Special Board of Education Meeting

001[Music] me in uh saying the Pledge of Allegiance thanks I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Applause] okay um all board members are here um and two members of our executive team thanks very much for for uh being here and we have a full house tonight we have um 20 names um apparently for signed in for public comment so um we're going to get going with that right away and there are a couple things I'd like to say um I think the board really appreciates the sincerity that motivates individuals to come out and speak um no matter what side of the issue you're on you're here because you care about uh

002the kids in our community and uh we acknowledge that and we respect it we know that people are impassioned about this issue um please direct your comments toward the board please um maintain an air of uh civility um right next to your passion for this issue and we look forward to um hearing what you have to say that may inform our deliberations here tonight so with that oh gosh I apologize if in advance if um I mispronounce your name feel free to correct me when you do come up uh tell us your full name and where you live so um Mr s George corre I'll bring this but don't let me scare you oh and I forgot to say um shoot the whole thing I forgot to read um we welcome public comment ment and

003you'll have up to 3 minutes and with so many people we really ask no we demand that you respect the time limit um and Sarah's timing and she means business so um comment on any item included on the agenda for this meeting is allowed but discussion of school Personnel individual students or individual members of the board is prohibited and we ask that you all respect that so Mr s George start us off thank you um first of all I did not read the book fun house I have some understanding of what the book's about but I'm speaking mostly about just um the First Amendment freedom of speech um I think uh my concern is the possibility of banning not just this book if that if that is what the consideration is but of any book

004um I think that uh you know it offers some I think this book offers some understanding of a person who grew up feeling very alone and um I think as she Grew Older she had a better understanding of the environment that she had lived in and I think this offers um to many people maybe for their own understanding of themselves just an shared you know a shared story a shared common experience that is important for many people who who might otherwise feel alone so um again I'm an advocate of the first amendment in free speech I think if their concerns by parents uh that their child should not read a book then that's a parent choice certainly and even if it it was something that was maybe a uh a rating or something like movies

005are done to say that this might be controversial material and that this might not be something that your child should read without your parents consent then maybe that's appropriate but again I I stand firmly against the Banning of books thank you next ums next Tony Bosco Schmidt I'm Tony bosos Schmidt 16 Baldwin Hill Road good evening some of you may know my husband and me as local parents I'm also an actor who recently played the role of Bruce Beckle the father of fun homes author here at brookfields theater for the Arts Bruce was a complex and tragic character who struggled with his sexuality his family and his identity you see Bruce grew up in a community where he was afraid to express his entire identity instead he poured himself into perfecting outer appearances but behind

006closed doors he acted out trying to connect with that secret part of himself Miss Becka believed that for Bruce never being able to express his identity is what caused him to trag tragically end his own life I strongly disagree with the idea of banning fun home I believe that doing so would be a grave mistake and a violation of the principles of academic freedom intellectual diversity and artistic expression first of all Banning this book deprives the students of a valuable resource in this book Allison illustrates her struggle to understand her relationship with her father if you are a person that has too soon lost a parent a friend or any loved one you will see yourself in these Pages struggling to understand was there anything you could have done different ly said differently to affect

007the outcome this book offers unique perspectives on sexual orientation gender roles suicide emotional abuse and Dysfunctional Family Life by reading fun home a student struggling may see themselves may see that they are not alone and may see it's possible to continue to move forward secondly Banning the book sends a harmful message to students who identify as lgbtq Plus or who like our son have lgbtq Plus family members it tells them that their stories are not worthy of being told that their identities are not Val valid or acceptable and that their feelings are not normal or natural and that they should be ashamed or afraid of who they are it also tells them that they are not welcome or supported in this community and that they have to hide or deny their true selves this can

008have serious negative consequences for their mental health self-esteem and academic performance thirdly Banning this book violates the First Amendment rights of the author the publisher the teachers the Librarians and the students the first amendment protects the freedom of speech the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression which include the right to write publish teach read and access books of any kind without censorship or interference from the government or any other authority book Banning is a strategy used throughout history to silence voices Banning this book is an act of censorship that infringes on these rights and limits the diversity of ideas and opinions in Our Town therefore I urge you do not be known as a book Banner be known as a person who upholds the values of academic freedom intellectual diversity and artistic

009expression that are essential for a pluralistic and free Society thank you thank you next um Mr guino I wish this mic moved I like a I like a stage I don't like being St remember you you are talking I want like yeah I know you look like you could hold a stage I do right so Robert Gino 12 rocky road so um I'll dive into what I prepared but but no I'm just going to get into it then then I'll come back to some of my free thoughts right so I wish we were here talking about issues that actually address the needs of our children instead we're talking about the rights of parents being Stripped by the Brookfield public school system for those that say we want to ban books you're a hypocrite anyone that

010says we want to Bann books is a hypocrite and a liar okay so we have books currently banned in our system and it's it's just that simple Clifford's Halloween was removed because it didn't fit your agenda and not because it was hurting anyone after all can a dog pick what it wants to identify as what we are missing is that these explicit images and context should only be in the hands of our children if provided by parents or they could be available at the public library or provided by a nurse not left in the public school system where children could go where children want to go to be educated in non-explicit environment When government gets in the way of parenting we have lost our society these meetings waste time and resources but will continue to

011be necessary until we put guidelines in place and address the explicit material in our schools right we heard about a grading system already we heard about that stuff why isn't that being done I will attack this headon right those who vote for retention are pushing an agenda those who vote for removal have common sense value parental rights and voted in line with the voters of Brookfield you know exactly which category you fall into vote Yes to push your agenda vote no to support children and parents my last thought is instead of leaving it up to the 50 some odd people I didn't count 60 people in this room why don't we put it on the ballot in 2024 where we'll get 90% turnout because it's a presidential election and see how many people in Brookfield

012actually want regulation around explicit material in the school system why are we the only ones making this decision let's be pointed let's be smart with how we operate let's use the Democracy that's in place and let's finally get this right put guidelines around explicit material on our schools thank you Ron [Applause] Jeffy Ron jaffy 21 White Pine Drive uh thank you uh in full disclosure I'm a former Vice chair of the Board of Education many many moons ago I am am opposed to Banning this book censoring it taking it out of circulation uh I think it's important to understand what it is we're talking about when the book was published The New York Times called it a masterpiece USA Today said brilliant and Bittersweet the The Seattle Times said Brave and forth forthright and insightful

013kirkus reviews said one of the best graphic novels ever and it was a finalist in the two 2006 National book critics Circle award in the category of autobiography or Memoir this is a work of art but in terms of taking action to take it away from students um who have the ability based on their parents consent to to take it out I'm just going to read you three quotes the first from John Kennedy we know all the facts and hear all the Alternatives and listen to all the criticism let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors for the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our Liberty the next quote don't the book burners don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed don't be

014afraid to go in your library and read every book Dwight D Eisenhower and the last quote I'd like to share with you if the book be false in its facts disapprove them if false in its reasoning refute it but for God's sake let us freely hear both sides if we choose Thomas Jefferson I urge you to take the right course thank you Jeremy frell Jeremy frell hello my name is Jeremy Ferell 13 South Lakeshore Drive um my name is Jeremy and if you have heard me uh speak before or know me you may know that I am LGBT bisexual to be specific and fun home made me feel represented in a way I never have before and it had nothing to do with being LGBT it had everything to do with how it talked about

015OCD and how it manifests specifically the author talking about the fact that her OCD manifested as an unbless to say that she was sure about something or that something definitely happened resorting to I think or I believe that is something I deal with as a manifestation of my own OCD and I have never seen a single person talk about it directly until this book and I wanted to open with that because fun home is not a book about sex it's not even a book about being gay it's a book that's full of honesty and vulnerability and difficult topics and that's one of the main reasons I think it should be kept because of what it has to say about these topics how it chooses to navigate them something that you cannot gather just from images

016and excerpts and the challenges in this way are dangerous and here I want to say what I said um at a previous Board of Ed meeting because unfortunately it still applies exactly people can stand up here and I'm sure they will tonight and say this is not about LGBT content at all but high schoolers are smart they will see that the last three books that have been officially challenged included queer content they will see that the last book had gay in the title and they will make logical conclusions from that and this would be so easy to address by pushing for a broader policy a full uh review of all the books and I know there are people pushing for that in here so why are we here doing this instead again challenging another book

017that not only has queer content but has been challenged for having queer content such as in South Carolina where the South Carolina State Legislature challenged it for as one member said voting the gay and homosexual lifestyle clearly for some people this is about LGBT content and I do not think we've given Brookfield students any reason to believe that's not what's Happening Here Brookfield LGBT students any reason to believe they are not being targeted I know the world is scary and I wish the solution to the dangers kids face were as simple as removing a few books from a library but we know what will make Brookfield kids safer because we have seen what harms them being critical of the school resource officer hiring practices in Brookfield make kids safer preparing for dangerous and horrible situations

018that we know can happen in Connecticut make Brookfield kids safer addressing the Mental Health crisis that has taken so many students including a student in Brookfield makes Brookfield students safer we know what will make them safer and I'm tired of taking the easy way out and blaming it on a few books thank you Alan vde thank you I'm Alan vber and my wife and I live at 118 Tower Road and I have lived in Brookfield for over 10 years I come here tonight to speak uh uh against book against Banning fun home from our library but more importantly the trend of banning books from the libraries in general and communities across the country my comments are not intended to insult or criticize proponents of banning this book but to explain why Banning funhome is a

