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March 21, 2024Pass This Bill To Protect A Child’s Right to Read
Tabitha Dell’Angelo is the Interim Dean of the School of Education and a Professor of Urban Education at The College of New Jersey. Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott is the Education Librarian at The College of New Jersey and the former president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians. This was first published by the Star-Ledger.
As lifelong educators – one of us is a librarian and the other is a leader in higher education and former member of a local school board – we strongly endorse the NJ Freedom to Read Act and believe it is critical that the Legislature hold hearings, vote on the bill, and get it to the governor’s desk quickly.
This bill, which has yet to receive a hearing in either chamber, prevents the unfair exclusion of library materials, and instead requires a systematic process for selecting materials and a reasonable challenge policy. This is especially important now, as various states across the country have launched reporting mechanisms for parents to report “objectionable” content.
It is all too common these days for parents to step up to the podium at a school board meeting and complain about their children having access to books. Rather than make the decision to restrict certain books for their own household — which they are certainly entitled to do — these parents want to restrict every child’s access to these books.
Consider this: More than 2,500 books were targeted for censorship nationally during the 2022-23 school year, according to the American Library Association, which was a 38% spike from the previous year.
Teachers and librarians in New Jersey, meanwhile, are publicly shamed and criticized for keeping books, many of which have stood the test of time and remain invaluable tools, on the shelves of classrooms and libraries.
Teachers and librarians are certified education and information specialists who are trained on how to select materials that are age and developmentally appropriate for their students. When selecting materials for their students, they take in consideration the subject, the student’s reading level, the artistic and literary value of the material, and its overall appeal.
And in addition to protecting the materials, this bill, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Zwicker and Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, will protect librarians from threats and harassment.
The materials chosen have age, grade or reading level recommendations – such as picture books for K-2, early chapter books for upper elementary students, and chapter books and novels for middle and high school.
Educators and librarians use the same principals when separating instruction and supplementary materials for their students, while also making sure they have access to a variety of perspectives and voices.
New Jersey’s educators and librarians are also obligated to follow federal, state, and local laws, policies, and regulations. They are obligated to provide unbiased, high-quality content that is supported by facts and science.
Ultimately, they want to protect every child’s right to read because a book can open possibilities, inspire creativity, and even save the life of a child.
As educators, we dedicate our lives to support the growth and development of all of our students and positively impacting their lives. That includes keeping important books and other materials on the shelves and available to them.
Please talk with your friends, neighbors, and your children’s teachers about the Freedom to Read Act. Then write to your local representatives and speak up about protecting children’s access to books and protecting our educators from harassment.
3 Comments
As a life-longer educator I can tell you that the books parents are objecting to in SCHOOL are pornographic in nature, not based on academic principles or curricula, but rather steeped in promoting behaviors that DO NOT have any connection to academic disciplines. You reference teacher training and the expertise needed in choosing texts that are appropriate to a student’s reading level. Well, the illustrations in the “objectionable” books do not necessitate an advanced level of reading. They’re explicit enough for any student to comprehend the “gist” of the subject matter in those graphic illustrations. Elaborating on the process of how materials are chosen based on grade level has absolutely no basis for the books in question, and as “life-long” educators you should understand that. You’re conflating two different issues, so your explanation is specious at best. I believe the term is called “Gaslighting.” Give parents more credit than that. As for being a member of a local school board, unfortunately most board members don’t have a clue as to what is in the curriculum. They only become aware of a problem when parents bring it to their attention. Based on the credentials you’ve listed in this article, I can only assume your backgrounds in education have very little interaction with parents, if any at all. Yes, parents do have the right to restrict books in their own household, however, that doesn’t give another adult (teacher, administrator, coach, etc.) to give a child those materials. If adults give an underage child pornographic material, they could be arrested. I’m pretty sure in New Jersey you also need to be at least 18 years old to purchase material in an adult bookstore, so how do you justify allowing materials of this ilk in schools? Your argument is devoid of any foundational support, in fact, I find it to be extremely misleading. Parents are the ultimate arbiter for their children, not bureaucrats with an agenda.
I agree with the above comment—Most of the school board objections are around the “pornographic” stle of books that have been introdueced into the schools at all grade levels. Unfortunately once you have SEEN these books the images are emblazened in children’s minds forever. I think it is actually mental sexual assault on our children.
All that being said , I do know that there is a movement to get rid the libraries of classics as they are considered by some to have “racist” ideas in them. This is where critical thinking and moral development come in. We must learn from history. If we erase it, we will never learn the lessons that we could looking back and seeing how we have evolved. When we do not know or acknowledge history, we are doomed to repeat it.
Conclusion- we neeed to have some specific references in this kind of Bill. KNOW what we are legislating so it can not be abused by any one faction!!!!!! By the way, these are schools, that are not the public library in town- different criteria for what is taught and what can be accessed. As a parent I want the ability to scrutinize what is going into my child’s brain.
I have read the same reports as the above folks who commented. As a parent and grandparent and children and parents advocate, placing pornographic and homosexual books in any school library is not only unethical but wrong.