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Roxbury board votes to limit access to Gender Queer, sparking heated public and member debate
Summary
After extended debate and public comment, the Roxbury Township Board of Education voted to place Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer behind the high school media center counter, citing developmental-appropriateness concerns; several board members and community speakers opposed the move and raised procedure concerns under district policy 9130.
The Roxbury Township Board of Education voted July 14 to limit access to the book Gender Queer by placing the text behind the media center counter at the high school. The motion was made and amended to state the basis for the request: the material was “not developmentally appropriate” for the school population.
The vote followed more than an hour of board discussion and public comment. Board members and commenters debated whether moving the book behind the counter constituted a “removal from access” that triggers the district’s own policy and regulation governing challenged materials (district policy 9130 and regulation 9130).
Public commenter Annette Brooks criticized the board’s action during the public-comment period: “The superintendent should be setting the…
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