019wrong and unwise I read this book this weekend and I found it to be a heartfelt Coming of Age biography by an excellent writer yes it was about lgbtq plus issues in her family and her own identity struggle growing up but what but that was the point of the book it was a true story of the author's life I would imagine there are tens of thousands of families in our country now dealing with dealing with the same issues and our own Community as well a library's role is to serve everyone in the community not just a select majority of residents fun home was published almost 18 years ago and is a recipient of numerous Awards including the finalist of the national book award and and proposed and a produced and produced as a Tony award-winning

020play and is slated to be a major Motion Picture starring Jake ginal as the father of the book this book was published in 2006 and I wonder why it's coming up to be banned right now could it be politics or anything to do with it I strongly disagree with Banning this book and all books I think Banning books is a violation of our freedom of speech and our right to an education and finally I would like to read a brief section of an article I read recently I quote these those who are affected by most by Banning books are students in the classroom when books are banned or are challenged the footing of the curriculum becomes unstable by o opening unfamiliar places to people diverse cultures and books help children develop empathy and others and

021by Nature children are self-focused and it's hard for them to imagine different experiences in lives outside their own books that show representation of different people and situations that are different from theirs can be teach empathy and especially Mar marginalized communities this is the second time I've come to speak opposed to book Banning and I will continue to do so in the future at other books are proposed to be banned I asked the board to ban fun home to not ban fun home from the library and respect the students right to choose what they want to read and what they want to think thank you Mr thank you Kevin [Applause] Pella I hope I pronounced your name right please let me know yeah uh my name is Kevin Pella I reside at 115 Heatherwood Drive um

022I believe that this book uh is sexually explicit in nature um and I don't believe that sexually explicit books have any place in front of our children I believe that that is up to parents in the home if they want their children to look at something that might help them with issues that they're facing I believe that it's up to the parents to direct their children uh in that uh regard but these uh they're children they're not even adults yet I don't believe that this material should be readily available uh at their fingertips it maybe the public library uh buying it from a bookstore is one thing but I just feel like anything that is sexually explicit in nature in front of children can never lead to anything good thank you Shannon Riley Shannon Riley

02311 deer runroad um I came tonight because the root issue that prompted this special meeting tonight is something that I feel strongly about protecting access to information and to underscore the Integrity of the Educators that this district has hired and employed for over a decade to me it does not matter the title that we are discussing the issue is that the complainants are undermining the expertise of professionals who have made it their life's work to educate themselves on the content and curation of a library that Services a diverse group of young people to ask for specific titles to be removed because you disagree with the content speaks to a lack of understanding of the rights provided by the Board of Education and the district to exercise your right to choose what your child reads it

024further undermines the power of conversation between parent and child and creating connection and expanding perspectives thank you Debbie Brooks Debbie Brooks 21 Crest viw Drive I'm here tonight to ask you to please support students rights and the professional Judgment of our school library media Specialists and vote to retain fun home in the Brookfield High School library I'm the parent of three teenagers one already graduated from BHS and two graduating this year I encourage and expect my children to seek out books and other information that they feel as necessary to understand and empathize with people different from themselves other cultures or philosophies that may be different from theirs I want my children to have access to whatever books they need to read need to read to answer those questions and Enlighten them to a world beyond

025their own as a librarian myself I recently attended a workshop entitled constitutional and Free Speech issues for municipalities and Battleground libraries in this Workshop one idea really stuck with me that a certain amount of discomfort doesn't give a person the right to alter the choices that others make students in school libraries still have First Amendment rights according to the publication access to Library resources and services for miners which is an interpretation of the American library association's library Bill of Rights Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents and only parents have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children and only their children to Library resources censorship by Librarians of constitutionally protected speech whether for protection or for any other reason violates the First Amendment furthermore Supreme Court Justice William J

026Brennan Jr in Texas versus Johnson said if there's a Bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because Society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable this principle extends to school as well School administrators have broad influence over books used in curriculum but not books contained in school libraries please do the right thing and protect our students rights to access the library books they want to read and thank you for all your time and attention to this very important matter Laura Laura Orban 95 Stony Hill Road the addendum to board policy 6563 on school library media states that residents shall not have the right to determine Library materials for students other than their own it then goes on to outline the process for

027residents to challenge Library materials for students other than their own every parent has the right and the ability to limit their child's access to library materials in power school that policy addendum was likely well- intended for a parent who needed to bring attention to a book they stumbled across where they had a genuine concern for the well-being of of all students but that is not what's happening here or across the country in March of last year the Board of Ed received an email which read quote this is the first of more emails to follow that deal with lgbtqia themed books in the high school library a search of the library cataloges has been completed for 75 of these books 14 were found the sender of that email indicated that it went to 240 parents in

028town that was the beginning of the last book challenge for this book is gay this is not just happening in Brookfield nationally book challenges doubled from TW 2021 to 2022 and the most challenged books are either by or about people of color or lgbtq plus authors or subject matter this is a targeted effort to remove books with lgbtq plus content and the policy addendum is making it possible library media Specialists are highly trained in choosing material for our libraries these professional positions require Advanced degrees in either library or information science and a teaching certificate if you remove fun home there is a cost to the students who are looking for that book there is a cause to the students who see their parents trying to erase people from our Comm community that they consider less

029than we owe it to all of our students to leave the book selection to trained library media Specialists and there is another cost for every book Challenge and we know there will be more time is wasted there are three buildings to run 3,000 students hundreds of employees a $50 million budget special education program a curriculum and much more and all of this is for a single book this policy is at best contradiction it's a Time waster and these book challenges are targeted hate we should shut them down the cost is too high thank you Aaron [Applause] Zimmer uh Aaron Zimmer 50 up2 Hill road if there ever uh there are ever any items available in the school that I don't want my child to consume be it a book in the library or a cheese

030pizza well I I'd use the system that you've set up to opt my kid out I would exercise my right uh as a parent that doesn't seem to be what's happening with these book challenges though right and why not I mean if if if someone is so afraid that the damage that'll be done uh by a teenager reading this book why aren't they taking the steps to make sure that their own kid doesn't read it rather than do the obvious thing to protect their child they're filling your inboxes and screaming on Facebook neither of which solve the problem they say they have it's because there is a this is a part of part of a larger coordinated effort to remove lgbtq plus themed books from libraries everywhere and I get real tired of being characterized

031as a pedophile a groomer a porn Pusher um all because I'm not in favor of of of banning a book and speaking of pushing with these book challenges we we have people trying to force their ideals of appropriate reading on to others and then we have other people like me who think let your kids read the book or don't it's it's your choice so who's The Pusher who's pushing who here I respectfully ask that you not remove the book from the library there are a whole lot of kids who will never read the book and they'll be just fine even if the book's on the shelf and then there's going to be a few that who who will read it uh and it will impact their life don't let a handful of people who will

032never even meet these few kids strip them of the opportunity for learning or for self-growth just keep the book on the Shelf thanks Phoebe [Applause] Holmes good evening Phoebe Holmes 101 of du Hill Road thank you for being here tonight um I'm here tonight because I care I care deeply about this issue um I have something that I'll read in a minute about book Banning but I just wanted to say that I was lucky enough to see fun home the play um at the Brookfield theater this fall and it was amazing it was the best play I've ever seen um because it was so moving and and um I had so much empathy for the main character who um this gentleman who spoke um it was incredible thank you but um as to book Banning

033ladies and gentlemen I stand before you tonight to vehemently Advocate against the notion of banning books as guardians of freedom of expression and the pursuit of knowledge it is imperative that we understand the grave implications of this action first and foremost Banning books is an infringement upon the fundamental right to access information explore diverse perspectives and engage in critical thinking censoring literature sets a dangerous precedent that will erode our freedoms incrementally once we accept censorship on any scale we pave the way for further restrictions on what we can read write or Express it is a slippery slope hope and it leads us down a path of ignorance and conformity in any society where power feels under attack they target the storytellers let us teach our children to think critically and embrace diversity of thought let

034us trust in the power of literature to Enlighten Inspire and unite us let us defend our liberties and preserve the sanctity of int ual freedom for generations to come thank [Applause] you Tara Peterson hi Tara Peterson 18 West View Lane um one of the great things about books is that we are not all going to agree on what we like and what good and what we want to read you are allowed to form your own opinion about this book in any book you are supposed to form your own opinions about them you don't have to like this book you don't have to think that it deserves all the awards and accolades it's earned you don't have to want your children to read this book it goes without saying that every parent has the right the

035responsibility to raise their child according to their belief their worldview it's not their right however to determine what other people's children can read and what is appropriate for all students based on what is appropriate for your children we talk about parents rights we have a system in place here in Brookfield that allows parents to limit their children's access to library materials as they see fit and please do not buy into the argument that removing a book from a library is not Banning it because it can be accessed at a public library or at a bookstore that is saying that the school library is not meant to serve all of its students and if you don't support a school library that serves all of its students then you don't support a school library period please allow

