Legislation which would protect teachers and librarians who want to distribute pornographic materials to New Jersey school children got pulled from the Senate Education Committee’s Thursday, February 14th agenda.
S2421/A3446 would have made teachers and librarians “immune from criminal and civil liability arising from good faith actions” for distributing controversial reading materials.
“First and foremost, this legislation is an affront to parents and taxpayers by usurping more control away from local education and giving it to faceless bureaucrats in Trenton,” said Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia (R-24). “Provisions in the bill silence the public into submission and handcuff local school boards by the special legal protection afforded certain educators and librarians if they decide to keep obscene material on bookshelves.”
“There is no place for obscene, sexually-explicit material in classrooms, no matter who is distributing it,” added Assemblyman Michael Inganamort (R-24). “Let’s also remember that most teachers and librarians don’t want to be put in this position in the first place. We’ll strongly oppose this legislation to protect our kids, first and foremost, and to defend the integrity of the teaching profession, too.”
The decision to pull the bill happened sometime Wednesday though no public explanation was offered.
A companion bill is still pending before the Assembly Education Committee.
