfortunately, the NH-V school board has failed to follow policies in banning that book. We are launching this call to action today on behalf of the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters (NHVIFF) because the school board clearly did not do its job. The NHVIFF needs everyone to know that the decision to ban this book was made improperly. Help us help the NHVIFF to convince the board to do this "library materials review process" correctly and according to policy.
Here's the back story: On January 25th, after four months of deliberation, the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Board of Education announced their decision to ban one of five challenged books. In September 2021, three parents demanded that five books with LGBTQ+ themes be removed from the district’s high school libraries. These included 'All Boys Aren’t Blue', 'Fun Home', 'Gender Queer', 'Lawn Boy', and 'This Book is Gay'. It is important to note that coordinated censorship campaigns targeting many of these same books have happened across the country since the start of the school year. Alarmed by these local attacks on intellectual freedom, the NHVIFF group organized hundreds of concerned citizens to email the board and attended board meetings to protest book banning.
The NHVIFF have put together a committee to monitor how the school board has followed its own policies, and the board has been found to be lacking. Specifically, school policies say that the challenges need to be responded to within 10 days; it took them four months. School policy says that the "challenge reconsideration committee" needs to include a librarian and a "person with expertise in the subject matter of the books", in this case, the LGBTQ+ youth experience; neither a librarian or an LBGTQ+ stakeholder was invited to participate. No students were asked about the merits of these books. And, most concerningly, while the school board policies clearly state that the “integrity of the library/media personnel” must be defended, as the NHVIFF committee notes, "the board silently accepted the slanderous comments made about NHHS librarian Martha Hickson on September 28th and has failed to defend her integrity in the months since."
You can read the NHVIFF Letter of Concern on January 4, 2022 notifying the board of these irregularities along with their independent review of All Boys Aren’t Blue, Fun Home, Gender Queer, Lawn Boy, and This Book is Gay on the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters site. It's important to note that the New Jersey School Librarians Association (NJASL) has come out in support of the school librarian, Ms. Hickson, as well as in opposition to the board's decision to ban This Book is Gay. We are asking all concerned residents, parents, and stakeholders to join with local and statewide advocates to ask the NH-V school board to rescind their ban or reconsider it according to policy. Like the NHVIFF committee notes, "the criteria for the school library collection explicitly states that no material may be removed because “it is unpopular or offensive to some.” Policies that focus on students' well-being and on education standards need to be respected and followed.
Please take a moment and send an email to the school board at the North Hunterdon-Voorhees (NJ) School District and urge them to reconsider the ban according to policy - or to rescind it outright. You can use NHVIFF's message or write one of your own. Here at EveryLibrary, we believe that it is important that policies are followed. We are confident that if policies are properly applied then the book will be returned to the shelves. Students should be able to read stories that reflect their own experiences or those of the wider world. It's what education standards are intended to do.
Please take action today.
EveryLibrary stands in support of the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters (NHVIFF), a grass-roots coalition of concerned Hunterdon County New Jersey residents dedicated to safeguarding students’ right to read. You can learn more about their work and join the local efforts to make the school board follow its own policies tinyurl.com/nhv-stoptheban. This petition and our outreach campaign are offered to NHVIFF and other similar groups around the country pro bono because of our donors.
The school board for the North Hunterdon-Voorhees (NJ) School District must reconsider or rescind their decision to ban 'This Book is Gay' from the school library. A local group of parents, residents, and educators called the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters have been monitoring how the board made its decision, if the board followed school district policies, and if there was a timely and fair hearing about the books. Unfortunately, the NH-V school board has failed to follow policies in banning that book. We are launching this call to action today on behalf of the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters (NHVIFF) because the school board clearly did not do its job. The NHVIFF needs everyone to know that the decision to ban this book was made improperly. Help us help the NHVIFF to convince the board to do this "library materials review process" correctly and according to policy.
Here's the back story: On January 25th, after four months of deliberation, the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Board of Education announced their decision to ban one of five challenged books. In September 2021, three parents demanded that five books with LGBTQ+ themes be removed from the district’s high school libraries. These included 'All Boys Aren’t Blue', 'Fun Home', 'Gender Queer', 'Lawn Boy', and 'This Book is Gay'. It is important to note that coordinated censorship campaigns targeting many of these same books have happened across the country since the start of the school year. Alarmed by these local attacks on intellectual freedom, the NHVIFF group organized hundreds of concerned citizens to email the board and attended board meetings to protest book banning.
The NHVIFF have put together a committee to monitor how the school board has followed its own policies, and the board has been found to be lacking. Specifically, school policies say that the challenges need to be responded to within 10 days; it took them four months. School policy says that the "challenge reconsideration committee" needs to include a librarian and a "person with expertise in the subject matter of the books", in this case, the LGBTQ+ youth experience; neither a librarian or an LBGTQ+ stakeholder was invited to participate. No students were asked about the merits of these books. And, most concerningly, while the school board policies clearly state that the “integrity of the library/media personnel” must be defended, as the NHVIFF committee notes, "the board silently accepted the slanderous comments made about NHHS librarian Martha Hickson on September 28th and has failed to defend her integrity in the months since."
You can read the NHVIFF Letter of Concern on January 4, 2022 notifying the board of these irregularities along with their independent review of All Boys Aren’t Blue, Fun Home, Gender Queer, Lawn Boy, and This Book is Gay on the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters site. It's important to note that the New Jersey School Librarians Association (NJASL) has come out in support of the school librarian, Ms. Hickson, as well as in opposition to the board's decision to ban This Book is Gay. We are asking all concerned residents, parents, and stakeholders to join with local and statewide advocates to ask the NH-V school board to rescind their ban or reconsider it according to policy. Like the NHVIFF committee notes, "the criteria for the school library collection explicitly states that no material may be removed because “it is unpopular or offensive to some.” Policies that focus on students' well-being and on education standards need to be respected and followed.
Please take a moment and send an email to the school board at the North Hunterdon-Voorhees (NJ) School District and urge them to reconsider the ban according to policy - or to rescind it outright. You can use NHVIFF's message or write one of your own. Here at EveryLibrary, we believe that it is important that policies are followed. We are confident that if policies are properly applied then the book will be returned to the shelves. Students should be able to read stories that reflect their own experiences or those of the wider world. It's what education standards are intended to do.
Please take action today.
EveryLibrary stands in support of the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters (NHVIFF), a grass-roots coalition of concerned Hunterdon County New Jersey residents dedicated to safeguarding students’ right to read. You can learn more about their work and join the local efforts to make the school board follow its own policies tinyurl.com/nhv-stoptheban. This petition and our outreach campaign are offered to NHVIFF and other similar groups around the country pro bono because of our donors.