036Librarians to do the hard work of managing the library please allow parents to do the hard work of parenting their own children please keep fun home in the collect thank [Applause] you um Mr McGovern Brian McGovern Brian McGovern three Handel Ridge Road um first of all thank you board for allowing us all to speak we appreciate it it's not easy to stand in front of these issues and we appreciate what you're doing tonight um I'm the father of a current Brookfield High School student I am strongly opposed to Banning this book I think this book offers a range of experiences for children of great uh differences in our community uh on a wange of issues that are important to kids facing real time I strongly reject this book or really any book is going to

037interfere with my ability to parent my child my that is my job it is not the job of a book by itself although it's part of the range of his development um please dump an this boook Ellen odonnell hi thank you for this time um my children did not attend Brookfield High School nor do they now I was living with my family in New Milford at the time but I come here um after listening to all these terrific points um and I think I'm going to bring some students to you right now I'm a professor of composition and rhetoric at Western Connecticut State University and we happen to be moving into argument right now teaching freshmen to argue and to do persuasion and so I knowing I was coming here yesterday in class I opened

038that up this up to my students in the classroom and I said if you were me coming to oppose the ban of fun home how do we begin what do we do and so they did their logos from Aristotle right they did their research they looked up the book most of them didn't know the book so it is almost counterintuitive with book Banning that bringing light to a book exposes the book to more students right and Allison Beal is very happy with her book sales since her book book has been banned but uh my students said some things they said isn't this a slippery slope when a book is banned and I asked them to go on with that a little bit well if you ban this book and then somebody else bans another book

039and then all of a sudden and someone said the First Amendment right the first of Amendment freedom of expression and then students talked about immediately identified the lgbtq theme of the book they announced that it was graphic in nature they also announced that well if I can't read that in my library in my high school library and I need to read that book and it has great reviews they did all the research in the class where would I find it how would I get to it and they also I had a girl who was from Brookfield High School in my class who graduated a couple of years ago and she said God I love the Brookfield High School library but I rarely took out a book I went there for quiet and to think right

040I encourage my students to think critically to be curious and to be creative and if those students were here today they would say the Bible is pretty rough which is something they said what about catcher in the Ry in suicidal ideation right please please address the board these students yeah sorry Wendy these students are yeah these students know the gig on this right and we can't let them down thank you so much thank you very much bye Sarah coffee Sarah Coffey 116a Tower Road um part of me is wondering if the parents that are here tonight speaking against fun home have kind of taken the wrong approach if we had just stayed silent maybe the book would have been already pulled from circulation due to inactivity but lo and behold we're here this is not

041the first time I've stood here but I'm really hoping it's the last and I wouldn't have to be here if there were a clearly defined policy regarding obscenity and sexually explicit content a school library a policy that would prevent the public from leaving things up to their own interpretations to me this isn't just about the book fun home it's about an inconsistent set of standards that provide no expectation or guidelines about what can and cannot be shown to our children or can and cannot be spoken to our children inside these School walls also how fun home physically being on the Shelf in the school library makes it that much more likely to be worked into future curriculum and mandatory reading in the classroom talk of of sexuality has has already bled its way into the

042school day it's been discussed far more than should be allowed in a school setting this year alone from a female teacher at the high school telling their students that even though she's married to a man she thinks she's bisexual or bicurious to Stonewall speaker assembly which included two transgender individuals discussing the topic of sexuality with your children I don't care if a teacher said they were bisexual but felt a little heterosexual inside or the opposite or whatever no teacher or administrator should be discussing sexual refence with their students at all that's a hard line yes there are other important things going on in this District maybe more pressing issues that should take up meeting space but it's important to heed the warning of how something can start out as an as innocent as a book

043on the shelf and snowball into discussion in a classroom so I'm here because I object to fun home being in the school library but more so because it's imperative for the be board ofed to develop and publish guidelines against sexually explicit material in school libraries because because the thing is where do we draw the line if the graphics of oral sex is allowed then what would not be allowed and that's it thank you thank you Kristen ventresca Kristen vesca 23 Arapaho Road as a mother of three in a Brookfield High School alumni I'm here to express my concern of the book fun home which is accessible to our high school students I'd like to simply just start out with a definition of the term pornography according to the mar Marian Webster dictionary pornography is defined

044as printed or visual material containing explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic feelings pornography is protected expression first amendment however it is illegal under federal and state laws for minors under the age of 18 to have access to pornographic material the book at hand fun home has numerous examples that clearly fall under the definition of pornography both in graphic and in text form scrimming through the book you'll find graphic images of two women performing oral sex while discussing the sexually preferred Taste of each other's bodily fluids an example of an erotic fetish you can find references to the enjoyment of group sex on page 167 as well as another graphic image of a boy masturbating on his bed on page 207 these are just a few examples to point

045out although the book does contain many anymore referring back to the definition of pornography these images and conversations are referring to erotic enjoyment of the sexual behaviors as well as sexual body parts there is no way to twist that to put it in another perspective to those who still may not be able to wrap their head around the obscenity of this if these graphic images and conversations from this text were displayed in the in the form of a video or online streaming would we feel differently with it in the hands of our children in our school I'm positive that to access video material of this same content you must agree that you are over the age of 18 prior to viewing it on the internet that is a federal mandate I've seen many arguments from

046the other side saying that this is an attack on the lgbtq community I personally view that as a distraction this material is not discussing a homosexual relationship without the sexual manner it's not alluding to safe sex practices among the homosexual Community it is introducing the concept of erotic based fetishes plain and simple I've noticed Administration and people people in general tend to let the line and the sand go a little bit further when it comes to something questionable because they're afraid of being labels anti- this anti that I said it last time I spoke and I'll say it again show me a book in here with equivalent sexual material and heterosexual characters and I will be up here demanding it has no place in a school library like truly where does this end at what

047cost to our children in protecting their innocence do we say enough is enough our children are exposed to enough through social media that they' become desensitized to so much so not naive that they don't hear about these Concepts however it's not the school's responsibility to be the ones putting this material in their hands that's enabling it and I sincerely hope that Brookfield can join new town and other libraries by removing this book or any other similar books that should never have been in the hands of our minors in the first place thank you Elena [Applause] Lopez yeah we we want to make sure that we don't distract from what the speakers are saying with um uh comments or or noises thank you so um Miss Lopez yes hi Elena Lopez 9 summer Pastor Lane as

048a society we have decided that adults of all sexualities will be provided a work environment free from sexually explicit content these rights are enforced legally under anti-sexual harassment laws and are outlined in company policies no one calls big corporations or small businesses anti lgbtqia PL us for following the law on this these policies make sense they protect employees from uncomfortable work environments and allow those employees to focus on their daily tasks we have a board of ed sexual harassment policy and students would be F uh punished excuse me for sharing explicit cartoons or sexually suggestive materials the kind found in the book fun home our sexual harassment policy also states that harassment can stem from staff during a previous Board of end meeting one member suggested that our Board of Ed add no pornography to

049the library acquisition policy two other members were quick to shut him down and insist that such a phrase was not needed as there was no pornography in the library these comments beg the following questions one what is a cartoon of the performance of oral sex found in the book funhome considered if not pornography and two if there is no pornography in the school and it seems you're all in agreement then that there shouldn't be then why can't we add it to the policy the answer is simple and frightening pornographic cartoons and sexually explicit material is purposely being provided by the district and is condoned by the previous Board of Ed majority and this evening we will find out where our new board of ed members stand on this issue the people who speak against content

050like funhome being in a public school are unfairly painted as bigots who are trying to persecute lgbtq children this argument is infuriating and it couldn't be further from the truth how is it that the people who want no child of any sexuality to be exposed to graphic and sexually explicit content in their school are considered the enemy make no mistake adults who insist that lgbtq children must have access to sexually charged materials while they are in school and should be focusing on academics are the adults of great concern our Librarians administrators district and bard of Ed must honor the bord of Ed sexual harassment policy and immediately address the standard for content that is in our school buildings retention of fun home exposes condones perpetuates and encourages sexually explicit content being circulated in our schools

051and it provides no leg to stand on for disciplining others who break your policy voting for retention of this particular book shows the community that there are few to no limits to what you'll provide to minors in a public school the sexuality of the characters and the story being shared cannot excuse sexually explicit content and the restrictions we put on cont content should have no bearing on the sexuality of the characters meaning heterosexual stories with graphic or sexually explicit content cannot be allowed either thank you Miss Lopez thanks I asking the board create new Poli policies while honoring existing policies that ensure a safe environment free from sexual harassment for all children Miss Stanley Tanya Stanley Miss Stanley Tanya Stanley sorry it's been a long night already hi Tanya Stanley 31 Laurel Drive um I

052just want to thank you all for hearing us again tonight uh thank you for allowing me in particular the opportunity to to address you all this is not my first goar around with the Board of Education um the reconsideration of fun home at Brookfield High School has proven to me both as a parent and an educator to be a very laborious process and it also begs the question is it truly considered Banning if perhaps it shouldn't have been acquired in the first place from petitions to writing letters to the Board of Education 200 signatures on that petition an array of research hours and hours to meeting with the Librarians and the high school princip principal personally to answering follow-up questions from the reconsideration committee speaking at meetings such as tonight I think it's important for

