Local Control to restrict access to sexually explicit books
Our team continues to educate school boards across our state about their responsibilities in restricting access to sexually explicit age-inappropriate books and repealing the non-mandated transgender student guidelines, Policy 5756. We have received numerous responses from school board members expressing their gratitude for the information we provided. If you want us to specifically reach out to your school board, please email info@njfpc.org.
As you might expect, politically driven misinformation is increasingly infiltrating email inboxes. This significantly hampers efforts to protect children, as it misleads parents and school boards into believing that the State has legalized pornographic materials in schools. In stunning contrast, the State has authorized school boards to remove sexually explicit materials from libraries, provided they document in writing why the book is deemed ‘developmentally inappropriate’ for certain age groups due to its sexual content.
Why is there confusion? Because the revised so-called “Freedom to Read Act” that became law was different from the original version that we rightly named as the “Freedom to Distribute Obscene Materials to Minors Act.”
We launched a significant advocacy campaign against the original bill, including the creation of JerseyVotesNo.com as early as February 2024 to educate the public on the dangers of the legislation as it undermined parental rights and potentially exposed children to obscene materials by amending the state’s criminal code on obscenity (NJ Code 2C:34-3). Our efforts included mobilizing parents and encouraging public opposition, which led to a massive statewide pushback. As a result of this pressure, the Senate pulled the original bill from the Senate Education Committee agenda on February 15, 2024, marking an initial victory.
The original 29-page bill granted school librarians the ultimate authority to determine which books, including sexually explicit ones, would be accessible to children. It also prohibited school boards and superintendents from terminating the employment of librarians for making such books available, as they, along with teachers, were classified as a ‘protected class,’ under our state discrimination law and given immunity from the obscenity law.
Moreover, if parents opposed the librarian’s decision regarding these books, the librarian could file a lawsuit against them for harassment, leading to potential financial repercussions. This was truly outrageous!
Thankfully, due to the efforts of the parental rights coalition in our state, the bill sponsors introduced a revised bill with significant changes. School boards now hold the authority to vote on restricting access to age-inappropriate books that are challenged in their district. Parents are no longer at risk of being sued for raising concerns about these books, and librarians can be terminated by the school board or superintendent. They still retain ‘good faith’ immunity, a well-established legal term in employment law, which ultimately became the primary reason the revised bill failed to gain our support.
I want to encourage you to learn more:
1. Download our Local Control flyer to know the facts on what school boards in New Jersey can do to protect parental rights. Click here!
2. Attend one of the upcoming “What Can Be Done” events with our Director of Advocacy, Shawn Hyland.
Allan F. Wright
Executive Director
Thriving Families Initiative!
Thought of the week
Hold fast to instruction and never let her go; guard her carefully, for she is your life. Prov 4:13
Be wise and listen to those who love you. Sometimes our family members and those closest to us see warning flags before we do. In making decisions that impact your family have the humility to ask for and listen to the insights of others who can protect us from making foolish mistakes.
