Should a parent file a FOIA request, they may be informed no documents exist. Oh there are documents, librarians are just trained to conduct public business in a way they think circumvents FOIA and other laws (such as record retention laws).
As a result, future FOIA requests should include special language to deal with this lawlessness, and perhaps FOIA laws themselves should be amended to account for this specific subterfuge by an entire government job classification: librarian.
For example, private text messages were obtained via FOIA that proved an elementary school librarian at the Blackshear Elementary School in Austin, TX, set up a drag queen to "read" to students at his school with a Texas Library Association [TLA] officer of the "Queers and Allies Roundtable," was informed the drag queen had a criminal record, then guided the convicted drag queen to fool the required background check—and the librarian was himself a BSDM fetish performer at night:
Shannon, Tracy. “Unbelievable: Austin, Texas, Elementary School Librarian is a BDSM ‘Leatherman’ by Night; Invited Convicted Male Prostitute Drag Queen to Read to Schoolchildren.” MassResistance, April 26, 2020. https://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen4/20b/Austin-TX-Blackshear-library/index.html.
Here is the evidence. In Texas, an executive board member of TLA (the largest state-based library association) and board member of the American Library Association’s [ALA] Freedom to Read Foundation [FTRF] has provided essentially that very training to Texas librarians in a published podcast of the TLA. Generally, FOIA laws can be viewed at National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC). Texas FOIA laws can be viewed at the NFOIC site at https://www.nfoic.org/texas-foia-laws/.
Former school librarian Dorcas Hand, pictured above right, is the TLA executive board member and the FTRF board member who spills the beans.
She admits librarians are not lawyers and are trained to reach out for help from ALA, TLA, and other librarians and, importantly, to use personal email addresses precisely to prevent parents from getting the records under the state's open public records act. The TLA website directs them to submit an online Google form with the basics of the problem, then someone having experience in that type of challenge is selected by Dorcas Hand herself. These are public records and any subsequent communications are as well, but the subterfuge essentially makes them nearly impossible to get.
Here is a transcript of what Dorcas Hand said, emphasis in original:
20:34 "Once the match is made the volunteer reaches out by email. Uh, volunteers never use their professional email, and they work hard to have their conversations with, um, people who are looking for help on personal devices and WiFi. We don't want anybody who's involved in this caught by a FOIA request. And, and we know that's happening. So we, we try to be very careful. Um, and, and those two people make their own arrangements. Once I've connected them I am not a part of the conversation, unless somebody comes back to me and they need more something. Um, we never give legal advice. We are not lawyers. Um, we might point people in the direction of resources that may suggest how they get legal advice, um, we certainly use all of the ALA resources, and, um, some of those, I mean there's case law that you can look at, specific cases that may relate to what you're talking about, and that can be helpful when you're talking to people, but we don't say this is how you solve this problem, because we don't know, if it's going to court, we don't know all kinds of things, and it's not our job to do any of that. Um, we have put together an internal wealth of resources to answer questions. The volunteers share whichever ones they think are most useful. Um, we did go back once and build a tip sheet to support a specific question because that question seemed to come three or four times...." 22:00
Here is the source of information upon the above is based so you can see/hear this yourselves and in full context:
Sweeney, Cate, and Dorcus Hand. “Banned Books Week 2022, Part I; Libraries Transform Texas Podcast.” Texas Library Association, September 12, 2022. https://anchor.fm/texas-library-association/episodes/Banned-Books-Week-2022--part-I-e1m8rvv.
Let's celebrate Banned Books Week! Our featured guest for this podcast is Dorcas Hand, school library advocate and coordinator of the Intellectual Freedom Helpline for the Texas Library Association. Cate Sweeney, vice-chair of TLA's PR and Marketing Committee, hosts this episode. In Part I, we'll hear from Dorcas about three different book challenges she faced as a school librarian; as well as what the Helpline does and how it can help you.
"Libraries Transform Texas Podcast"? Libraries transform Texas—into what? Apparently, a lawless place where school librarians actively defy law so as to keep parents in the dark about how they are sexualizing school children with sexually inappropriate material.
Does anyone think this is harmless, kids reading sexually inappropriate material? Just kids reading about "lived experiences"? Does anyone think this is "diversity" or "inclusion"? Or LGBT allyship? Exposure to sexualized material directly harms children:
Lin, Wen-Hsu, Chia-Hua Liu, and Chin-Chun Yi. “Exposure to Sexually Explicit Media in Early Adolescence Is Related to Risky Sexual Behavior in Emerging Adulthood.” PLoS ONE 15, no. 4 (April 10, 2020): e0230242. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230242.
