Facts Before Fury
Focus on the Children. Focus on the Facts.
Hold Educators and Legislators responsible.
Did You Know?
Library Reconsideration Committee Policy and Other Concerns
School boards across the nation who are under duress from partisan politics and fear of lawsuits, have taken to adopting the American Library Association’s suggested “guidelines” with respect to these book policies to further the “diversity” agenda. These ALA guidelines are the basis of the Library Reconsideration Committee Policy.
The policy slides can be found at THIS LINK
(Click a Headline Below to Expand)
Did you know that citizens and parents are not necessarily protected from the dissemination of these materials – that you can be arrested if you were to show kids obscene pictures or read this type of sexualized material to them on the street?
I.C. 18-1515
18-1515. DISSEMINATING MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS — DEFINED — PENALTY. A person is guilty of disseminating material harmful to minors when:
1. He knowingly gives or makes available to a minor or promotes or possesses with intent to promote to minors, or he knowingly sells or loans to a minor for monetary consideration:
(a) Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity, sexual conduct or sado-masochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors; or
(b) Any book, pamphlet, magazine, printed matter however reproduced, or sound recording which contains any matter enumerated in paragraph (a) hereof, or explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual conduct or sado-masochistic abuse and which, taken as a whole, is harmful to minors; or
(c) Any other material harmful to minors.
2. With reference to a motion picture, show or other presentation which depicts nudity, sexual conduct or sado-masochistic abuse, and which is harmful to minors, he knowingly:
(a) Exhibits such motion picture, show or other presentation to a minor for a monetary consideration; or
(b) Sells to a minor an admission ticket or pass to premises whereon there is exhibited or to be exhibited such motion picture, show or other presentation; or
(c) Admits a minor for a monetary consideration to premises whereon there is exhibited or to be exhibited such motion picture, show or other presentation; or
(d) Exhibits such motion picture, show or other presentation to a minor not for a monetary consideration; or
(e) Gives without monetary consideration to a minor an admission ticket or pass to premises where there is exhibited or to be exhibited such motion picture, show, or other presentation. Disseminating material harmful to minors is a misdemeanor punishable by confinement in the county jail not to exceed one (1) year, or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both such fine and jail sentence.
Did you know that children aged under the onset of puberty lack certain chemicals and neurotransmitters in the brain to be able to properly react to trauma?
This is why it is illegal to expose kids to harmful materials! Exposure to such materials can cause trauma and inhibit children’s fear signals, for example, differentiating between threatening and safe cues, making them more vulnerable. It can also contribute to PTSD. They can become frozen in their limbic system, and it can cause long-lasting neurobiological impact. Their cognitive state at that age also limits their ability to fully understand sexualized information to the degree described in many of these books.
DO YOU THINK GROOMERS ARE UNAWARE OF THIS? WHY THEN, ISN’T THE SCHOOL?! There are many scientific studies on the impact of pornography on children. Here are some helpful resources for families with plenty of research and information available through their sites:
Did you know that the library reconsideration committee consists of 4 school staff – including the librarian responsible for purchasing books to only 3 citizens/parents?!
There is a HUGE lack of transparency with this policy! Per School Policy 2510p, the “Review Committee” shall consist of the building principal, the school librarian, a teacher from each secondary and elementary school, a parent from each secondary and elementary school and a community member. First, there is a conflict of interest to have the Librarian – especially the one in charge of purchasing books – involved with the committee. Second, apparently school employee committee members are volunteer, although there is no transparency about how these individuals shall be chosen, for instance, can they be appointed? Third, what is the criteria for choosing the parents and member of the general public? Fourth, there is an imbalance of staff to citizen ratio – how can a fair vote ever be achieved with more than half of the members being school staff? Especially when the School has indicated that they will not remove any books? And lastly, the board members are allowed to be anonymous. The only reason we discovered who they were is due to a public records request by MassResistance that yielded the information when parents requests had gone unanswered. Does this seem transparent to you?
Did you know that library reconsideration committee members are not properly instructed as to the full weight of the law?
