Court Backs Local School Control in Evans-Marshall v Board of Education; ALA Loses Another Means to Propagandize Local Communities

In Evans-Marshall v. Board of Education of the Tipp City Exempted Village School District, the 6th Circuit Court ruled unanimously that "[t]eachers have no First Amendment free-speech protection for curricular decisions they make in the classroom."  See "Court: No Teacher Speech Rights on Curriculum," by Mark Walsh, Education Week, 21 October 2010.

That means Superintendent Daniel Freeman in Kentucky was on the right track.  (Especially see the comments from the superintendent and a number of authors.)

That means School Media Specialist Dee Venuto in New Jersey is on the wrong track and the school district might consider taking action against her.

But what it really means is the American Library Association [ALA] may have lost another arrow in its quiver of propaganda it uses to convince communities to keep children exposed to inappropriate material.

Consider that last case of Dee Venuto.  The ALA supported her by advising her school superintendent that, among other things:

We encourage the administration to express respect and support for the judgment of librarians and media specialists in their selection of material based on professional expertise and standards, as well as users' constitutional right to obtain access to a broad range of materials and ideas, including those that some may find objectionable.

That is significantly diminished in light of what the 6th Circuit Court said.  While the 6th Circuit does not have jurisdiction everywhere, the logic contained in the case can be applied with full knowledge it is legally sound.


When the ALA comes calling on your community like it did in New Jersey and does all over the United States, when the ALA makes false claims of constitutional support for why school superintendents must "respect and support ... the judgment of librarians and media specialists," you'll know ahead of time it is a false claim.  Politely tell the ALA, as Daniel Freeman and others have done, thanks, but no thanks.

PS:  Here's another case where the ALA attempted to ride roughshod over a community and lost:  "Cert Denied: Vamos a Cuba; Cuban-Americans Lead Way for Districts to Back Parents Rights Against ALA/ACLU False Claims of Banning and Censorship."  See also "It's Not Censorship, It's Parenting!  -- Best Explanation Ever for What's Wrong With the American Library Association and its Effect on Public School Libraries."


NOTE ADDED TODAY, 2PM:

I wrote this post at 2AM and may not have been clear.  Basically, the ALA advises communities that they have to accept what the teachers/librarians say as if the First Amendment requires schools to cede control to ALA acolytes.  The Court, on the other hand, says the school system tells the teacher/librarian what's what and not the other way around.  The ALA says anything goes, but the courts and common sense say otherwise.  Local communities need to decide whether to respect precedent and common sense or to accept the ALA's anything-goes attitude when the ALA intervenes in local concerns.  Choose wisely.


NOTE ADDED 2 MARCH 2011:

Evans-Marshall v. Board of Education has come under direct attack from self-described liberal NYU Professor Jonathan Zimmerman who has called for teachers unions to seek to use the collective bargaining process to overcome this case, the courts generally, and local school control.  See:

"Teachers Need Collective Bargaining to Override Courts and Local Boards So School Children May Access Material Otherwise Unfit For School Curricula, Says NYU Professor Jonathan Zimmerman"

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Library Leaves Pedophile Free to Molest Other Children; King County Library System Defrauds Taxpayers of $1,158,253 from CIPA Program; Media Investigation Needed

A public library let a pedophile go free, albeit after kicking him out of the library.  It was the roommate of the pedophile who called police.  Only then was the pedophile captured before he could molest another child.  By the way, the library system to which the public library belongs appears to have defrauded the government of $1,158,253.

Keep in mind the American Library Association [ALA] advises libraries not to call the police:  "As for obscenity and child pornography, prosecutors and police have adequate tools to enforce criminal laws.  Libraries are not a component of law enforcement efforts...."  As I have previously written, "Libraries Aid and Abet Pedophiles, Destroy Evidence, Retaliate Against Whistle Blowers, Claim Dubious Privacy and Free Speech Rights; ALA At Fault."

Read the article from The Seattle Times reprinted below and ask yourself if the pedophile might have molested another child in another public library bathroom had the roommate not called the police.  Isn't it common sense the library should have called the police instead of just kicking out the bad guy so he can move on to the next library?  Was it following ALA advice not to call the police?  Might there be liability involved for the library?  Thank goodness for the roommate who finally acted appropriately.  I urge the media to dig into this story further.  The library definitely holds ALA diktat in high esteem.

"Prosecutors Seeking Civil Commitment of Sex Offender," 

by Jennifer Sullivan, 

The Seattle Times, 

11 October 2010, 

hyperlinks and italics added, bold in original:

A convicted child molester who is accused of leering at a young girl at the Shoreline Public Library is back behind bars as King County prosecutors seek to have him civilly committed.

Robert R. Porter, 40, was arrested Friday and ordered held without bail.  Senior Deputy Prosecutor Hugh Barber said in a court filing that the state wants to have Porter held in jail and evaluated because of the recent "overt acts" involving the child at the library, the court filing said.

Under Washington state law, sex offenders can be confined indefinitely if it's determined they're a danger to the public.