053me to emphasize that this is all coming from a place of care and concern for what is being made accessible to students at our high school is one thing to read sexually graphic material in words it is very different to have those sexually graphic words depicted in sexually graphic images the slope is slippery if we're going to allow books like this in our library what else is going to be permitted if a book that was acquired in 2008 at BHS had only been checked out two times prior to parents bringing attention to the obscene nature of the images in the book and then was asked to be removed it seemed like a reasonable request considering the low level of interest in the book by students at that time but instead of looking from that perspective

054heels were dug in and those parents and community members who found the book to be of unfavorable sexual graphic content were deemed homophobic book banners and hateful and for me I just find that really disheartening because I am here as a parent I am an educator and I'm somebody who cares deeply about the community as a whole I've taught students of all different races walks of life and to be honest with you it is absolutely appalling to me that this kind of imagery is being available to students I understand completely where people are coming from and wanting to have books that speak to a variety of different students I get it students are coming from all walks of life and I'm all for that but when it comes to images in books I think there

055needs to be an understanding that lines need to be drawn even if the book is of value for adults it may not because of the graphic images be of value to our students thank you Austin Montero Austin Montero I keep wondering if this is actually working I should just use my teacher voice all right Austin montario 17 Dairy Farm Drive so thank you for your time tonight everyone I want to take a different look at this uh from a from a bigger perspective to me this is about way more than a book or two or three it's about where we're going in terms of public education as a whole so after reading the responses from the reconsideration committee formed to review these books these book challenges now and in the past it seems to be

056just a regurgitation of the Ala the American Library association's handbook essentially word for word uh without much else added to that so let's dig into that because this is where I believe we need to make a change and follow more of a common sense approach as adults there are a growing number of states right now in our country that are separating from the a in including Wyoming Alabama Missouri Texas Florida Montana and others uh soon to follow and other districts within other states so this is not our parents American Library Association from the 80s and 90s those days are long gone just like a lot of other institutions we used to blindly trust and look up to things have changed unfortunately and it's high time we we take notice as a community this I find

057interesting and it's from the ala's own Bill of Rights which I think we've heard a few people mention uh and it's very powerful powerful to me as the direction they want to go as an organization so the American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library service materials and Facilities based on the age of Library users so again this is not our parents American Library Association so the question is are they cool with a 13-year-old accessing literally any material yes then we have to ask why is that well what this does in their Bill of Rights is actually is Place kids on equal footing as adults which we all know is not true and it is a way to abolish age of consent laws as it states right here in their very own

058words in their very own bill and you can look it up on their very own website so I strongly strongly dis agree with this and highly encourage us uh to leave the Ala as we know children and adults are not the same and for any other questions regarding why we should not be aligned with the Ala I advise everybody should just do a little research on who the current president of that Association is I think it may be shocking to some people uh to move on I have two reviews uh from this book one by Ken swandor of the Ala fun home is a mature work that may be best appreciated by mature audiences it contains violence sexuality graphic images nudity I would agree that all of these are contained within the work the book

059addresses themes of sexual orientation gender roles emotional abuse another review from ranell Whitaker who is an English Department director in Illinois and he uses ma maps m mpaa's rating age here and because although there's no violence there is definitely nudity and sexual act pres so this is an adult book Mr mono thank you very much [Applause] thank um so that concludes uh the public comment portion and um I don't know if I said this uh to you guys but thanks a lot for coming out on a Tuesday evening um to um just be part of this important Civic discussion it's it's really great that we get so much um input here tonight so thank you to everyone who spoke I know can be nerve-wracking my hands always sweat when I um do that so you

060guys did great too thank you um we've asked that um well so we're moving on to new business and and to Kickstart this we've asked Mr Banda to come here and just walk us through uh for people who who may be late to this game the chronology of um what happened and to give us an update um Mr Blanda that's a fair way to say it of what happened with the um Review Committee at the high school level thank you very much all right so I'll State the obvious we are all here because of the decision made by the committee uh at the high school uh to reconsider this book um so Dr bril has asked me to uh kind of go through the process because this has been a long one uh really started

061last spring uh and so I think it'd be important to kind of share the timeline with the board uh just to reiterate and you know highlight some of the areas and things that we did as a committee uh so the first thing was uh we did receive the uh actual um book uh challenge or cons uh reconsideration request uh at the end of May um and then the first opportunity we had to meet with uh the entire group as part of that process uh following the regulation 6563 uh was to meet and review uh the actual submission with the individual who submitted it and so we're able to do that on June 13th now if you're telling time that's towards the end of of the school year um and while we had that meeting uh

062we decided that what would happen over the summer to get everybody together me to create a volunteer committee we would do it as soon as we returned back to school so we spent some time online uh through was I think it was a zoom or Google meet uh discussing uh the the reconsideration form with the individuals that submitted it uh and then once we got back to school right before school started um I convened a committee uh a different committee than we did for uh the original book reconsideration of this book is gay um there were some members that did remain the same U but I there was uh two teachers uh one student support staff member an administrator uh our two library media Specialists and myself I actually facilitated I wasn't a voting member

063necessarily of the group unless it needed to be and we facilitated that conversation so the first meeting was September 7th of 2023 at that point we went through the process having gone through it uh once before we decided to go through it again and really walk everybody through what we are going to do at at that point we shared board policies the 6563 both the regulation and the addendum so the committee could see this particular part and also why this came to be that we're even hosting the committee at this point so we had that conversation we actually reviewed the board policy uh then I distributed the book and everybody that in the committee got the book and we arranged to come back at a projected date uh originally it was September 18th we were

064supposed to meet um but you may remember September 18th maybe you don't it was really hot and we got out of school early that day so we could not meet that day so it was rescheduled the September um 28th was our second meeting that we had and in that process everybody came back and there was Post-it notes everywhere uh and the conversation we jumped right into it and so we started by looking at what a what a library media specialist would do if they're going to pick a book brand new um looking to add to the collection what would you do and the first step is to look at reviews that's the part of the library media specialist process so they looked at reviews we looked at the available reviews and a bunch of different

065reviews to see what they had to say say and as a consensus we talked around the table and said would you be interested in reading this book given the reviews and at least taking a further look they all agreed that that would be a likely next step in the process so we're now at the point have we already read the book makes sense so what we did is we talked about uh the board policy we looked at the did it align to establish selection criteria there's a whole list in that board policy including things relative to the a American Library Association as well as the the including the Bill of Rights and some other things that are in the board policy in terms of weeding and and Criterion selection so we went through all that

066and asked that question did the book based on those criteria align and then we said we need to have more conversation right because we didn't get to the point where we could actually dig deeper into the actual um reconsideration form itself and all the details and so we decided to come back and we met again on December 4th and we went through Page by Page um October 4th excuse me went Page by Page to that reconsideration form looked at each of those pieces and had a very rich discussion around the table with the six individuals that are part of that uh that group um and so we I can assure you we talked about all of these issues right what was in the reconsideration form itself other things that have been brought up here everything

067was on the table we had a very open and honest discussion um and then while there certainly was a vote at the end I don't want to focus on the vote necessarily because it was discussion that we had that was the more important piece right we talked about what somebody has a question about well do you think this is appropriate to be a part of the u based on this page or this picture whatever it may be we had all those deep discussions which is why it took two full meetings to get through this uh at the end we did vote and there was it was a 5 to1 vote to be clear there was one person who believed that it should not be considered uh as part of the library collection um and it

068was a very respectful and civil conversation which was also fantastic to hear as colleagues working together that everybody uh felt comfortable sharing their opinions and their perspective but really grounded their decision um in what they believed how it adhered to their own personal values or what really values of the kids and we kept going back to the kids what does this mean for the kids does it do harm um you know and looking at all those things so the committee clearly voted 5 to one to keep it there and that's the first part of the conversation and that's detailed here in the rationale but behind what we did I think the second important part that's been brought up multiple times as well is the addendum and the regulation that does talk about two really important

069things one that parents can absolutely request and make a determination if there's a library material that they do not want their student to read they can do that and the second part is that the community is not residents can only make that choice for their own children to restrict it and so that was the second part of this so um that's all I have for you you've heard a lot of this you have our copy of what this is so I guess that's it and I it's now the board's turn to continue with the discussion great thanks very much okay I just have a couple questions mark if that's okay regarding this um so I'm looking at the acquisition criteria um where it says appropriateness of content concept themes and vocabulary suited to the audience

070so would you did they committee consider images under content or was that not a consideration at all so I I'm going to reiterate what I said before we looked at every single one of these things so any question you're going to ask about did we consider it we looked at every single one 100% we looked at every single one and deemed it appropriate anything that's in here the committee talked about reviewed and made the decision so you deemed that the images were appropriate yes okay um all of them I'm sorry all of the images were appropriate you guys so we look at a book in context we don't look at us we look at a book as as a whole book in not just and we don't take one picture out we look at the

071entire thing we the review the whole thing and absolutely the committee the ones that certainly voted for it absolutely believe that it's appropriate pictures and the images along with but it's a really dangerous thing to say look at one picture and say this picture is inappropriate you have to look at the whole context of the book as well so yep how did you um quantify quality so I'm looking under the rationale providing quality materials um was that talked about how was that defined the quality of materials so the quality really is B look at the reviews right so the reviews show that it's it's quality material based on New York Times uh the kirkus reviews and some of the other reviews organizations we looked at Time Magazine I time I I think voted it novel

