This story was originally produced by The Keene Sentinel. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Despite objections from civil libertarians, educators and librarians, the New Hampshire Senate has passed a Republican-backed bill aimed at prohibiting “obscene or harmful sexual material” from being disseminated at public schools.
The Senate voted 15-8 in favor of House Bill 324 last Thursday. The House passed it 183-148 two months ago. Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte will now consider signing the legislation into law.
Backers said it would protect children from inappropriate material, while opponents contended it is tantamount to state-sanctioned book banning.
Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, told senators Thursday that the bill doesn’t ban a single book.
“It establishes a process that if a parent sees what they believe is obscene or harmful material for a child to bring it to the attention of the school board and have that process followed,” he said.
Under the bill, a parent would first complain to a school principal, whose decision could be appealed to the local school board. That panel’s decision could be appealed to the State Board of Education.
Those who may file such appeals include parents of students whose access to materials would be restricted.
If the State Board of Education had to get involved, this would effectively take the decision out of local hands, where it belongs, critics of HB 324 say.
The bill forbids public schools from providing “harmful material” to minors.
It describes such material as that which predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors, including the depiction or description of nudity and sexual conduct.
The bill would authorize New Hampshire’s attorney general to enforce the legislation through a civil action against a school or school district.
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In Thursday’s Senate hearing, Sen. Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, questioned how the bill’s definitions on harmful material would be interpreted.
“William Shakespeare’s literature contains significant amounts of sexual references and innuendos, so under these provisions, could we be banning Shakespeare?” he asked.
Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, also spoke against the bill.
“The core issue is simple, our students deserve access to inclusive comprehensive education materials in school free from censorship,” she said.
She said the measure would lead to educators censoring material out of fear they could be punished, not because the material was really harmful.
The author of the bill is Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro.
He told the Senate Education Committee on April 10 that students now have access to inappropriate books.
“We’re talking of books and actually a common app on school-supplied computers describing incest, sex between adults, including teachers, minor girls, rape, sexual assault, drug abuse, violence, cutting and suicide,” Cordelli said.
The computer application he was referring to is a digital library platform that allows students to borrow and access e-books, audiobooks, magazines, and other digital materials.
He read to the committee a short, explicit passage describing sex in a book he said is in multiple New Hampshire schools, the popular 1999 novel, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky.
Cordelli acknowledged he’d never read the book and has no interest in doing so.
At the committee hearing, Altschiller said the book is “a really important piece of literature available to high school children.”
The book, which also became a movie, discusses sexuality, drug use, sexual assault and mental health.
Altschiller complained about him reading a snippet out of context.
“You took a piece of the book and just tried to make it salacious,” she said. “Are you aware that that particular book deals with situations that are absolutely universal to the high school experience?”
Cordelli countered “a young boy reading this book may get ideas on how they can behave with young women.”
A total of 1,237 people signed in with the Senate Education Committee in opposition to the bill, including representatives of the N.H. School Boards Association, the American Federation of Teachers-NH and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.
Thirty-nine people signed in supporting the bill, including Cordelli and N.H. Rep. Kristin Noble, R-Bedford.
The bill would go into effect Jan. 1.
