School board rejects book ban

Newtown High will keep 2 challenged titles, including one with LGBTQ themes

The Newtown Board of Education voted unanimously to reject a proposed ban and keep two challenged books, one of them Lgbtq-themed, on the shelves in the Newtown High School library.

The motion, introduced in a special meeting by member Alison Plante, has a condition: school administrators must “implement a process to support choices of individual parents and guardians to make individual choices for their children,” Plante said.

The condition, she said, would “keep them in circulation for the vast majority of children to access it.”

The audience at Newtown High School applauded the decision. It came after months of vitriol in town that pitted parents who wanted the coming-of-age graphic novels “Flamer” by Mike Curato and “Blankets” by Craig Thompson removed from the library against parents and students who believed the ban would deprive the LGBTQ community of relatable book characters.

Most anti-banning comments during the controversy focused on “Flamer,” with teens and parents standing up for the LGBTQ community. “Blankets” was rarely mentioned.

Plante acknowledged the fatigue felt by citizens. “This process has monopolized our time and attention for two months. Please, please support this motion,” she said.

The board is currently at five members: Republicans Deborra Zukowski and Donald Ramsey and Democrats John Vouros, Daniel Cruson and Plante. The lengthy drama around the book-ban issue prompted Republican board members Janet Kuzma and Jennifer Larkin — who both voted previously to limit access to the books by age — to resign on Wednesday morning.

Cruson said he worried that the motion would tie the overall access to the books to school administrators’ ability or inability to set a process in motion. He voted in favor

anyway.

“I can live with this motion,” Cruson said. “I am happy to know it was discussed with counsel.”

The controversy reflects a nationwide book-banning trend. Books most often targeted for banning focus on LGBTQ issues and/or have protagonists of color. One commenter Thursday called the trend “an unnecessary and destructive culture war.”

Nicole Maddox, executive committee member of Newtown Allies for Change, which opposes the ban, said the solution is not ideal but “is better than banning books.

“As many board members stated, it’s not the vote they wanted to take but at the end of the day I don’t know that it’s any different than the system that existed previously. Many parents have withdrawn their children from certain things,” Maddox said. “I like that the issue has been taken away from the board and put in the hands of the experts.”

Thursday’s vote followed a 3-3 deadlock at the May 16 meeting, when the board still had seven members. Republican Donald Ramsey was absent. Three Democrats voted against restricting access to the books, and three Republicans voted in favor of restrictions.

It began in March

The book-ban controversy began in late March, after the school system received nine official complaints against “Flamer” and one against “Blankets.”

“Flamer” is a semi-autobiographical story of a bullied Filipino teen who realizes he is gay. “Blankets” is an autobiographical story of an abused young man raised in an evangelical Christian family who experiences first love.

At the board’s May 2 meeting, Assistant Superintendent Anne Uberti spoke on behalf of a five-member Special Review Committee, which unanimously recommended that the school board let “Flamer” and “Blankets” stay on the library shelves.

Superintendent Christopher Melillo supported the committee in the recommendation to reject the suggested ban.

Uberti said “Flamer” has been in the library since last year, as part of an initiative to add diverse voices to book selections. It has never been checked out. “Blankets” has been at the library since 2013, she said, and was checked out once.

One commenter on Thursday referred to the books not being well known in town until the ban requests. “I am sure the authors thank you from the bottom of their wallets,” he said.

Other commenters expressed frustration that the issue was still being discussed after so many months and pled for a resolution.

The proposed bans bitterly divided a community that proudly uses the slogan “Nicer in Newtown.” At the meeting’s start, Vouros asked citizens to be “responsible for our actions and respect for each other.” Zukowski pled for “no name calling, personal attacks or shouting out of turn.”

That request still didn’t stop some attendees from speaking out of turn or longer than allowed or heckling other speakers.

Previous board meetings lasted long into the night with angry testimony on both sides, with the vast majority of commenters opposing the book bans.

In the last few weeks, both opponents and proponents of the book bans have cited badgering by detractors.

The Newtown Republican Town Committee posted on Facebook on Thursday “There is something horribly wrong in our community when town volunteers and even private citizens who send an email, speak at a meeting or write a letter to the editor are subject to harassment.”

Conversely, at the May 2 board meeting, librarian Suzanne Hurley referred to “keyboard warriors accusing me and my colleagues of negligence and incompetence.” Her colleague Sarah Wasley referred to “disdainful, degrading, dishonest and disrespectful behavior by some towards me and my colleagues.”

The volatility of the prolonged issue was implicitly acknowledged at the April 18 board meeting. On that night, the board voted unanimously to retroactively edit out “banning books” on meeting minutes, replacing it with “book challenges.”

Adding to the tension was a Facebook post on Tuesday by Newtown Allies for Change. That group’s page listed the names of all the book objectors, after filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the town. Several objectors are local Republican politicians.

“Flamer” has been challenged nationwide. The American Library Association released a list in April of the most-challenged books of 2022. “Flamer” was No. 4.

In the release, ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-lozada stated “The list also illustrates how frequently stories by or about LGBTQ+ persons, people of color and lived experiences are being targeted by censors.”

Also, according to PEN America, a nonprofit focusing on literary freedoms, “Flamer” was tied with Maia Kobabe’s ‘Gender Queer: A Memoir’ as the most banned book in the fall of 2022.