072of the year so there's plenty of uh support that says that it's a quality material okay um it's another question on the last page M um it says fund home should be accessible to students at both the middle school and high school level is that cor am I reading that correct where is that top the top the third oh so if you if you read that so that talks about a rationale from the National Council of teachers of English so that is one so it says appropriate sub content concept themes this is excerpt so that's a bullet from the excerpt from NCT I'm this so that just explains that this is um this could be from that perspective from the nct's perspective not mine not the Committees the national counsel the teachers of English believe

073that this should be both a middle and a high school text okay so you're just you're just I'm focused on the high school this because this is where the book exists okay Y and is that also the same with the third bullet down this graphic memor should be incorporating classs yep okay Mr Blen you mentioned that not one image we should look at right was there a number of images we should look at to see if it's inappropriate or not is there like a threshold of images that are appropriate or in appropriate that you said that not to it's important not to take out one image right right I think you look at you look at the whole scope of the book yeah the whole scope of the book absolutely in context looking at one

074image in particular and saying this is one image it shouldn't be in here because of one you have to understand what the story is and what the concept is in terms of a memoir so that's the perspective is we looked at all images across the board we looked at every single one they were included in the uh the the particular reconsideration we looked at them and given in context across the board we felt it was appropriate so is there a number of inappropriate images a book needs to have in order to be not deemed you said you looked through every page and every yeah we we read the whole book and we looked at every picture yep and you felt every single picture in that book the committee felt I'm sorry five of the six

075committee felt every single picture in that book was appropriate for schools correct yes okay um you don't have to respond to this I just you know it's it's a concern that I want to share that the committee for both the book reviews had half of the same people correct yes I did it did it was it was important for the library media specialist to be part of that they had to be there because they're part of the the and one of the other person the people who was there uh was the same person it was an administrator who oversees and works with the library and the other people were brand new had not been a part of it okay I I would just say I don't think this is fair I mean it's very subjective

076to allow the same people to continue to sit you know on the same committee so I don't really feel it's an it it's an impartial representation again I'm not asking for you to respond I just wanted to make that um put that out there also um I'm not focusing on the vote per se five to one but can you share what was the concern of the one educator yeah that one educator because we we kept going back to students right and that was that's the focus of the conversation this is a a book that's available to students in the Brookfield you know Public School library uh that one individual uh when sharing why they felt that it should not be felt that the scope and the theme um in fact said it he just didn't

077feel it was appropriate he didn't feel that it it met with um there was personal values certainly and perspective because everybody bringing those to the table to say that we don't would be you know would not be the right thing to say we bring those to the table but trying to separate those things out even trying to separate those out he the the individual said that it just it does he didn't feel that it should be a part of the group of the of the available to students here in the library okay thank you thanks very much Mr um Dr I think I think we're good we thank you very much um did you want to talk at all about the appeal process sure so the um committee special committee Review Committee for the high

078school um made their decision in October um the talk to the folks who um the child advocacy group who had made uh the reconsideration request uh put that forward uh to me to let me know that the uh book for the time being the challenge was uh going to stay um and then that was it for the time being on December 4th um when it actually the new board had just become uh a new board at that time it was after the election on December 4th I think it was a Monday uh the book The Child Advocacy committee um sent a note to me uh and to Mr Banda notifying us that they wanted to appeal the CH the the special review committee's uh decision and so on that afternoon um I sent a note

079to the board letting everybody know that it's now been appealed and with some recommendations of how the board might consider things whether Committee of the whole or a special subcommittee or whatever the case may be at that time just to give everybody a sense of the timeline um that same week the board was uh receiving the recommendation for the budget for next year so there was a lot of budget work and then right into the holidays and then January and here we are in February um and we were going to have this meeting two weeks ago but we had a snow day so um I've got to give the the the new board uh Credit in the sense that that there's been no delay it's moved it right along the appeal came on December 4th

080and and here we are tonight um it's important as well for everybody to know I think that the um uh child advoc advocacy committee that put this challenge forward um did send a note to um myself and I think at the time uh Debbie Brooks who was the chair of the policy committee asking us uh there were several requests to take a look at within the policy um the policy committee I think has met now on three met on three occasions um and made some adjustments in November to the policy um and then most recently policy Committee just last week was looking at the policy again so it is a um a living and breathing policy that is constantly having scrutiny so that's a bit of a timeline there for you Wendy great thank you

081there's been so much movement with this and uh thanks to the members of the um Brookfield child advocacy committee uh for being patient with this process that we were ready to go on the night of the snow delay but then snow delay so um all right so let's um receive and possibly Act upon um the recommendation of the special committee regarding the book fun home um are you guys ready to um do you are there items you want to discuss or would you just like to share your thoughts do do you have questions that you want to discuss back let me let me start with oh no no you start H and then no no by all means ladies oh you have something to share sh no no no no no okay okay that's what

082I meant I thought that's us I my bad go ahead holler thank you all right thanks everybody for being here and for sharing your thoughts um I'm going to start with just a a couple as I'm thinking about and processing everything that everyone said I'm going to start with a couple of General comments and then I will move more specifically to the work that's being discussed the microphone holds up okay uh the first uh really the two general thoughts that I have are a reiteration of what many people have addressed this even and that is number one that I do believe as many people here do that every single parent has the right to choose what his or her child will read um choice is a very important word because if they if there wasn't

083such a thing as Choice then we wouldn't be here that immediately implies that there's going to be controversial material that some people will choose based on Family Values personal beliefs uh whatever the case may be that they don't want their children to access and that's perfectly reasonable uh the second uh point that I want to make that's also a general point is that we hire qualified and trade Librarians and I trust that process and I trust our Librarians uh to do the job that they were hired to do getting into the title fun home um we all have said and know that Allison beell is a highly acclaimed author uh Allison beell chooses to deal with very difficult topics in graphic form by doing so she re she reaches a wider audience why because people

084many people will uh prefer to read Comics or Graphics rather than text and uh that and by doing so she reaches people that me really maybe need to hear what she has to say um similarly I would say an author such as art spiegelman and has highly celebrated two volumes of mouse also has chosen to deal with very difficult topics in graphic form the topic of his father's experience with the Holocaust the suicide of his mother his very difficult relationship with his father um Allison Beal's novel though fun home her graphic form I feel is so much more than just about sex and sexuality she's dealing with a dysfunctional family her struggle to uh find a place in that family to make sense of it to discover her own identity in the process it's a

085memoir that's filled with anguish one that questions criticizes and reflects in the process of trying to understand now trying to write something in graphic form I also feel is a double-edged sword number one yes it reaches a wider audience people who really may need these texts but the problem with it is that you cannot turn away from the images they're there they're in your face and sometimes uh they may be uncomfortable to look at that is a given however if beckel's work is deemed unacceptable in a high school library how do we respond to passages in great works of literature that are far more graphic in nature that paint pictures with words not just sexuals sexual of sexual intimacy but also images of casualties of War victims of rape the brutal treatment of slaves and

086other minorities and on and on if we remove such a novel or such a work from our library I think it would set a very dangerous precedent and it would not be taking into account the Thematic importance of these works that we have approved and have been using for years in our Collections and in our curriculum thank you [Applause] hope there's no guys please keep your comments um to yourself so that we can focus on what um Robert has to say thank good evening ladies and gentlemen I thought it would be a good idea and unfortunately I was very uncomfortable doing this printing out these images to display to everyone everybody had a very valid reason for not having this book in in the school and also has a very valid reason for keeping it

087I felt that the imag is alone with the reason why but I'm also going to reference a few other things I did read the book and I thought it was very well very well written I thought she did a great job of outlining her experiences growing up I think she did a phenomenal job of explaining the OCD thing which somebody else mentioned that I can definitely relate to as well so I'm going to read through the notes that I took and then I'll sh and um reference uh what I'm showing she references her father as being an ideal husband but then ask what an Ideal Husband have sex with teenage boys this is very important other references later in the story page 76 takes a picture of a character masturbating um somebody's phone I'm sorry

088Robert somebody's phone is is going off and it's a very dramatic ring thank you thank you sorry robt that's all right on page 79 she has a conversation with her mother about her father having relations with teenage boys and how he almost got caught later in the story the explanation is her father got charged with giving alcohol to a minor and the other charges quote were dropped if he agreed to a court order therapy Compares James and the Giant Peach to pornography and on the same page there was an image of both women naked and one is reading the quote and quoting from James and the Giant Peach both women were laying down as one reads from the book wrapped in the other's legs the and it's displayed up there the walls were wet and

089sticky and peach juice was dripping from the ceiling James opened his mouth and caught some of it with his tongue now since we're talking about libraries and literary pieces I'm sure James and the Giants Peach is a phenomenal book and I don't believe he's referencing what she's referencing in the story but when you have two women laying next to each other and each other one has is reading between the other partner's legs it kind of sounds a bit different there's a picture on page 95 of a naked woman with her breast showing and this is my favorite one on page 112 the narrator herself is told by her father not to open the paper she has been fold given to her folded in her hands because it's dirty quote dirty according to the father she

