Below is a transcript of the lies made by NJASL President Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot. She has several main points. Each one sounds legitimate but each is intentionally misleading, sometimes to the point of simply being false.
- As trained professionals, librarians are in the best position to help everyone, Ewa says. They have teaching certificates and librarian certificates so they are "dually certified." Sounds good, but she leaves out A.) ALA requires MLIS degrees to "infuse concepts of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion throughout the standards." See: https://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2024/03/mlis-degrees-are-woke.html. B.) She also leaves out that ALA bragged to the Biden administration how librarians are better than teachers at indoctrinating school students because they have the children for years whereas the teachers have them for only a class. See: (citation will be added when I recall where I put it). C.) She also leaves out "the library and information services profession's commitment to racial and social justice ... diversity and inclusion as one of the profession's core values." See: https://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2021/07/ala-adopts-new-code-ethics-principle-racial-and-social-justice So yes, they are trained, but librarianship is a job, not a profession, and the training requires diversity, equity, and inclusion in all topics, and we all know what DEI really means. D.) She also leaves out that ALA policy is all material for all ages: "Library policies and procedures that effectively deny minors equal and equitable access to all library resources available to other users violate the Library Bill of Rights. The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users." See: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/minors. So the NJASL leader tells you librarians are trained but leaves out they are trained to provide any material at any age. Does this match the community standards of New Jersey parents? Is this common sense? Is there a reason parental rights should be overturned in NJ to assuage the feelings of people from Chicago who think children should get anything at any age? E.) And that "task force" NJASL created? It's to "force" parents and legislators to cede control of NJ school and children to a politically-motivated outside organization from Chicago, IL. That's the task force. Any parents who step out of line are gang rushed, like the parents intimidated from even attending a public meeting about the issue they raised in Glen Ridge, NJ. I was the only person who spoke in favor of those parents, and even afterwards the NJ ACLU decided to deride me for doing so. That's the effect of the "task force" about which she brags that bully parents so much they fear even attending open public meetings.
- "We d- don't come up with these recommendations and with the- these books out of thin air." False. School policies substantially match the model policies made up in Chicago, IL. This whole Freedom to Read Act S2421 is essentially a giant recommendation from Chicago, IL. It even replaced a previous attempt called the Right to Read Act that specifically named ALA's "Library Bill of Rights" and required that it become NJ law. That got shot down and reformed as the Freedom to Read Act, only the explicit inclusion of the "Library Bill of Rights" was excluded. But the ideas are all the same in the new act, just without the explicit reference, and with more teeth. And books out of thin air? Gender Queer was a book written for adults and sales lagged for two years until ALA found it and gave it two awards, including one specifically for kids. Now it's in nearly every school, as if summoned out of thin air. No, actually, ALA creates lists of books like this or gives them awards and all those books go right into the schools because everyone trusts librarians, and all from ALA in Chicago, IL, about which the NJASL leader acts innocent and claims librarians are only responding to NJ educational requirements. Super deceptive.
- "[O]ur biggest problem here right now is that a lot of school districts are not following their school policies and are not following the state standards and laws." Okay, perhaps. So if that's the problem, why is there a need for a law to force a school board to accept a policy it's not going to follow anyway? Because S2421 A3446 is a giant power grab, that's why. They are grabbing the power from New Jersey parents, giving it to Illinois librarians who "oppose[] all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users," then getting NJ legislators to pass it into NJ law. And into law in state after state as ALA tries to push this nationwide.
- Ewa then digs into her biggest lie of all: that no parents should have the right to control what the children of other parents are reading. And we hear books are "lifesaving" for that one special kid so all the kids have to read the "lifesaving" books. "Lifesaving," you know, like Gender Queer and its guidance to see kink dot com, you know, that kind of "lifesaving," and all kids have to read that. Can you see why this is so deceptive? Can you see the huge lie? It sounds so good. It sounds correct. Of course no parent should tell another parent what his child should or should not read. Of course. Only that's not the issue. The issue is not parents dictating what books other families should allow their kids. Not once has a parent ever removed a single book from a school library, short of theft. The reality is parents have the right under the First Amendment to bring concerns to the government, in this case the school board, then it's the school board that makes the decisions, not the parents. So arguing, "I would say to those parents, if you are not comfortable for your child to read that, you have the right to do it, but you cannot make this decision for all of the children," sounds great but it is intentionally false. It is a well-honed lie to mislead people. And the "lifesaving" lie is the icing on the cake. We are supposed to think all children should be exposed to inappropriate material that could be removed under the law just so one super troubled youth might read something that maybe makes him feel a little better about himself. Fine. That's what public libraries are for. School libraries are not public libraries. School libraries are not for anything-goes, especially simply because the anything-goes people from Chicago, IL, organize "task forces" to intimidate people into allowing their children to be exposed to harm and to intimidate legislators into making it law.
