School Board Meeting, October 19, 2022

Elected official accused of being irresponsible and of attacking and harming transgender students. Pornographic content from a school library book read out loud.

Transgender Books

Three people gave comments to the board about controversial books in the school’s library.

Budget Committee member Michael Kelly complained that when he first approached the School Board they told him there were no transgender books in the library. Two weeks later he found that this was not true. 

He identified specific content in these books in the school’s library he deemed inappropriate. These included:

• A discussion of dick pics (and using the F word), which he quoted from a book that’s in the school library. The title was not mentioned.

• Advocacy for use of bathrooms and playing on sports teams associated with one’s gender identity rather than one’s biological identity.

• A claim that people are born transgender. 

He argued that the school should not have controversial books in its library, and that the school should protect the innocence of our children. They can read controversial books when they get older.

Speakers in favor of the controversial books argued:

• There are transgender people in our school. “These students deserve to be able to walk into their own school library and see themselves represented in books and stories that they can relate to, just the same as every other student.”

• To remove access to these books would be cruel to already marginalized individuals who are struggling with their mental health.

• These books help students develop understanding, empathy, and compassion. “It is that type of experience that will help our students avoid mental health issues and drug abuse down the road.”

• Mr. Kelly is irresponsible and blatantly wrong to imply that the presence of these books in the school in any way contributes to the mental health or drug overdose problems of children.

• It is irresponsible for a public official, such as Mr. Kelly, “to come to a public meeting using extreme and attention-grabbing words to erroneously describe and mischaracterize these books, and in effect to question the judgment of this school and its staff, and ultimately to attack those who identify as transgender.”

• “It is statements and actions such as those delivered by Mr. Kelly, delivered under the guise of concern, which contribute to the increase in risks of depression, self-harm, suicide, and drug use. I have seen it.”

• The parents of transgender students at the school are likely to be feeling under attack by Mr. Kelly. “It is likely that transgender students from this school are aware of his statements.” “How do they feel? By stating these books are inappropriate and don’t belong in our school. By insisting that they’re related to drug use and the sexualizing of children … these students might be receiving the message that they are inappropriate. That they do not belong in the school. That they are wrong. That who they are is wrong.”

• “People often conflate identifying as transgender with sexual orientation, sexual deviance, child sexual abuse as a strategy to incite hate and discrimination. It is this type of attack that leads to higher incidents of low self-esteem, self-harm, suicide, and drug use.” 

• “Mr. Kelly cherry-picked and mischaracterized small parts of this book to support his agenda.” 

• “I ask the board and our community to resist the urge to jump on the bandwagon of those who want to divide our community and serve as agitators. It is a grave disservice to the school as a whole and especially to the students who need our support the most.”

Making Collective Bargaining Meetings Public

Budget Committee member Tom Butkiewicz presented his analysis of the legal opinion the School Board obtained about enforcing the 2022 warrant article requiring that collective bargaining meetings be made public. His analysis was that the teachers union would be in a position to sue the town if the School Board were to enforce the warrant article and if the union was adamant about not making the negotiations public. He requested that the School Board obtain a statement from the union about whether they are willing to make the negotiations public. If the union says they refuse, then he thought that this would be sufficient reason to discontinue efforts to enforce the warrant article. 

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