090said it's dirty she opens it anyway to discover a plumber's calendar with a naked woman on it she then writes how she felt quote stripped naked herself inexplicably inexplicably ex shamed like Adam and Eve end quote I'm not sure how kids would feel if they saw this in again and I know parents were able to choose and decide what books they're allowed to read but I do feel that this crosses a line on page 113 another naked female what appears to be a calendar on page 160 the narrator goes to visit a family friend's house there's a painting of the wife in the picture she's naked laying on her back completely naked with her breast and vagina showing and later in the story references how that couple asked her parents to have an orgy father

091giving a 17-year-old beer on page 161 and taking him for a ride when he returns home home the other brother sees who gets dropped off and then the brother calls the police for some reason 171 demonstrates how to use a chair to get an orgasm when she's sitting down page 175 explains her father's legal troubles she thought it was just for giving a beer to a mind and then explains her theory that it was more serious than that she writes quote his legal entanglement seemed like a technicality to me but I didn't know that Furnishing a mle beverage to a minor was the least of his troubles then goes on to say the real ACC quote the real accusation dare not speak its name end quote quote I can only speculate on the exact relations

092of the brothers in the next Valley then on page 180 referencing the father's hearing she explains to the judge ruled how the judge ruled quickly uh on the other charge but then writes a whiff of the sexual Aroma is the true offense that could be detected in the sentence that's from the author's words page 190 the author writes I was moved by my own open-minded tolerance I was by arresting display of cosmeti masculinity the next picture shows a bulge in a man's pants page 207 which we see up here page 214 which we see up here as a board we've been receiving a lot of emails regarding this book one side of the argument States very clearly that book Banning is wrong in all shapes and sizes and that is a very true statement throughout

093history 100% I agree with that the other this side of the argument also states that parents canot their children out of any book they don't want them to read the other side of the argument regarding this book clearly states the reason for its removal very inappropriate sexual images as you guys can see over there full stop no other reason we're not targeting any Community despite being accused of that this book is very very well written and the author does a great job of capturing her childhood and the struggles she went through with her identity growing up I commend her for overcoming all of her struggles and and the issues with her father I would bet that young adults who struggle with similar circumstances can relate to this book however the true tragedy of this comic

094is the fact that the author felt the need to include inappropriate sexual images which in my opinion wasn't necessary in telling her story which was a very good story my support for removing this book from the Brookfield Library is solely based on the inappropriate sex images and nothing else and last but not least we received an email today stating that we shouldn't even be giving this any airtime and that any challenge book should be allowed in the library that same email also went on to say that those who opposed the book are quote politically motivated and are manufacturing outrage then went on to ask why we are giving a platform to quote people with a clearly bigoted agenda I don't know why we have to attack each other with this particular topic I really don't

095get that part but I just want to reiterate one more time the only reason I feel this book should be removed from the library is due to the inappropriate sexual references as well as the inappropriate SL possibly illegal relationships of father have with high school boys that same em email went out to say that we are members of a board and not professionally trained Educators we are elected board we are excuse me an elected Board of the citizen volunteers I've been educated for 23 years I'm currently an assistant principal of a campus in a high school in the Bronx I hope that qualifies me as a trained professional as well as a member of the board and I'm just curious if the play that everyone is raving about display these particular scenes as well that's

096all I have to say about the book thank you thanks Sarah I'm just going to address a couple of items that I have here in the interest of everyone's time first of all I want to say I appreciate everyone um residents and parents who have reached out to us and who have come here today I draw a preface this with saying I hope to see this turnout at every one of our Board of meetings going forward um and all of your opinions are your opinions and they're all valid because that's what they what you feel and of course we are here to make a decision based on what's in the best interest of our students um I appreciate those parents who have opened line of communication with their children and have an a healthy appropriate

097conversation with them about anything I expect that this book um and whether it belongs in the library is one of those conversations Kudos I need to be the voice of the children whose parents are less involved the students who will be less likely to ask questions about this book or anything else about which they are curious and a second thing if in fact this does remain I would love to address the policies and how they interact with the other policies where there might be overlap that need to be reconsidered I'll pass for now but I'm going to go last actually I think I got you on that I will gladly go for the record 50 people are not making this decision seven are and you'll never see something like this on a ballot because we

098live in a representative democracy and so that is how you vote Why by us voting I put thec these book challenges are born of a radically conservative political agenda that uses fear and conspiracies to accomplish their goals I know this because after the last book challenge I learned of a highly hypocritical especially as of late group that has published a step-by-step guide instructing followers which books to protest how to most effectively inundate your local Boards of Education with review work how to look for ways to attack their reputation and also to provide resources to make it sound like you've actually read the book you should want banned they tell their followers what to post to their social media accounts and how often so that their following grows organically they tell followers to make sure to

099say they're not book banners that they are in fact against book Banning that they're not anti-lgbtq that this is not about politics it's about age appropriateness and parental rights sound familiar I did hear tonight some truly well-meaning parents and I don't think all of them have even heard of this group but have been unknowingly affected by it still I also know there is a faction of our town that Wishes the lgbtq community didn't even exist they don't understand it or it confuses or repulses them some would rather remove all reminders of it entirely those are people who applaud and monetarily reward students who vandalize and call them Heroes it wasn't out of hate I recently heard a student say but I also heard this student say I was confused I was angry I didn't understand

100how incredibly sad I thought that this student who would soon be out of our schools and supposedly a fully functioning independent member of society was mature enough to know there was something not understood it wasn't hate but couldn't articulate what it was it wasn't hate but something needed to be gone worst of all this student would likely never be given the opportunity to have a genuine conversation that might lead to some clarity or acceptance without that conversation being painted as something disgusting and perverse Instead This student is STO is told directly or indirectly to stay confused don't seek answers don't become educated just remove the things in your world that you don't understand so that you can pretend those people don't exist talk about grooming this is pertinent to tonight's agenda the fear-mongering the radical

101agenda the undereducated blitz of legal terminology misusage and the assault on our policy language and a desperate attempt to control the worldview of our students is what is so wrong here and I will not only call it out but fight it as much as I possibly can our policy on reviewing books is clear we as a board will not review excerpts or parts of books but the work in its entirety after reading this book in its entirety there is absolutely no way anyone can say this book is about sex or pornography that alone is enough of an argument for me but I want to address other points first our librarian professionals are just that professionals I find it absurd that their credentials their expertise and even their reputations and motives for working with youth is

102constantly questions and flat out lied about parents have always had the choice to restrict access to school library books absolutely nothing was accomplished with the last book challenge but like the last book challenge I did inquire about how many parents restricted access to fun home thinking again that surely that was the very least parents who felt so strongly about it could do but again not a single High School parent put a single restriction on a single book perhaps perhaps they felt it was a pointless effort since as we've heard students with access can show other students without access so I inquired about that too thinking surely there must be a problem at the high school for so many parents to be enraged about this book but no not a single complaint was ever made about

103a student being shown anything disturbing or inappropriate from this or any library book for that matter so what is the problem here where is the harassment W is there any problem here that isn't manufactured just for a second I want all parents here tonight to think and just to themselves be honest within your own head does your child have a personal device and do you really monitor or restrict what your child reads and shares on social media or through text if your answer was anything less than a resounding no to the first question or yes to the second question then the hypocrisy can stop right here here because the honest fact of the matter is that on the whole parents are not actually concerned with the age appropriateness or sexual nature of material their child

104has full unencumbered access to because if they did then I wouldn't see every high schooler out there glued to their screens I wouldn't see a man proudly describing grabbing women by their genitals elected president of the United States and instead I would see parents firing emails at us demanding to ban the phones that force that kind of content into their faces and not the books sitting on shelves in a library there is no harassment here and this isn't even an issue with the content of the book because if it was everyone here tonight would have to come face to face with their own hypocrisy I thought it was sad that at least one student in our community clearly did not understand something about trans people and was then praised for removing a reminder that trans

105people even exist was called a hear for giving the community more days where they didn't have to deal with them forget about equity for a moment we in Brookfield still apparently need to work on just accepting that trans people exist or that gay people do in fact exist and as a difficult fact as that may be for some removing reminders will not change that books provide that conversation and provocation of dialogue for readers within themselves and a window into a world they may not understand but seek to to find parallels of their own life amongst obvious contrast perhaps that is what's most feared by parents their child understanding or wanting to understand something that they themselves don't worse still that their child wouldn't have a problem with it books like fun home should be in

106our schools for the students who can't articulate what they don't understand but clearly have strong feelings about maybe a student like that could become an adult who's learned learned that just because they don't understand something doesn't mean it's deviant and doesn't mean it needs removal that is not heroic or even a challenge to stay undereducated I support the retention of this book for the simple ever so basic fact that stories like this exist and deserve to be heard thank you [Applause] so ready good evening we have in front of us a library committee report from our library reconsideration committee that is made up of Highly Educated qualified individuals who made the decision that the book fun home would remain in the BHS Library it was not an arbit arbitrary decision made lightly or without discussion

107I would like to read the summary of their actions over the course of multiple meetings and the thoughts that went into their professional assessment and ultimate decision quote after discussing the submitted reconsideration forms reviews reading the book in its entirety examining alignment to established selection criteria and the Brookfield Boe policies regulations and addendums the library book reconsideration committee recommends that no action be taken regarding the status of the library book FunDome a family tragic comic we heard Mr blenda speak to that exact policy uh to that exact uh ruling decision I affirm that decision it is our duty and obligation to provide a variety of books in our school libraries in order to support all students at all reading levels we need to recognize that there are students who read graphic novels for a variety

