Controversial book conversation heats up at Old Rochester Regional

MATTAPOISETT — Some Tri-Town community members say they're not happy that a number of books said to contain sexually explicit material are still available to Old Rochester Regional Jr. High and high school students via their school libraries. This was made apparent when audience members at last week's Joint School Committee meeting expressed their discontent and were asked to leave by at least one committee member and, reportedly, by the police — prompting the committee to adjourn early that evening.

"Unacceptable; please leave," ORR Joint School Committee member Michelle Smith repeated several times, raising her voice over audience member and Rochester resident Ben Bailey as she followed him out of the meeting space. While noise levels at that point made it hard to decipher the exchange in its entirety, Bailey could be seen holding up a book and heard explicitly referencing "pictures of children sucking c---, talking about having anal sex, using drugs, having orgies."

Following the meeting, Bailey told The Standard-Times what he was holding at the time was a copy of "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe, flipped open to a page that contained prominently displayed images explicitly depicting a sex act. Bailey said his moment of outspokenness was prompted by him and others being denied a chance to speak.

"So what prompted me to be disruptive in the meeting was the fact that they had decided to be exclusionary," Bailey said. "Had they been polite I would have stayed polite."

In a Nov. 11 social media post to the Facebook group Tri-Town Buzz, ORR School Committee member Joe Pires wrote that the Nov. 7 meeting "was a disappointment."

"The room erupted with some folks showing sexually explicit images and reading what most of us would consider offensive directly from the reading materials in question. Sadly, some of the people were escorted out by Town of Mattapoisett Police Dept.," wrote ORR School Committee member Joe Pires in a Nov. 11 social media post to the Facebook group Tri-Town Buzz.

According to Hardy, one police officer who appeared to be in place as a detail "called into dispatch for another after he asked us to leave the room." Bailey said he never had any exchange with an officer directly until outside the ORR Jr. High building, where he says he spoke with one officer "very cordially."

Mattapoisett police would not provide police log information from Nov. 7 upon request.

Catch up on the issue:ORR superintendent on controversial books: Leave those decisions to school librarians

How it started

"Gender Queer" is one of several books that has been at the center of controversy in the district since a complaint was filed against it and several other titles reportedly available at the ORR Jr. High and high school libraries back in September.

At an Oct. 19 meeting of another of the district's several school committees — the Old Rochester Regional School Committee, which deals with the junior high and high school — Old Rochester Regional School District Superintendent Michael Nelson shared his intent to let decisions over books in school libraries remain in the hands of school librarians. This statement came after a complaint was filed — and later withdrawn — on several book titles, including "Gender Queer," over their content.

The titles in question — as originally provided to The Standard-Times by an ORRHS student — included some noted for sexually explicit content, but also some that centered on themes of racial prejudice such as "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. However, those who have been speaking out against some books' free availability at schools have since suggested there is only an issue with the titles that contain sexually explicit material. According to Rochester resident Greg Hardy — who had shared a petition on social media "for Tri-Town residents that oppose sexually explicit books in all Tri-Town school libraries" — the group of residents he's been in regular contact with relative to the matter have refined the list of books they find problematic down to: "Gender Queer," "Let’s Talk about It," "Flamer," "Lawn Boy," "All Boys Aren’t Blue," "Out Of Darkness," and "The Bluest Eye," which he said can be found at the high school; and "Beyond Magenta," which he says is at the junior high.

Why some are upset

According to Bailey, Hardy and Pires, those who attended the Nov. 7 meeting to speak out against the books' content, were upset by the limited time allotted by the committee for public comment. In Pires' post — made on Nov. 11 in the Facebook group Tri-Town Buzz — he suggests a new change in public comment policy that took effect for the first time that evening may have contributed to the discord.

"At the start of the meeting, a new procedure was announced on how the comment segment of the meeting would be conducted," Pires wrote. "Community residents attending were told they had to sign up in order to comment. Unfortunately, this was not made clear to everyone.

"Many attendees who were able to speak and comment were folks that were in favor of having the sexually explicit content in the libraries. Many of the parents not in favor of sexually explicit content in the libraries and who took the time to prepare their statements were not allowed to speak at all.

"Understandably, there are protocols and rules for how our school board meetings are conducted, but many people felt it was unfair and there should have been an exception to the rules."