Porter was convicted of first-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation in Clark County in 1995, Barber said in his filing.  Porter's victims included three 10-year-old girls, according to a sex offender notification [hyperlink in original] on the King County Sheriff's Office Web site.

While serving an 11-year prison sentence, Porter participated in sex offender treatment and was diagnosed as having a Mental Abnormality of Pedophilia, an illness that would make him likely to engage in acts of violence if not confined to a secure facility, prosecutors said.  Between his prison release in 2006 and 2009, Porter was on probation.

The King County Sheriff's Office started investigating him again earlier this month after receiving a phone call from his roommate, prosecutors said.  The roommate said that Porter told him about the Oct. 4 incident at the library.  Library staff told investigators that they kicked Porter out of the building after the mother of a 3- or 4-year-old girl reported that the man had been leering at the child.


Investigators talked to Porter on Oct. 8 and he said he was watching little girls at the library that day and was "fixated" on one particular child because she was "perfect," charging papers said.  Porter told detectives that he hoped to follow the girl into the restroom so she could perform a sex act on him, the papers said. 

Is your child "perfect"?  Better yet, does your library follow the law and common sense then call the police, or does it follow the anything goes ALA policy?  Find out before it's too late.  Speaking of acting too late, read on.

Defrauding the Government of $1,158,253

The library's actions caused me to take a closer look at its policies.  I found that the library claims  CIPA compliance: "The Board decision to comply with CIPA paves the way for continued federal funding for Internet access for KCLS."  Since 2004, the King County Library System [KCLS] has obtained $1,158,253 in funding based on that claim.

It's a false claim.  The library is stealing, in other words.  Fraud.  The money must be returned.  Of course this is all my opinion, but CIPA requires librarians, not patrons, to temporarily disable filters for patrons upon request:  "An authorized person may disable the blocking or filtering measure during any use by an adult to enable access for bona fide research or other lawful purposes."  A patron is not an "authorized person" or there would be no need for the requirement and all of CIPA would be useless.  So any disabling of filters without library involvement is not allowed under CIPA.  Yet the library policy specifically calls for filters to be disabled without library involvement after the first instance.  From the library system's "Internet Filtering Policy":

If a patron (17 years of age or older) wishes to opt out of filtering, he/she may request this of a KCLS staff member.  With valid photo ID, the KCLS staff member may change the patron's card status to allow unfiltered access for "legitimate research or other lawful purposes."

And with the "card status" changed, the patron can thereafter and forever more have unfiltered access without the intervention of any "authorized person," just his own card.  CIPA compliance has just been evaded.  The patron gets unfiltered access without having an authorized person disable the blocking.

I calculate, thanks to the federal government's "Automated Search of Commitments tool," (hint, use "Advanced Search") the following money was obtained fraudulently for "Internet Access" ("Telcomm" is not involved) by the "King County Library System," post 2003, the year CIPA was found constitutional in US v. ALA:

• 2004  $0
• 2005  $187,200.00
• 2006  $195,570.00 + $15,001.01
• 2007  $256,066.32 + $85,905.79
• 2008  $7,854.60 + $128,033.16
• 2009  $26,555.80 + $256,066.32
• 2010  $0, so far reported

That's a total of $1,158,253 fraudulently obtained by the library system that didn't call the police on the perpetrator in the Seattle Times story.  By the way, CIPA compliance failures may result in an audit that may result in the return of all funding to the federal government.  People might be interested in filing a complaint with the "Whistleblower Hotline" for the return of the misappropriated federal funding.

This library system is not the only one to defraud the taxpayers in this manner, in my opinion.  See also, relevant sections of which I hereby incorporate by reference, such as the ALA's guidance to libraries to sidestep the law:

• Jail for Library Child Porn Viewer; Unfiltered Brownsville Public Library May Be Committing CIPA Fraud
• Porn in Brooklyn Public Library; Frustrated Patron Provides Photographic Proof; Library Refuses to Act; Two and a Half Million Dollars in Jeopardy Due to Possible Fraud

 Will the Media Investigate the Obstruction of Justice, the Fraud?

Will the media further investigate this story using the information provided above and in the Brownsville Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library stories?  Is failure to call the police on pedophiles acceptable or legal?  Is it obstruction of justice?  Is defrauding the government of over a million dollars by claiming CIPA compliance acceptable or legal?


NOTE ADDED 8 JUNE 2011:

The Farce of the Year 2011 Award goes to....

• "Library of the Year 2011: King County Library System, WA | The People's Library; The Words 'Open to All' Permeate This Library's Strategic Plan," by John N. Berry III, Library Journal, 15 June 2011 (published online 8 June 2011).

I suppose ripping off taxpayers and leaving pedophiles to go free are part of the strategic plan.  The word "fraud" permeates this farce of an award.

Oh look, the top billed person judging the award, namely the ALA Immediate Past President Camila Alire, is herself a plagiarizer when she was ALA President.  No wonder KCLS was selected.


NOTE ADDED 17 FEBRUARY 2013:

• "IMLS: Don't Award Fraud in Public Libraries," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 17 February 2013.

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