- Another lie the NJASL leader pushes is how data shows school librarians "increase all kinds of state sc- uh s- scores in, in all state standards." Scores are dropping everywhere as DEI gets pressed into every subject. Math proficiency in Chicago, for example, is 0% in all classes. The kids are experts on pronouns, microaggressions, and white supremacy, but reading, science, and mathematics scores are falling off a cliff nationwide—at the same time ALA is making DEI one of its "core values." So librarians are not "increas[ing] all kinds of state sc- uh s- scores in, in all state standards." Just the opposite. And there's the Freedom to Read Act praising librarians: "school library media specialists and librarians are trained to curate and develop collections." No, they are not. They are trained to follow Chicago ALA's orders: "The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users." This is precisely why schools are awash with inappropriate material, why parents oppose this, why Chicago's ALA wants New Jersey legislators to pass into law Chicago's rules, and why the NJASL leader is flat out lying in a deceptive way that sounds good but it really hiding the real goal.
There are those still trying to get the "Freedom To Groom" bill passedhttps://t.co/5MHQzWfCv3 and Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot (feat. In the 📼) president of the #NewJersey Association for School Libraries are deceiving people and not fully explaining the HUGE glaring issues with… https://t.co/Rbp5CWhwrD pic.twitter.com/aOHl9Xas5U
— ☕ Wαƙҽ Uρ NJ 🇺🇸 (@wakeupnj) March 23, 2024
By the way, ALA itself has started to directly apply pressure by tweeting out, via its @EveryLibrary de facto subgroup, a call to "support the Freedom to Read Act, which protects children's access to books and defends educators from harassment." It really protects Chicago ALA's "oppos[ition to] all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users," and "defends educators" from parents who oppose the elimination of age from school book selection policy. In other words, the Freedom to Read Act opposes common sense, community standards, and the law.
Notice too an astroturfing website created and maintained by ALA to "SEND AN EMAIL: Ask Your NJ State Legislators to Co-Sponsor Freedom to Read Legislation." See: https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/njaslbookbans:
Help the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) to put an end to book bans in schools and public libraries by contacting your New Jersey Assembly Member and state Senator and asking them to co-sponsor Sen. Zwicker's Freedom to Read bill. .... Please join the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) and SWEEP NJ to send a message to the Assembly and Senate Leadership that New Jersey should protect the Freedom to Read.
Do you see what just happened here? Do you see it? Think before reading on.
Look at that website again:
https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/njaslbookbans
Look at that quote again:
Help the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) to put an end to book bans in schools and public libraries by contacting your New Jersey Assembly Member and state Senator and asking them to co-sponsor Sen. Zwicker's Freedom to Read bill. .... Please join the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) and SWEEP NJ to send a message to the Assembly and Senate Leadership that New Jersey should protect the Freedom to Read.
Look at NJ S2421 2024 again:
4(b): “the commissioner shall consult with the State Librarian and the New Jersey Association of School Librarians….”
The NJASL is to be made by law the drafter of the model policy for school boards. Yet NJASL is supported directly by Chicago's ALA (therefore by its de facto subgroup EveryLibrary also based in Chicago), the drafter of the legislation. The legislation was written by ALA, for ALA, and power comes from within the ALA, only delegated to NJASL. New Jersey families are cut out. Is there any chance at all that the New Jersey law will not be what the Chicago librarian group wants and New Jersey citizens don't want? Zero.
