Letter to the editor

My testimony to the school board

Recently, a MSBSD School Board member felt compelled to address misinformation and a lack of civility in discussions in our community. The Board Member asked for more accuracy and respect in the future.

I really empathize with his frustration. At several meetings this spring and summer, several community members testified multiple times about how librarians and even some teachers are pedophiles and are grooming children in the public schools.

Some concerned community members admitted that they have no children in our schools, but they seem to know a lot about the awful things we’re allegedly doing in the schools and libraries. One community member testified multiple times in the spring and summer school board meetings, mostly about a book that she doesn’t think is appropriate in our schools. We heard all about this book, in graphic detail.

But guess what? That book was never on the shelves in any school library in the MSBSD. It wasn’t on the list of books to be reviewed by a newly formed committee.

Now, if I were a regular audience or board member, I’d think, “Who are these twisted librarians and what are they doing to our children?” But I’m an actual school librarian so I can sleep with a clear conscience after saying that much of the testimony you all heard in the last few months was grossly misleading and painted a very inaccurate picture of what can be found in our school libraries.

I doubt MSBSD librarians and teachers will hear any apologies this year about the slander we heard in the spring and summer. But because I want to move forward, I’m inviting you to come to my school library. What you won’t see is children reading pornography. What you will see is children reading books about Legos, superheroes, mermaids, unicorns, dragons, jokes, riddles, poems, cats, dogs, horses, dinosaurs, space and sports.

Let’s move forward with more civil discourse, and less nonsense about the horrible books not actually in school libraries. As we all know, when a falsehood is repeated over and over again, people will start to believe it to be true. I encourage you to go see for yourselves what’s actually happening in our schools, instead of listening to outrageous, scary and hateful misinformation.

Kim Evans,

Palmer