Book ban rhetoric heats up again in North Hunterdon-Voorhees school district

The controversy over banning books in the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School library may be entering a new chapter.

During the 2021-22 school year, the district was roiled by parents who campaigned that five books dealing with sexuality be pulled off the library shelves.

The school board voted in 2022 to reject a resolution to ban the five books. All five volumes remain on the library's shelves.

With that vote, many believed the district had turned the page on the controversy.

But School Librarian Martha Hickson fears the controversy may be brewing again.

During the first wave of the controversy, Hickson was personally subjected to hate mail, threats, nuisance vandalism and questions about her judgment and integrity.

The adversity became so pervasive and extreme that her blood pressure and anxiety rose to dangerous levels and her physician removed her from the workplace.

Yet, despite all the pressure and stress, Hickson persevered, defending the students’ right to intellectual freedom and their right to read. Her persistence inspired community allies to attend school board meetings, gather testimonies from LGBTQ+ students and campaign against censorship,

Hickson's courage under fire did not go unnoticed by her peers.

She was named the 2023 Librarian of the Year by the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA). In nominating Hickson, librarians at the Hunterdon County Library and the Piscataway Public Library said, “Not only is Martha an inspiration to the marginalized teens she champions in her community, but also to librarians everywhere, who are increasingly under fire for developing diverse and inclusive collections.”

In 2022, Hickson was awarded the Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity by the American Library Association (ALA). She also received the 2022 Judith Krug Outstanding Librarian Award from the National Coalition Against Censorship

But those accolades may not have quelled the controversy from coming back.

'Let's Talk About It'

At the Nov. 28 Board of Education meeting. Eric Licwinko, who was involved in the previous effort to take the five books off library shelves, read from the graphic novel, "Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human."

Licwinko told the board he was "going to read from this book because I'm exercising my right to."

After reading about three minutes of specific "how-to" parts of the book, he commented "Boy, there's a lot of science here."

He added the book is available "only in person − can't digitally download it which is smart. Downloading it would actually probably break your digital download policies."

More: North Hunterdon librarian teams with tech developer to fight book banning

Weeks later, after the start of the new year, posts began to pop up on Facebook about the book Licwinko read at the school board meeting

Hickson saw a post on the "Hunterdon County Project" Facebook page that named her.

The page, which calls itself a "journalist" is run by Christopher Stadulis, the partner of new Board of Education member Cynthia Reyes. This post said, "Here’s one of many books North Hunterdon High School librarian, MARTHA HICKSON, has brought into the school library for minors to check out. 'LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.'"

The post said that "Books that would not be appropriate for a class setting, should not be in a school library" and that "the book encourages/teaches minors" to "watch porn," "find strangers online who share their “sexual kinks and fantasies,” "sext with others," "how to masturbate," "insert objects in their anus" and "lots more!"

"This kind of book choice by a school librarian is extremely irresponsible, unethical, harmful and morally wrong," the post said.

The same message was repeated a few minutes later on the NJ Schools Facebook group, of which Stadulis is an administrator.

Then, under his own name, Stadulis tagged all 14,000 members, sending the message to of all their new post notifications.

According to Hickson, responses to the post began almost immediately and have continued.

"Commenters to the post characterize me as disgusting, repulsive, a psycho, mentally unstable, absolutely deplorable, satanic, truly sickening, possessing evil intent, and pushing 'filth to children in order to ... satisfy sexual desires,’" Hickson said.

And she accused Stadulis himself of piling on with his own post.

"Very sad and disgusting that any librarian would think this kind of reading material is appropriate for minors in a public school setting or that those current and former board members defended it by protecting the librarian and books, instead of the children," Stadulis' post said.

A few days later, Stadulis posted again on both Facebook pages.

This time, he showed a video from a school board meeting where he said Hickson was "pompous and dismissive" of a father speaking about a book his middle school-aged daughter was given.

"Reasonable people can disagree about the value of a library book," Hickson said. "There's just no reason to make it personal and threaten somebody's livelihood."

More: 'It’s an act of resistance:' Groups ramp up efforts in the fight to stop book bans

Then one morning Hickson opened an email with the subject "Just saying Hello" that began with New Year's greetings, she said.

But soon the message began referring to her with crude and lewd names.

Hickson said she believes the writer is connected to a now defunct provider of tactical equipment, such as handgun holsters, riflescopes, red dot sights, and other gun accessories along with outdoor gear.

That scared her.

She immediately wrote to school administrators and called the Clinton Township Police Department. While she heard back from the officer assigned to the high school, she heard nothing from any member of the administration until the next day, she said.

She was told there was nothing they could do, she said.

The school's administration did not respond for a comment from mycentraljersey.com.

That frustrates Hickson.

"The continuation of this harassment stems from the abject failure of every level of district leadership to quash it in the moment that it began on Sept. 28, 2021, and at every subsequent crossroads," Hickson said. "So yet again, I express my sincere concerns about the safety of library staff, concerns that are shared by my family, who are increasingly angry and frustrated by the district's lack of action.

"And yet again, I ask: What measures will this district take to protect me and all staff from aggressive community members? And further, what measures will this district take to protect the integrity of board proceedings from such malignant influences?"

Hickson said she plans to attend Tuesday's school board meeting to ask what the district will do to keep her and the library staff safe. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the District Administration Office, 1445 Route 31 South, Clinton Township.

She also said community also plan to be there to speak in favor of students’ right to read in the school district and speak against book banning.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: North Hunterdon-Voorhees NJ school district book ban rhetoric returns