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Date: 6/21/2023
LUDLOW — The School Committee decided not to vote on the proposed library policy during its meeting on June 13.
The policy would have allowed the committee to override school librarians’ decisions on what books to display in the schools’ libraries.
Currently, the school district’s superintendent makes the final decision on what books are purchased to include in a school’s collection.
The draft policy proposed more definitions and limitations on types of books allowed in each school but would continue the current process of allowing parents and teachers to vote on allowed materials.
More specifically, it stated that no materials in the elementary school libraries should contain explicit written description of sexual acts or nude intimate parts, implied written description of nude intimate parts, visual or visually implied depictions of sexual acts or simulations of such acts and visual depictions of nude intimate parts or implied nudity.
The one-hour public comment portion at the June 13 School Committee meeting included multiple speakers expressing either their concern or appreciation of the policy.
The public comment section also included a few speakers who decided to use their time to read prayers from the Bible including Rev. Steven Craft from Camp Constitution, a New Hampshire-based right-wing group whose stated mission is, in part, “to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage” and “examine and expose some of the abuses and perversions that have brought our nation and economy so far down.”
School Committee member Sarah Bowler questioned if the members of the religious group were from Ludlow.
She said, “I hate to tell you, but the reverend does not live in Ludlow. I’m really questioning the other people who came here with those lovely Bible passages, how many of them actually resided in Ludlow. I love listening to Bible passages but it’s easy enough for me to pull up Bible passages that are inappropriate as well.”
After all the public comment and discussion amongst the committee, School Committee member Joao Dias made a motion to approve the proposed policy that he first brought to the committee a month ago.
No one seconded his motion and, as a result, no vote was taken, leaving the current policy in place.
School Committee Chair Jeffrey Laing added he does not want to give the School Committee any more power based on the potential changing landscape.
He added, “I would not be in favor of giving any more power to a School Committee. A few hundred people vote for these positions, unchallenged. I would not give more authority to that people who sit on these committees. This committee could change any which way and I am not in favor of giving operation control to the members on this committee.”
The proposed policy was first introduced at the May 9 School Committee meeting and discussed with the public on May 23.
Even though the policy was not approved, Dias thinks it is within the responsibility of the School Committee to fix the complaints of inappropriate books in the school libraries.
He said, “It has been stated by everyone besides possibly one that something should be done. Going back to the first meeting, I believe, the chair said there have been issues over the past five or six years.”
Dias did take the time to attack the American Civil Liberties Union who wrote a letter to the School Committee urging them to reject the policy that “would impose sweeping and unjustifiable restrictions on learning materials and could effectively restrict access to LGBTQ-themed books,” according to Senior and Managing Attorney Ruth Bourquin.
Dias said, “Throughout its history, the ALCU has pushed for far left causes and has essentially become the legal arm of the pornography industry. The ACLU virtually never wins in court for the obvious reason that their arguments are baseless. They live by making threats to gullible and cowardly politicians.”
School Committee member Ron Saloio, who was in favor of the proposal, motioned to table the vote for another meeting for Dias to take more time to address concerns and get legal advice.
Laing, Bowler and School Committee member Jeffrey Stratton were against the proposal and voted against tabling the vote.
Stratton said the current policy allows for parents to have the right to limit what their children are reading.
He said, “Under our current system, parents do have rights. A parent has the right to question what their child reads. They can go, they can talk to a librarian. If you have concerns about having to catch your kid with a book, you can get notified about every book you child check out. I feel this new policy would take the right away from parents because it puts it in the hands of the School Committee and that is not our decision to make I feel.”
Bowler said there are some problems with the school’s current book policy but “not the extremes of what is currently being proposed.”
She added, “This is banning, you could say its not banning, its not anti-whatever, but it is.”
Laing said as long as he is the School Committee chair, he does not want to hear this proposal.
He added, “I believe we have riled our community as much as we possibly could and my time as chairman will most likely not be dealing with the library policy.”