108of reasons including English language Learners and those that struggle to read a novel cover to cover in fact here is what the Scholastic website says quote with graphic novels you'll not only engage your reluctant readers and help build important reading skills but you'll provide Advanced readers with a wonderful opportunity to think critically about a new form of Storytelling one that combines the most important elements of traditional novels picture books poetry and even film in a new captivating way end quote it is unfair to take these important stories away from our kids because we are uncomfortable with how they may relate to the story we need to protect students access to books that they may see themselves in or that may ask important questions our children are watching us and the removal of this book from

109our library is essentially telling an entire group of people who are already marginalized that they do not matter that they don't have a place here despite what some people have said this is an attack on lgbtq plus themes hidden under the guise of claims that it is inappropriate due to subject matter by focusing on a few images in the book funhome that do not qualify as pornography or sexual harassment under the legal definition you are also missing the greater more important points of the story I'm going to come back to that in a minute but I first want to speak to the leg legal definition of pornography which is material that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement if you have read read the book and you keep context in mind you

110will find that none of the scenes come with sexually explicit language with an intent to arouse this book was not written for shock value next I want to speak to the claim of keeping this book in the BHS Library being akin to sexual harassment the legal definition is forcing someone to view insulting and sexually offensive images this is not an assigned book and this is not required reading and in fact as it's been pointed out no student prior to this school year had checked out the book since 2010 the library reconsideration committee determined that quote This Is A Memoir of a specific life experience told artfully the author's life experiences are still relevant to today's young adults and their representation provides a unique perspective end quote I've said it before and you will hear me

111say it again if you do not want your child to have access to this book you simply opt out but But ultimately you do not have the right to restrict access to materials or tell another parent what their child can and cannot read okay all of that being said let me go back to my earlier point about the diverse themes in this book others have made this point as well fun home is actually valuable in unexpected ways based on the author's journey of self-discovery unrelated to their sexuality this book is about complicated parental relationships divorce navigating a parent's death discovering who you are and where you fit in in the world and not actually being able to have those conversations with your parent who's gone it's about a young woman from a small town whose

112world is increasingly becoming wider and more varied I wonder how many of our students might find that theme relatable it's about mental health and anxiety disorders and in speaking to Jeremy's point and experience reading this book regarding his OCD and autism Journey how many students may find themselves relating to that experience the author shows surprising reverence for old movies and writers and literature that could inspire a young reader some have called for a policy change well to Echo Debbie Brooks if we start censoring what our school librarians choose we pave the way for censoring any type of Library material what about books on Christianity that go against someone's fundamental atheist beliefs or Harry Potter which could be deemed as witchcraft will we start asking to remove James Baldwin because he writes about abuse or Judy

113Bloom because she writes about ministration that brings me to the school policy and the addendum that was approved in February of 2022 that says residents shall not have the right to determine Library materials for students other than their own parents or Guardians have the right to guide the reading viewing and listening of their children but must give the same right to other parents and Guardians thank [Applause] you I'm gonna speak up at the podium okay everybody hear me okay good so I'm not going to stand up here and lecture parents in this room I I actually didn't plan on sign that but that just came about and I'm not going to belittle some of you in this room as well I want us to take a moment to be reflective I would like to start

114off with a quote by Abraham Lincoln we can complain because rose bushes have thorns or we can Rejoice because Thorn bushes have roses so I'll read that again we can complain because rose bushes have thorns or we can Rejoice because Thorn bushes have roses so we can complain or be mad that parents or the community are challenging a book or we can rejoice and be appreciative that parents care about what their children are reading or what have they have access to and what we're putting in their hands so I'm just going to stick to the facts I'm not going to spill out my opinion on all of you I'm going to stick to the facts according to cab that's our governing body for the Board of Ed in our code of ethics it states the

115following I will as an agent of the state uphold and enforce all laws rules regulations and court orders so by retaining the book fun home you would be promoting crime and sexual violence against children the father is a high school English teacher who sleeps with his male students and supplies them with alcohol this book celebrates and promotes criminal behavior in the following statutes these are facts I'm not making this up these are the felonies he is committing and the Brookfield PD can can can um verify this Connecticut General statute 53a d71 Class B or class C felony sexual assault in the second degree a person is guilty of sexual assault in the second degree when they engage in sexual intercourse with another person the actor is a School employee and such other person is a

116student enrolled in the same school Connecticut General statute 53 a-70 class a felony sexual assault in the first degree a person is guilty in the first degree when that person engages engages in sexual intercourse with another person and that person is under 13 years of age that actor or character or teacher or father is more than two years older Connecticut General statute 53a 83b class B felony commercial sexual abuse of a minor such person in exchanges anything of value with a minor as compensation for a minor having engaged in sexual conduct with such person grooming him and giving him a beer Connecticut General statute 53-21 risk of injury of a minor has contact with the intimate parts of a child under the age of 16 or subjects the child to content with the intimate parts

117of such person in sexual and decent manner likely to impair the health or morals of such child several times supplying the alcohol to a minor Connecticut General statute 53 a-70 C aggravated sexual assault of a minor if the actor has violated risk of injury to a minor and her sexual ass and the victim of such offenses under 13 and there was more than one victim of such offense under 13 years years of age is this a message we want to send our students that grooming is okay that the impact of victims is not important or considered the book is glorifying the time when the victim actually apologizes to the father after the court case the author does not condemn or focus on the sexual abuse perpetrated by the father this adult male teacher was giving

118his student alcohol in exchange for sex or he was groomed him either way the judge paid no attention to the charges and made the victim apologize when the young boy was a victim of sexual assault it glorifies him molesting children essentially if reading between the lines and making inferences it places blame on the victim in addition to the written explanations of the crimes against the children he is committing there are pictures and images that also show what he's doing and that's glorifying child molestation nobody in the pictures are legally able to consent to have sex with an adult and specifically with an adult in a position of power or authority if this book was made into a movie according to the Motions pictures Association it would be given an R rating if it has explicit

119sex or rape scenes also according to the Motions pictures Association any front full frontal nudity will get an R rating or nc17 rating according to cab our governing body R-rated movies must not contain nudity or explicit sex so if used parents must be notified of its nature and possible offensive content content and must be given for their child permission must be given for their child if under the age of 18 to view it so with this clear-cut factual information funhome would be rated R based on the criteria just listed so then according to our policies we cannot show it unless unless we have parent permission why would we not hold the same standard for the book we cannot make it accessible without parent consent so any board member who votes yes to retain fun home

120will be voting to expose minors to an equivalent of an R-rated movie if these images are not offensive or pornographic then will a student be permitted to draw these exact images and wear them on their clothes or put them on the front of their notebooks or how about orally descri desing these sexual details to their peers in school what you can see up there students in our school have been disciplined for wearing alcoholic images on their clothing have been disciplined for dressing like a girl on Halloween and having them remove their breasts because they were told it was offensive and inappropriate but yet it's not access it's not acceptable to deem these images in fun home inappropriate so I'll answer that for you the answer is yes according to our policies our students would get

121in trouble if they drew these images share them or Worse wore these images according to our board policies they would get in trouble so then why is it okay to put it in their hands in the form of a book our children are minors it's our job to provide a safe and secure environment I have concerns over lawsuits that sent our around promoting and providing pornography child assault and sexual assault that should be at the Forefront of our discussion concerns that we will be held liable if this gets into the hands of a troubled child who's being abused themselves but yet is reading this book and dismisses and excuses the inappropriate adult we have to have standards why is it not okay to to determine if something is unacceptable to put in the hands of

122our students they come to school to learn why should we be encouraging sexuality in an already sexual driven Society according to cab our Board of Ed governing body the primary purpose of a board of ed is to ensure high achievement for all students I want to be really clear because almost every email that came in the title was book Banning book Banning don't ban this book don't ban this book please don't speak for me this is not an attack on a community and it it's a really grave concern regarding that my concern is the sexually graphic images and content um I don't appreciate being called a book Banner by by a fellow board member being called a bigot by someone's husband in this room that's not fair we had a speaker come in from the

123library that the library funded as well as the bef to preach kindness but I'm being called names by a fellow board member and someone's husband on social media I never said anything negative about any of you but yet I'm called a book Banner don't vote for her she's a book Banner that's really kind Joy please bring it back to the the issue on the agenda sure thank you well there were some other things that were not on the agenda but bringing up things that happen in the restrooms so a ban is a complete removal of a book that's no longer accessible that's the definition of a ban this book can be accessed at Barnes & nobl and other bookstores the public library Amazon in Barnes & Noble they actually have a section called banned books

124like that's pretty contradictory because they're there to buy so if they're banned then why are they there or is the intent to push an agenda for those that disagree with what I just stated did then what do you call the removal of C Clifford's Halloween and the several Dr Seuss books that were taken out of the library maybe I should make a motion to bring those books back into circulations that's okay for Publishers to remove words from books or stories and remove several of these Dr Seuss books but when we question the appropriateness of a book it's considered book Banning so I leave you with this who you know who gets to choose what's appropriate or not that's I recognize that that's the difficult conversation but where's the line just answer me this or think