ALA even does direct manipulation of the New Jersey legislators themselves!! At that website it urges people to write directly to their legislators to say the following, even provides a web form to make this easy:
I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor the New Jersey "Freedom to Read" bill, S2421 and A3446, sponsored by Senator Andrew Zwicker, Senator Teresa Ruiz, and Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis. It is a comprehensive, affirmative bill that would protect the right to read in public libraries and school libraries across New Jersey. Censorship is on the rise in our state, and the freedom to read is under threat across the country. The time to act is now. Please co-sponsor this important legislation and preserve the right to read for every resident of our state.
At the hearings for this legislation, listen if any of the legislators mention all the emails they got in support of the legislation. Now you know they are astroturfed by ALA with full knowledge and support of NJASL. The fix is in.
What we have here is a law Chicago's ALA wants nationwide, here in NJ as S2421, and Chicago's ALA showing NJASL will do exactly what ALA wants, openly supporting NJASL, even putting NJASL directly into the astroturf letter writing website URL www.SaveSchoolLibrarians.org/njaslbookbans, and ALA getting directly involved in astroturfing the public to pressure the legislators (and paying for all the support and infrastructure that goes into designing, building, and maintaining that site), AND ALL TO ENSURE SCHOOL CHILDREN REMAIN EXPOSED TO THE VERY HARM ABOUT WHICH NEW JERSEY PARENTS ARE COMPLAINING AND THAT'S LEGAL TO REMOVE FROM SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
I have warned about this before:
The enemy is at the gate. American Library Association, via its group EveryLibrary, is now directly pushing for #njleg #njsen #njpol to push @ALALibrary anything-goes for school kids into NJ schools.@Aikens_Josh @BillSpadea @CoboKristen @JrzyJoePiscopo @waltkane @vingopal https://t.co/WXu0ZFLrQa
— Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries® (@SexHarassed) March 22, 2024
And here is EveryLibrary acting for ALA, and using its power to astroturf as detailed above to push for bad legislation in New Jersey that will harm children and deny parents rights:
The Freedom to Read Act requires NJASL to set model policy for New Jersey school boards. After watching the NJASL president lie and lie throughout an entire interview, and after seeing ALA directly promoting NJASL in an astroturfed letter writing campaign, it is apparent that the model policy written by NJASL will exactly match the policies of Chicago's ALA, namely, "The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users."
If New Jersey legislators do not stop this Freedom to Read Act from Chicago becoming law in New Jersey, our children will directly suffer, and there will be nothing any parent can do about it because it will be the law. There will need to be a massive effort and lawsuit to strike down the law under the First Amendment, the New Jersey Constitution, and other laws. Let's hope the legislature has the sense to stop it now. Detailed information about the laws overstepped by the Freedom to Read Act are here: https://worldlibraryassociation.org/right-to-read-act/.
Finally, here is the transcript, now better understood in light of the above:
Steve Adubato:
All right, folks. My colleague, Jacqui Tricarico, joined me down in Atlantic City for the New Jersey Education Association convention, and Jacqui sat down with Ewa Elliot, who is the president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, to talk about a whole range of important issues affecting school librarians and students in our public schools who rely on those libraries. Here's Jacqui.
Jacqui Tricarico:
Joining me now is Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot, who is the president of the u- New Jersey Association of School Librarians, has over 10 years experience as a school librarian, um, and is here today at the NJEA Convention. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot:
Thank you for having me here today.
Jacqui Tricarico:
So, let's describe the Association of School Librarians. What is that in, here in New Jersey?
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot:
Um, we are NJEA members, um, and, um, what we do is we provide professional development and support for school librarians across the state of New Jersey. Uh, what that means is that, um, if the school district, let's say, is writing new curriculum, or if they are hiring a new librarian and that li- librarian needs additional training, we're able to provide that training, we're, uh, able to provide that professional development, we're able to provide mentorship. Um, but also, in the light of the latest book challenges, we are cr- we have created a task force, and that task force is able to provide resources, uh, to support school districts, school administrators, school board members, and the school librarians across the state of New Jersey.
Jacqui Tricarico:
Well, let's talk a little bit about that. We're hearing that word "book banning," that term a lot now in the media. What does that mean for a school librarian, the role that they play, in terms of book banning, or, or specific issues that community members, parents, caregivers, um, bring up about the books that are being presented on the shelves in the libraries of our st- of our schools?
