Some parents in Wayne Township fighting to ban selected books from school libraries
WAYNE TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Across the country, there's an effort to ban more books from school libraries.
CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas went to Wayne Township to see how concerns are being handled.
Pamela Macek has a growing collection of books from the school and public libraries that she says are cause for concern.
"Why does this obsession with exposing this stuff for our underage children have to exist in our school libraries?" she said.
Her collection is made up of titles she sought out through news of the growing effort to ban books across the country.
One book, "Gender Queer: A Memoir," is a memoir about the author's journey to embrace their non-binary identity and includes cartoon-like illustrations of sexual activity.
"OK, I don't need to see this in my kid's high school library," Macek said. "This is pornography."
"Gender Queer: A Memoir" is available to high school students in Wayne Township.
"We wish to raise our children a certain way, and the sex, the religion and the politics, we want to keep at home," Macek said.
That's the message Macek took to the school board in October. She read a portion of the book out loud, leading to a tense exchange with the former board chair, Catherine Kazan.
"Are you reading from a book?" Kazan asked.
"Oh, absolutely. The book that's in your library," Macek said.
"OK, I don't think that's appropriate. There's young people in the audience," Kazan said.
While dozens of parents erupted, superintendent Dr. Mark Toback said a handful filed paperwork to get eight books removed this year, mostly from elementary schools.
"What were the commonalities with the books that were being challenged?" Cline-Thomas asked.
"They were books about gender identity," Toback said.
In the district, media specialists or librarians order books that are peer-reviewed and have won awards but don't always read them cover-to-cover.
Not all books are easily accessible, however. Some require teachers and guidance counselors to make available to students on a case-by-case basis.
Toback says the goal is to find diverse material where students can see their lives and struggles reflected.
"We do have a number of students that are seeking out these books that want to be able to read these books, so ultimately we want to provide resources that every student can identify with," he said.
Wayne Township schools are not alone.
According to the American Library Association, in 2019, it received nearly 400 reports of efforts to ban books across the country. This year, that number is expected to double.
"There are number of states who have adopted bans on what they call divisive concepts, but in the end, what it has resulted in is the removal of books dealing with the history of race and racism in the United States," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, with the American Library Association.
Caldwell-Stone says libraries are far safer places to get information.
"Parents express concerns about these books and would like to see them removed, but we never think about that cellphone that's in the back pocket of most young people these days," she said.
"It should be in a section that a child cannot go unless they're accompanied with an adult," Macek said.
As for those eight contested books in Wayne Township, a task force reviewed each one.
"Were any of the books that were challenged during the school year, have any of them been removed from the shelves?" Cline-Thomas asked.
"None of them have been removed," Toback said.
The superintendent says it's about the impact of the entire book, not just a couple of pages, and its ability to meet students right where they are.
Similar challenges have been launched in North Hunterdon, Berlin, Westfield and Somerville. According to the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, no books have been taken off the shelves.