125about this then what would be considered inappropriate would you support a gra graphic rape novel so children who are raped can feel heard um obviously you know where I stand um I think that and I you know mentioned that to mark that I think think that the committee um I think that speaks volume the one person that voted against and I think that um I'm not in favor of keeping the book fun home in our school [Applause] library okay um we've really gone um 360 on this issue I want to um point out a few things so there's no confusion um C is an association that supports Boards of Ed it's not our governing body we are governed by the state say um and um I just uh I wanted to um bring up two

126more things pertinent to your uh comments before I forget um I think that it's for people who have read fun home um I think it's pretty easy to see that in a memoir you know especially when gosh when we think about how we make sense of our own lives as adults and we go back and we think like this is how I understood something when I was seven this is how I understood something when I was 11 or 14 as you become more aware and as you find out more truths about what was happening when you were a little kid um you you look you unpack your life a little differently and so um and appropriately so so I think I I really read sections of the book differently about the glorification of the very

127troubled dad like he's his behavior was very yucky I think everyone can agree on that and I think that's part of the point is that she's sked out by that as she um grows into a more fully sensient adult um and that that's that's Pro part of the Crux is like how do we wrestle with our own demons CU we all have them um sometimes they're foed Upon Us by family whatever but so there's uh so those are the two things that I wanted to say and then oh also um you were talking about like um who makes the decisions like how how are we keeping like TR what I might consider truly offensive like we would all agree stuff that we don't want in the library and thank goodness we have as Hala pointed

128out and uh Stephanie referenced as well skilled professional Librarians who I mean and and the administrators who hire them um it's not easy to get a job as a school librarian you have to be really really good and brookfield's fortunate to have excellent Librarians and um I hope that they um Can can withstand the buffeting and and stay in their roles uh because they are curating a a really fabulous collection um thanks again to everybody here who had the courage and made made the time to come out here especially because the meeting went long and thanks to we're we're largely a new board and you guys showed a lot of preparation and courage um Robert you took us to the mat you know with you went you went to the the tough places and um

129and you brought it to National politics you talked about um a whole range of um issues with what makes this book review situation um so uh such a touch point for communities and we're not alone you guys know this is happening in lots of places um for me the bottom line goes to uh what holla started with and and Stephanie referenced and other people have referenced it to um we're here as a board we we're just residents like you guys we only have power when we work together um we're here to enforce policies and um the the policy make this vote very easy for me um policy 6563 and the addendum to the policy that parents who are aware of this book and for whatever whatever good reason you don't want your kid to read

130it you can opt out and we have gotten some letters from um parents uh who have asked that that their children not um have access to this book and we've passed that along to the Librarians so if if that's where you stand please let you don't need to write to us you can just write to um The Librarian or to Mr Blanda and and it'll be taken care of so I support keeping fun home um so for those of you doing the math at home I think it's you know you know which way we're going to go but we're going to do the um we're going to go ahead and and make the motion um would anybody guys has a quick question please I'm sorry for not being so prepared I should have known this

131one um what's the policy on inappropriate images though you referenced the policy for the sticking to was there no policy for inappropriate imagery in schools and by the way I only included two printouts I ran out of time few other wanted to uh if you're printing those at work no comment exactly well because it's all about context context it's all it's all about context and when you um so hold on um I think it's in in in the selection criteria it's a the appropriateness and it's it's it's about Conta about theti it's part of the criteria in the right but I'm asking specifically about an image though I don't think there's one policy there's no policy about an image multiple images I'm sorry it could be um in different policies all over I mean I

132we'd have to look into where it could be located I don't think there's not one policy that just talks about images right no I understand that part but there's got to be something that restricts even certain magazines from getting in a library right well that's that's the that's Li discretion you know okay I mean to follow the criteria that's in the regul for the librarian I thought you were talking about images in general I am told both really okay so there's the criteria in the regulation I understand that part so that and then what I was saying about images is we we could scour our policies to see see where imagery comes up gotcha there isn't one policy that just says imagery but we do have a technology policy you know so if and Technology

133applies to internet and computer resources and then there's other policies that have other pieces on imagery and that kind of thing right so if they Googled an image such as what you have there so if they Googled phun home they would get in trouble for Googling funel I I would imagine um images yeah I mean that's against the technology policy yeah no because will come up if they clicked on the image search well then then I mean I'm curious at that I think we may be getting into hypotheticals on a particular situation but I can tell you how um right I'm just I I just I find it hard to believe that anyone can accept those as appropriate pictures or regardless of what the context of the book is I mean she's a very very

134good writer I'm just curious where you guys stand are you guys okay with the pictures though I'm just trouble that the Comm the committee's emphasis right not regarding it's not nothing brought up about theual images like it was only brought up as a whole like the context we don't because we don't review books based on parts of that if you pick out parts of a lot of different books there might be crimes that are described in books I mean that kind of no you spot on about that so there was any argument over like there were atrocious things happening in this book I don't I don't know that you can prosecute any of the characters but what is very clear is that we don't when we look at a book to review it like we

135are now we're supposed to abide by reading the book in its entire so when you are looking at parts of it how do those parts as horrible or graphic as you want to consider them what do they do to the whole work so in the cont needed to be in the book I think there's an important point to make that I I think I was trying to stress and maybe um it was maybe I didn't make the point well enough there are passages written with words that are incredibly graphic and if we were to take out those particular passages from great works of literature you don't mean graph there's no graphic passages here in words no exactly and so what what happens with people who are graphic novelists is that they're relying on images and

136sometimes uh you you can't look away from it I think that's what we but there are passages that may be much more graphic in um in literature that we read and so if we were to take those individual passages and say oh we we can't this is inappropriate for our students because of these passages oh we're we're going down a very very dangerous road right and I understand that and I also understand what a graphic novel is I thank you for that um my question is is were these images necessary for her to tell her story number one number two do you feel these images are inappropriate Rosie you said we take the whole book including context right every single part of the book these images right as a whole and these pictures are a

137part of that book as a whole I would just throw yeah so so that's why I'm throwing yes like if you're talking about um having these images on a t-shirt let's say there's absolutely no context there mhm you're not nobody's telling a novel by wearing a t-shirt with some with some graphics on it well maybe they are Ian that's actually how would you that's not true how do you know you're assuming um in fact in fact you probably could ask the person what context the t-shirt is we're getting away from um my main point was is and really the question for the board is you feel these pictures are appropriate in the book as a whole yes well actually that sounds like the question for you and your wife to vote for me and my

138wife yeah that's some because you'll be making decisions for your children and what you want them to see or not and that's the question that you guys should be having at the kitchen table so I can't inquire from the board that I'm just I was just curious where you guys I think it's time to call for the vote I think we're getting off the main point which is it we we this particular argument all day is the main point though but what we're talking about the main point correct we are talking about work right and we're talking about a work of literature and you have an issue with the images and we do not and so we can continue to ask and confront or we can just take a vote because we understand where we

139all stand at this point okay I'm sorry for asking the question no one said you should be sorry for asking the question I think it's valid I just think we're you're just ready to move on you kind of you kind I didn't say ready to move on respectfully a question we should answer we have answered you asked what we do we think these images are appropriate in the context of this book because it is a vetted work of literature introduced by our Librarians uh who are educated professionals who have who decide what is in our library and we understand that this policy of the Librarians choosing work is also in question and that is going to be addressed as well in future meetings right today we talked about whether this book should be looked at

140whether this book should whether the book appeal that has been brought forward to us should be upheld and the library should keep the book or if we are going to overturn what the library reconsideration committee decided and I think that I'm I'm not saying what you have to say is not valid I'm seeing we all made our points and there's not really we're not going to agree whether or not we think these particular images everyone's very clear on what side they're on I think is just what I'm I was just referencing the images itself not of the book I was curious the board exactly so I have a question about the regulation so where in the regulation does it state that we have to look at the book as a whole um it's in the

141addendum item three on the second page I'm sorry item four item three on the first P right here materials in question shall be read viewed or listened to in their entirety yep well that that just I just I look at that as being yeah read it I viewed it and listened to it in its entirety I I don't interpret that as I evaluate the book in its entirety oh well I do no I I think that's you can't evaluate and make a make a decision without reading the entire exactly that's the point yes precisely right so but you can pick a piece of the book that you have an issue with sure right so that's what that's my question where in the regulation does it say you you can you have to evaluate and judge

142the book in its entirety number three it does not say that it says the materials in question shall be read viewed or listened to I read it I viewed it I listened in its entirety to about the book I mean it sounds like look I think I think it's been pretty clear um that it's we understand um I'm sorry I understand um the the particular pieces of the text that are problematic people have made it really clear it's it's not subtle like I I it's obvious and um we as a community may continue to talk about these things you know um this but the the material like when you read a book in its entirety that your evaluation is based on that typically I don't know guys I I really feel it's time to call

143the question um for for new board members that is a useful piece of um what's called um I'll I I will go ahead and make a motion um I move that the board deny um deny the appeal of the Brookfield child advocacy Council concerning the book fun home a family tragic comic I'll second that okay okay so um the the motion has been made to deny the appeal um that is to uphold the special committee's decision all in favor say I I I okay all opposed I I okay so with that I uh the motion passes 43 um and fun home will be uh staying in the in the DHS Library so um thank you everyone for coming tonight um without objection we adjourn at 9:02