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot:
This is actually very complex problem, and I think that at the core of it is something that, um, shows a very negative impact on our librarianship as a profession, um, because we... As school librarians, we have teaching certifications, and on top of that, we have library certifications, so we are dually certified. And here, we have, um, community members coming to our libraries and saying that we don't know what we're doing, and we are specialists in the field. We are trained to provide expertise and proper materials for our school libraries, and this is something that we have to remember.
School librarians' materials are supplementary materials, and they support state standards, so anything and everything that we provide in our libraries is to support already existing policies and curricula and state standards. We d- don't come up with these recommendations and with the- these books out of thin air. If there is a certain book in a library, that, um, book was purchased keeping in mind that we have to provide some level of support for classroom, or for some kind of lesson plan. So it's, it's a well-thought-out process.
Um, when it comes to book banning, it's, again, very, very complex issues, but, um, it's greatly under-reported, and our biggest problem here right now is that a lot of school districts are not following their school policies and are not following the state standards and laws. So the issue is very under-reported. We, as association, receive information from our members, um, that school administrators or school board members come into the library space and make requests to remove something out of fear of potential book challenge. Um, that's sweeping the problem under the rug, so-
Jacqui Tricarico:
Well, yeah, and playing devil's advocate a little bit, what do you say in terms of parents who say let's leave it up to the parents to decide if these books that, you know, are causing these issues, um, or that are coming up in a lot of these school board meetings as books that should be taken off the shelves, leave it up to the parents to make that decision if the kids can have access to them?
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot:
I would say to those parents, if you are not comfortable for your child to read that, you have the right to do it, but you cannot make this decision for all of the children, because there are children out there who look forward to have these resources in their hands. They really need it. In some cases, um, seeing a protagonist struggling with the same problem that the chil- child or the student is struggling, it might be lifesaving, so I would say to those parents, if you are not comfortable having these conversations with your child, if you are not comfortable with your child to be exposed to certain subjects, you have right to do it, but, um, take care of it with your child. Don't put this on everybody else, because remember, if you are putting that pressure on yours or my child, another parent may do the same to your child. They may put something, um, that is not compliant with your belief system, so it, it's, it works both ways.
Jacqui Tricarico:
It's a, it's a challenging conversation, and, and things, that, so something that we're consistently hearing. Lastly, how important is the role of the school librarian? How important is it for us as a community, for parents, to support the librarians that are in our children's lives as part of their education?
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot:
So, um, there is a lot of studies. Librarians love data (laughs). We love studies and data. Uh, there is a lot of studies that are showing that having a school librarian actually increases all kinds of state sc- uh s- scores in, in all state standards, um, if they are properly aligned. And what happens is, um, having a school librarian actually helps with literacy more than having early interventions, which basically means that, um, if you're talking about money, if you're talking about hiring someone, um, as a school administrator, you are better off hiring a skilled librarian with proper certifications, who can provide support for your child, for your student, uh, rather than even having, um, certain programs. Um, then on, on top of that, we are providing, um, all kinds of research, um, assistance. Our job changes from grade level to the grade level. Um, elementary school librarian has completely different job description than middle or high school. Elementary school librarian is more like a intervention teacher, um, for library literacy, skill liter- a l- skill reading literacies, and then middle and high school is more college prep oriented.
Um, we are the only people in school buildings who actually work with everyone who knows the curricula and lesson plans across the board. We are prepared, and ready, and trained to work with absolutely any department in the building. I can provide assistance to art teacher. I can provide assistance to science teachers, to math, uh, English, social studies, because I'm trained to do it. We are the only people in the building who can also provide IT s- uh, IT help. So, we are very diverse in that.
Jacqui Tricarico:
Yeah. Ewa, thank you so much for giving us some more insight into the challenges right now facing school librarians and just how important that role is in our children's lives. Thank you so much.
Ewa Dziedzic-Elliot:
Thank you.
Announcer:
One on One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation. Funding has been provided by Holy Name, New Jersey Sharing Network, the Russell Berrie Foundation, Valley Bank, PSE&G, The Fidelco Group, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, and by the New Jersey Education Association. Promotional support provided by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association and by AM970 The Answer.
Source of transcript:
Thank you for all of the detailed info and analysis. Defund the ALA. America's children deserve better!
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