I’m happy with this article, and eight year old Aaron is going HOLY COW I’M IN THE PAPER! I didn’t run for School Committee to be on the front page — I did it because I think the School Committee needs reasonable, hard working people like me — but I’m proud to stand against censorship.
More importantly, when I knock doors and the subject comes up, voters overwhelmingly oppose restricting books based on content or subject. This isn’t why I got in the race, but it’s a fight I’m happy to have.
Here’s the full quote I gave Jim Hand:
“This is Jim Hand at The Sun Chronicle. I’m covering the election. Can you please tell me your view on what criteria the school department should use in determining what books should or should not be available at school libraries. Also, what do you think of efforts by your opponent and others to ban or restrict books?”
“Hi Jim, thank you for reaching out. I just got back from a long day of knocking on doors. I believe that the school department should select books that match desired educational outcomes or in other ways contribute positively to the intellectual, emotional and social development of well-rounded, engaged citizens. AHS has a library media specialist who has a Master’s Degree in library science. We don’t micromanage the curriculum and I’m not of the opinion that the school committee should micromanage the library either.
I am opposed to censorship. I believe that parents should be able to tell their own kids what to read, but not other kids. I believe that open access to age-and-developmentally appropriate books is a fundamental right and that efforts to limit kids’ access to such books are anti-freedom. I believe that kids should read more and not less. I’d rather see kids turn to the library for information than their cell phones, regardless of the topic, and that if certain topics are restricted, kids will find the information in places that they shouldn’t.
I don’t believe that there is a huge problem in the libraries. I respect parents’ deeply held concerns for their children and can promise to fight for their rights to decide what their kids should read.”
Follow-up from Jim: “Just to clarify, do you consider what Michael Wagner and others are advocating to be censorship or book banning?”
“The only information I have on Michael Wagner’s viewpoint is from the School Committee meeting on May 8th, where he was a part of a group who demanded a moratorium on the purchase of new books until their proposed new policy for book selection is in place. Whether that is labeled as censorship, or book restriction, the issue is a small group of parents demanding to impose their beliefs on other people’s kids.”