The Library Reconsideration Committee Slides indicate procedures on Page 11 that should be followed. In item No. 1, a reference is made to a “review” of Committee guidelines and procedures. What are those exactly? Specifically, it would not seem that the members are properly guided on what criteria they should consider in determining whether a book is “appropriate”. For instance, they are notified on page 1 of the slides that they must not engage in censorship, shall protect Freedom of Speech, they are limited on removal of books for “content”, and that they may not remove books because they “dislike the ideas contained in books”. The only indication that obscene materials are inappropriate, let alone against the law and harmful to minors is a half sentence in the end paragraph on that first page stating that school officials “may remove a book ….. if it is inappropriate”, with no details given as to that criterion. The legal definitions from §33-2741 for “obscene” and “harmful” are found on Pg. 10 but are far less comprehensive than the criminal statute about dissemination of these materials to minors in § 18-1514. In fact, Committee Members are not notified that it is a crime at all, and that obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment. They are not instructed as to the federally recognized “Miller Test” which backs State law. There is no checklist or deliberation instruction indicating that freedom of speech is a secondary consideration to Idaho law and the Miller Test. In the “Criteria” slide, committee members are instructed all kinds of things to consider as reasons to retain a book, and only a vague reference is made to presenting “sensitive subjects at the maturity level for which selected”, or to consider the “appropriateness to the intended audience”. I remind you that there is no rating system in the library!! It would seem concern about obscene or harmful materials is an afterthought in the slides and on the School Website.
Did you know that teachers can arbitrarily loan harmful books to children and that their purchase / receipt of books and their dissemination in their classrooms is not monitored?
We have found no written criteria utilized by school staff for purchasing books that are appropriate for school. The JSD243 Library Bill of Rights states that they strive to find books that “…. Enrich and support …. Stimulate Growth in Factual Knowledge and Ethical Standards … Enable Students to Make Intelligent Judgments … Show Opposing Sides of Controversial Issues for Critical Analysis … Realistically Represent Society and Contributions of all Americans … and Place Principle Above Opinion and Reason Above Prejudice”. How do these books fit in with the Bill of Rights criteria? There is an “agenda” to REWRITE, RETELL and to literally change our culture through education using their sexualized books. Under the guise of education, kids are being indoctrinated using “diversity” propaganda, part truth and gentrification, and normalizing and conditioning kids to sexual materials, in order to desensitize them. This is just what child predators do. Graphic novels target kids to read them and read them quickly. Usborne books is one resource SRSD uses to purchase books. They regularly advertise middle grade and young adult fiction featuring LGBTQ characters and issues. Usborne on Twitter ” I hope we see more LGBTQ characters in all kinds of books to adventure stories, romance to sci-if-without the story being focused on their sexuality or gender identity”. So, what purpose do these smut books with explicit sexualized detail serve? They don’t even pass the Miller Test for retention on literary value.
Further, teachers are allowed to have their own set of books in their rooms which may differ from the books found in the library. How can a parent be sure these books will not get into their children’s hands? A records request to the Superintendent indicated that no list of books that teachers have in their “personal libraries” exists and no policy to monitor such things. With no express informed consent at the beginning of the year when parents sign permission slips for their kids to use the library, and no oversight of private selection books, how can a parent feel their kid is in a safe environment?
Some students report borrowing at least three books/graphic novels that were in a teacher’s classroom – her own copies that she brought from her private library: Speak, the graphic novel, Handmaids Tale, and the Kite Runner. Handmaids Tale (the regular novel) shows up in the SRHS library search.
The Handmaids Tale – http://booklooks.org/data/files/Book%20Looks%20Reports/H/The%20Handmaids%20Tale.pdf
Kite Runner – http://booklooks.org/data/files/Book%20Looks%20Reports/K/the%20Kite%20Runner.pdf
Did you know that there are many deficiencies in the current book challenge policy that is burdensome on parents and staff?
As well as advocating a lack of transparency, a conflict of interest in the selection of the Committee members, failing to properly instruct re: proper deliberations under the law, the School book challenge policy, including the Library Reconsideration Committee policy, is also over-burdensome on parents, and school staff. For one, as mentioned before, no express informed consent is given to parents when issuing permission slips. The burden is on the parents to read ALL the books contained in the library – numbered at over 10,000 – in order to determine their content. There is a thirty (30) day window to read NEW books that come in, but how long will it take to review all the books in the library? Each formal book challenge can take over a month to finalize before the next one starts. How is this efficient when multiple challenges exist? Further, parents are not made aware that there is no rating system in place in this library – many assume there is, since public libraries have one. Kids from elementary school can potentially ride the hot lunch bus up to the JR/SR High library and check out books on their lunch hour, as was frequently done in past years. Anyone with a library card can walk in and check out a book. When a book is retained “for a certain age group” after the reconsideration committee vote, how is this achieved?
Some books that are rated unavailable for purchase under age 18 are available for purchase for schools and could potentially fall through the cracks. There is no proper policy once a book has been reviewed – it just goes back on the shelf. There is not even a “restricted shelf” as the school has indicated that parents may restrict access at the beginning of the school year with the “permission slip” system. And who is monitoring all of these restriction slips? For each student – for each book checked out?! Really? It would be easier to monitor the (more manageable) number of concerning books rather than try to monitor each book for each student. That cumbersome process is burdensome on staff and frankly, not feasible. It certainly does not instill trust that kids are being protected.