Ross MD MPH, Carolyn C. “Overexposed and Under-Prepared: The Effects of Early Exposure to Sexual Content; Is the Internet Impacting Sexual Development?” Psychology Today, August 13, 2012. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real-healing/201208/overexposed-and-under-prepared-the-effects-early-exposure-sexual-content.
Rodenhizer, Kara Anne E., and Katie M. Edwards. “The Impacts of Sexual Media Exposure on Adolescent and Emerging Adults’ Dating and Sexual Violence Attitudes and Behaviors: A Critical Review of the Literature.” Trauma, Violence & Abuse 20, no. 4 (October 2019): 439–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838017717745.
Look at the way groomers operate and compare with school librarians giving school children sexually inappropriate material they know to be sexually inappropriate, as ALA's leader Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Esq., has admitted. See any similarities?
V., Juliette. “6 Subtle Ways Child Predators ‘Groom’ Their Victims.” The Mighty, July 12, 2019. https://themighty.com/2019/07/grooming-signs-child-sexual-abuse/.
Jeglic PhD, Elizabeth L. “How Sexual Abusers Try to Groom Children; 99 Percent of Child Sexual Abuse Involves Grooming.” Psychology Today, April 18, 2022. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/protecting-children-sexual-abuse/202204/how-sexual-abusers-try-groom-children.
So Texas parents may want to spread the word about this and act accordingly. These school librarians are grooming your children with sexually inappropriate material, they know they are doing that, so they are knowingly and purposefully violating Texas law to get it done by any means, whatever it takes, in a way designed to prevent you from knowing. Now you know.
By the way, when librarians “report a book challenge, book ban, book removal” to ALA or to state library associations like TLA, that document is a public document, as well as all that follows as a result, even if made from a private device on private time to try to circumvent FOIA. Such reports are not proprietary to ALA or TLA despite their claims of confidentiality. They cannot disclaim the law. They are made by public employees acting on public time addressing public issues subject to FOIA laws that as we have seen above they do not want to reveal to the public. FOIA laws supersede ALA/TLA diktat. Be sure your FOIA requests include these challenge/ban/removal reports as well. Give no quarter to librarians intent on violating the law to maximize the sexualization of children, even if they call themselves @FReadomFighters. There’s no “FReadom” to sexualize children. When @FReadomFighters gets people to tweet #FReadom on Fridays to #txlege, they are essentially trying to groom the legislators to allow school librarians to have the freedom to continue to sexualize more children in more schools. Groomers don't just operate on the children.
As the year comes to a close, please remember to report a book challenge, book ban, book removal, etc. to @OIF here! If you don't have all the information, just fill out what you know.
— FReadom (@FReadomFighters) November 29, 2022
It is so important we document this moment in censorship. https://t.co/gcYCMGo8Va
As Texas legislators seek to pass legislation due to circumstances caused by librarians trained to violate Texas law, I'm sure they will be happy to see how Texas librarians operate secretly to violate law so as to better groom more Texas children, including those legislators listed here in this typically pro librarian slanted story ("this book-banning era"):
Thompson, Maggie Q. “Austin Libraries Prepare for a Barrage of Book-Banning Bills; Rating Books, Jailing Librarians, and More.” The Austin Chronicle, December 2, 2022. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2022-12-02/austin-libraries-prepare-for-a-barrage-of-book-banning-bills/.
Librarians are breaking the law specifically to sexualize more children. Children are being directly harmed. Why would anyone give librarians any credence at all? They literally gang up on you behind your backs—to target the most vulnerable, our children.
NOTE ADDED 15 DECEMBER 2022:
Likely as a result of the above reporting, the Texas Library Association has locked its @TXLA Twitter account. Could there be a bigger admission of guilt? I've never seen any library association ever lock their account. Does anyone know if they are being officially investigated?
Here's more:
TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION @TXLA LOCKED DAYS AFTER I REPORT IT TRAINS #LIBRARIANS TO BREAK #FOIA #OPENGOV LAWS TO BETTER GROOM SCHOOL CHILDREN! #txlege @TXAG #FReadom#parenting #moms #dads #edchat#LibLearnX23 #ALAAC23 #UniteAgainstBookBanshttps://t.co/I7epQXZWVR pic.twitter.com/i00BYhEb8H
— Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries® 🟧 (@SexHarassed) December 15, 2022
NOTE ADDED 16 DECEMBER 2022:
Assumption: locked its Twitter account to delete tweets showing child grooming by #librarians, so etc. won’t see them.
Prediction: When open again, #TXLA will accuse me of defamation saying no such evidence exists. uses this trick.