Catch up some more:ORR has been asked to ban several books on gender, race issues. Here's what we know.

Public comment

Despite the perception of an unbalanced public comment session, The Standard-Times observed four total acknowledged speakers whose comments pertained directly to the matter of the book controversy: two who spoke in favor of keeping the books freely available to students, and two against.

"When my kids went to school, if any of them had even brought a book like that to school ... they probably would have been kicked out of school," said Mattapoisett resident Arthur Leclair during the public comment period of the meeting — which allowed for 15 minutes total, three minutes per pre-registered speaker. "It’s the parents’ duty to bring up the child, and I think it’s their choice if their child wants to read a particular book, easy, no problem, you send home a note to the parents and say (is it) OK with the parent for them to read it. If the parent signs it and says it’s OK, then it’s OK.

"Parents should be discussing with their children what they can and shouldn’t read, or what they should read maybe at an older age."

Rochester resident Allison Noyce — who came to speak in favor of keeping all books in question — said she'd gone to an event late last month aimed at sharing information about the books, not knowing that would be the topic of the event. "On Oct. 27th I attended a gathering billed as ‘What are your children learning in school?’ The discussion however did not match the billing. When I arrived there… this was on every chair," Noyce said holding up a sheet of paper, reportedly a printout about "books that are controversial, apparently."

"So I asked and was told that the intent of the meeting had been changed to discuss what books belong in our libraries. Since this matter is actually far from settled, I thought it was important we share this letter again," Noyce said before reading a letter shared previously by Rochester resident and member of local non-profit Tri-Town Against Racism Rhonda Baptiste, reportedly signed by 667 people as of Monday: "Attempts to ban books highlighting underrepresented kids sends them the message: You shouldn’t exist, your story doesn’t matter and we don’t want our kids to empathize with you."

"It’s not so much about race and all that," said Marion resident Vanessa Miller participating via Zoom. "I’m myself a minority, I’m Mexican, and I disagree with having those books that are very sexual and all that. My heritage, my culture does not go with that."

Get the latest:New Bedford fugitive wanted in connection with historic drug bust nabbed in New Orleans

"This book ban is not about protecting our kids from harmful data, documents, images, pornography," said Marion resident Katie Hartley. "What this book ban is, is an attempt to pull queer literature … out of our schools, which is one of the only places that some kids can access literature that may be the only books that they have that represent how they’re growing up."

Baptiste — while having been an outspoken advocate of keeping the books in schools in recent months — was also recognized as a public commenter that evening, though her remarks did not pertain directly to the matter of the books.

Could this end up in court?

According to Hardy, a petition he shared on social media via the Tri-Town Buzz group was started sometime early last week and, as of Monday, had gathered 400 signatures, all from Tri-Town residents.

"By signing this petition, you are protecting family choice and putting the safety of our children as a top priority," reads the petition.

"The petition was started by a group of us that have been actively working together for the last two years," Hardy said.

According to Hardy, schools are exempted from Mass. General Law, Part IV, Title I, Chapter 272, Section 28, concerning the purposeful dissemination of "any matter harmful to minors," to known minors. "It shall ... be a defense in a prosecution under this section if the evidence proves that the defendant was a bona fide school, museum or library, or was acting in the course of his employment as an employee of such organization or of a retail outlet affiliated with and serving the educational purpose of such organization," the state law reads.

"There are however federal laws against it and we are pursuing all potential legal options," said Hardy.

Bailey said he planned on hiring an attorney should further discussions with school officials not produce results.

According to Pires' post, parents who are concerned with the books in question are not limited to those who've been publicly outspoken.

"The problem that I am seeing now, is that there is a significant amount of people within our community that truly feel that their voice is not being heard," Pires wrote. "In fact, through recent conversations, I have learned that some people are not speaking out because they are afraid and do not want the negative attention or to be shamed in regards to their opinion about this topic. No one should be intimidated or bullied."

Get the latest:Voters OK undocumented driver's license law. New Bedford rejected the measure.

Baptiste told The Standard-Times that her group Tri-Town Against Racism held a "Community Conversations" event on Monday titled "Focusing on the importance of Representation in Literacy: Highlighting the value of complex subjects in literature selection."

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Controversial book conversation heats up at Old Rochester Regional High