CONCORD, N.H. (NH Bulletin) – The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday will ban schools from carrying certain books that contain sexual acts, nudity or other content and will help parents flag and request them. He rejected a bill that would have required the establishment of a process. Please delete them.
The chamber voted 187 to 162 to postpone the event indefinitely, making it impossible to reopen this year.
Conservatives argued the bill was needed to give parents the power to remove harmful items. But Democrats and other opponents argued that this would encourage censorship.
“The N.H. House of Representatives today voted against a bill that would create a state-run book banning process. We applaud New Hampshire for affirming that its schools are places of learning, not censorship,” said General Counsel Jill Bissonnette. Stated. American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.
House Bill 1419, sponsored by Rep. Glenn Cordery, R-Tuftonboro, would prohibit the use of materials in schools that are “harmful to minors,” and would define it as a broad category.
According to the bill, content is considered harmful if it “primarily appeals to the sexual, shameful, or pathological interests of minors.” If it “depicts or describes nudity, sexual acts, sexual arousal, or sadomasochistic abuse” in a manner that is “patently offensive” to teach minors. and if it “lacks significant literary, scientific, medical, artistic, or political value to minors.”
The bill would require boards of education to implement a complaint process regarding hazardous substances. The process requires parents or guardians to write a complaint to the school principal outlining the content and how they think it is harmful. The principal will then investigate and make a decision. Parents can then appeal that decision to the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education is an organization whose members are appointed by the governor. The state board could issue a final decision overriding the principal's decision.
The bill states that if an educator continues to provide materials after removal, they would be in violation of the Educator Code of Conduct and could be disciplined by the state board.
The bill also allows the Attorney General's Office, the State Department of Education, or an aggrieved party to file a civil lawsuit against the school district if the school does not follow the complaint process or continues to provide materials after the complaint has been filed. You will be allowed to do so. The process resulted in a ban.
Cordery argued that the bill is needed to allow parents to remove unnecessary and inappropriate sexually explicit book titles from their schools' physical and online libraries.
“We need to focus on academic performance and knowledge,” he said. “…to be honest, this kind of sexually explicit and age-inappropriate material has no place in schools. Again, this is not about banning books. to ensure that they have access to appropriate educational materials.”
On Thursday, Mr. Corderi read portions of the text aloud on the House floor and was reprimanded multiple times by House Speaker Sherman Packard, who advised him not to read the inappropriate language on the floor.
“I would like to ask for a moderate response,” Packard said.
Democrats and school officials said the bill would encourage libraries to self-censor, noting that state law already makes it a crime to distribute harmful books and other content to minors.
Rep. Peggy Balboni, a Rye Democrat, wrote in her opposition to the bill that it “contains vague and subjective language for determining what constitutes 'harmful to minors,' making criminal liability a little more difficult.” “It's expanding to include educators from high school to high school.” “This law is unnecessary and threatens educators’ ability to keep certain materials in library collections.”
This article was originally published in NH Bulletin. www.newhampshirebulletin.com