Considering that the number of committee votes is slanted towards the School to start with, and there is no rating system to protect kids even if a book is rated for a certain age group, the current policies will have the effect of decreasing book challenges due to the burdensome sham process, especially based on the Board’s own words that it has an obligation to “not remove materials”. This means parents need to be solely liable for reading ALL books and providing a burdensome list to staff to hopefully oversee and ensure that their children will not be able to check out. For each child. For multiple books. Which staff has this kind of time – is there a master list they consult every time EACH child checks out a book? This is beyond burdensome and inefficient, and therefore completely ineffective!
Did you know that the American Library Association (A.L.A.) is not a recognized “authority”, simply a respected resource?
The A.L.A. has no legal authority and is simply a trusted resource. They advocate that no book should be removed and provided the word for word Library Reconsideration Committee policy free of charge. They provide guidance for schools on how to deal with parents, the public, the media, etc. to implement their policy and effectively shut down any dissent. Yet School Boards are regularly copying and pasting this policy basically word for word! Only around 24 schools in Idaho have adopted these types of burdensome policies. Why Riggins when even larger cities haven’t hammered theirs out with their communities yet? Because they have swept important information under the rug and fleeced the community by calling for support against “bullies”.
Community members long ago stopped attending board meetings for the following reasons. The dates aren’t regularly posted, agendas rarely go out timely, school officials often won’t respond to requests to be on the agenda, and they have actively shut down opposition at meetings and discouraged opposition from attending by allowing meetings to become out of control with angry bullies. Their own members have bullied parents and citizens! One parent was shouted down on multiple occasions and told that it wasn’t a “Christian” school, and if she didn’t like it – to take her kid and leave. Considering that over 40 kids have withdrawn students over the past two years, this kind of attitude and behavior is beyond concerning. At the February 21st meeting, a man threatened to beat up another man who was speaking in opposition to the book challenge policy – and threatened to “take it outside”. The board did nothing to stop this behavior – in fact, the man recently used to BE a board member! Further, a call for professionalism was made when board members continued to harass the first man with incessant personal questions and insinuations.
More examples of this behavior have been going on for over a year and have driven folks from attending or remaining involved. They have shut down opposition and are trying to “button this up” as quietly as possible. This is the reason for the big yellow signs. The most tragic thing in this community is that – It IS possible to modify the policy so that no parents or kids’ rights are violated – you can have a place for such books, celebrate diversity, and protect the first amendment without exposing children to risk of harm, with proper safeguards. You can require express consent to explicit content not just generalized disclaimers. It should be noted that not all objections are of a personal moral / value nature! Protection against expensive litigation for our Board and community is also a factor! Join us in bringing peace back to the community by holding the Board accountable for doing the right thing with this and future controversial policies – sure to come- as well as demanding that meetings are fair and board members behave professionally.
https://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/selectionpolicytoolkit/formalreconsideration
Did you know that the salmon river school recently took down a reference link from their school counselors page that had direct links to websites containing harmful and sexually explicit and illicit material?
It contained dild**, b*** plugs and sex toy sales, and free zoom classes for kids (without parental oversight) teaching things such as BDSM, rope tying, transgender modifications, etc.? This was reached through https://blog.sheboptheshop.com/events/list/ directly from the school link – only two clicks in (see screenshots ). Please use caution when visiting this site with children present. This may not have been purposefully listed – it could have been – again, a recommended reference for schools, and potentially an oversight. All the more reason not to rely on A.L.A. or any other government “mandates” or recommendations or just blindly trust interagency guidelines! And now we have discovered yet another pathway to porn for kids with the internet archives.
Kids have access to adult books, including adult pornography with explicit pictures, in just a couple of easy clicks through the Internet Archive resource.27 They may “borrow” books for an hour or more (essentially browse porn with no trace without actually checking out the book) for free. The site indicates that an email is needed to sign up which is already pretty simplistic but searches and books were viewed without registering as well. From the JSD #243 District Libraries page, scroll down to Quick Links and select “Internet Archives”. Scroll down and Click on the Teal Circle “Books to Borrow”. Books to Borrow : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive. From there, you can search for “porn” or “Gender Queer” or some other general topic and you will be astounded at what you find. Search specifically for “Porn Art” by Chloe Des Lysses and you can easily access nude pictures depicting pornographic acts and more. The title “Gay Shame” has an explicit picture on the cover, as do many others. The possibilities are endless.
