Let's keep intolerance and ignorance off of our school boards | Opinion

Banned Books Challenge

Part of the Banned and Challenged Books Exhibit at the Loutit District Library in Grand Haven on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. The Banned Books Challenge encourages the library-goers to learn, read, and stand up to censorship. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Cory Morse | MLive.comCory Morse | MLive.com

By Martha Hickson

In September 2021, my professional and personal life crumbled when I was falsely labeled a sex offender at a board of education meeting simply for doing my job as a school librarian. Sadly, many librarians have suffered similarly due to a nationwide wave of censorship attempts, which an authors’ advocacy group PEN America calls the “Ed Scare.”

In the year since, I have spoken to countless people about the importance of showing up and speaking up at school board meetings. Now that election season is here, I am also urging people to research and vote carefully for school board seats.

Inevitably some listeners respond, “I don’t have kids in the school system. The board of education doesn’t affect me.”

That’s just plain wrong.


      

As taxpayers in our communities, we all have a stake in the success of our schools. Like any public service, the quality of schools affects the quality of community life and the value of your real estate. You wouldn’t want your streets littered with garbage because trash isn’t collected regularly. You wouldn’t want your neighbor’s home burned to rubble because the fire department fails to respond on time. So, too, you shouldn’t want students’ educational opportunities limited because the school board is entrenched in partisan conflict.

But that’s the threat upon us, as extremist board candidates seek office. The same people who have spent the last two years manufacturing outrage about mask wearing, critical race theory and library books, are now running for board seats in an attempt to bend public education toward their anti-science, anti-diversity and conservative religious ideology.

In the Hunterdon County district where I work, three people who were active in a movement to ban five award-winning books with LGBTQ+ themes are running as the “Education with a Purpose” slate. Apparently, their purpose over the last 14 months was spreading toxic rhetoric in opposition to diversity, inclusion, masks, and students’ right to read.

Inspired by the antics of these adults at board meetings, bullies have gained new strength in school hallways. Marginalized students – especially LGBTQ+ kids and students of color – report that they are targets of more slurs, harassment, intimidation and even death threats.

The emergence of extremist school board candidates is no accident; it’s part of a larger national strategy to gain conservative control at the local level. On Aug. 6, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said on the floor of the Conservative Political Action Conference, “School boards are the key that picks the lock.”

To keep nonpartisan school boards safe from Bannon and his ilk, identify and vote for mainstream candidates who support public education. Here’s how to find them:

  • Email candidates or pose questions on their campaign sites. Ask whether the candidate has signed the Unite Against Book Bans pledge to support the freedom to read. Demand that answers come directly from the candidate, not some faceless campaign organization.
  • Investigate and verify candidates’ claims, especially those that use such extremist “dog whistles” as groomer, pedophile, pornographer, indoctrination, government schools, critical race theory (CRT), and queer theory.
  • Examine candidates’ social media posts and mentions, especially during the 12 months before the election.
  • Search candidates’ names in online groups dedicated to the issues you care about, pro and con.
  • Review the videos or transcripts of board of education meeting public comments over the past year.
  • Check local news media for coverage or endorsements.
  • Consult your own network of reliable information sources, including friends, neighbors, teachers, and librarians.

Your diligence can help maintain a community that gives young people the freedom to dream and the skills to achieve those dreams. The scout selling cookies, the kid bagging groceries, and the teen pumping gas deserve the hope of a bigger, brighter future so that they can become contributing members of the community, too. Their future depends on an unfettered education that accurately reflects the world around us.

The school board supervises that education, but kids can’t vote for BOE candidates. They depend on you to make the right choices, whether you have children in the school system or not.

Keep intolerance and ignorance out of our school boards. Don’t skip past the board of education candidates on your ballot. Show up, speak up and vote for candidates who will protect students’ right to read, think and grow.

Martha Hickson is a high school librarian and recipient of the American Library Association’s 2022 Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity and the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Outstanding Librarian Award for her work defending the right to read.

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