Statement Re: Age Inappropriate Content, Transparency for Parents and Book Review Process
When parental concerns were raised to the school board and district administration at the beginning of the year, the administration quietly worked to establish an administrative regulation for reviewing books and resources in support of district policy 109, Resource Materials. The current administrative regulations (109AR-1 and 109AR-2) were written by the administration and did not require board approval.
Moms for Liberty is not surprised that the Nazareth School Board was quick to criticize cost and slow to move in challenging the board and the administration to come up with alternative ways to ensure that the public’s concerns are addressed in an efficient AND cost-effective fashion. To date neither the administration nor the board has engaged in any meaningful discussion to creatively solve the issue of transparency, cost and appropriate options for parents.
The concern over age-inappropriate content is a topic parents need to be aware of and is getting attention locally. Last Tuesday, October 17, 2023 at 10am the PA Senate Education Committee held a hearing on SB7, a bill to ensure parents are aware of sexually explicit material in their children’s schools. The bill introduced by Sen. Ryan Aument (R-36), “would require schools to identify sexually explicit content in school curriculum, material, and books and notify parents that it’s available. Parents would then be required to sign a form stating that they give their child permission to view these materials. If they do not give their permission, their child would be provided with a non-explicit alternative.” A link to SB7 can be found here.
Regarding rumors of ‘book banning’:
- Explicit and pornographic images and content are in our physical and virtual public-school libraries.
- Moms for Liberty Northampton County has never approached a public library nor bookstore to request that they remove or ban any books from their catalogs.
- Books can still be checked out at public libraries and purchased from retailers. If books were banned, none of this would be possible so we reject the accusation that our organization supports banning books.
If you support our mission and want to get involved, contact us or check out our website at https://www.momsforliberty.org/chapters/northampton-county-pa/