In a move that has left many Roxbury residents scratching their heads, the Board of Education is once again reviewing books that have already undergone formal challenges and committee evaluations. This latest agenda item—set for the June 9, 2025 BOE meeting—reveals a deeply troubling pattern: using time and resources to rehash old debates while more pressing issues in our schools are left unaddressed.

Let’s take a moment to break down the facts.

A Timeline of Book Challenges in Roxbury

• Fall 2022 – Let’s Talk About It was quietly moved behind the library counter. Since then, it has only been available with parental permission. Despite being in the high school library since November 2021, there is no clear record of when it was formally challenged.
• January 2023 – Gender Queer was officially challenged, reviewed by the appropriate committee, and deemed appropriate to remain on the shelves. The book had been in the library since July 2020.
• March 2023 – During a heated BOE meeting, a group of residents verbally attacked the high school librarian, calling her horrid names simply for doing her job.
• May 2023 – A late-night vote—called by BOE member Milde after midnight—aimed to remove nine books, pending “review,” despite no formal challenges being filed at that time. The “review” process was vague, and the targeted titles had barely circulated.
  The nine books were: This Book is Gay, Flamer, Me Earl and the Dying Girl,  Fun Home, Beyond Magenta, Milk and Honey, All Boys Aren’t Blue,  Blankets, and Lawn Boy.
  • 7 of the 11 books had never been checked out
  • 1 was borrowed twice
  • Another five times
  • Another six times, and another four
  • Some of those circulations were administrators reviewing the books

This attempt failed as a majority of board member voted against removing these books, several voicing that doing so was a violation of their own policy, and also of their ethics oath, which requires that they uphold district policy.

• June 2023 – This Book is Gay was challenged. It, too, was placed behind the counter, requiring parental permission to check out.
• July 2023 – Flamer and Fun Home were challenged but remained on the shelves after committee review.

As of November 2024, no new formal challenges had been filed.

And yet, here we are in June 2025, reviewing This Book is Gay and Gender Queer—again.

What Are We Really Doing Here?

The agenda for the June 9th meeting explicitly states:

“At the request of a Board of Education member, the Roxbury Township Board of Education approves the Book Review Committee’s findings for This Book is Gay (Author J. Dawson).”

“At the request of a Board of Education member, the Roxbury Township Board of Education approves the Book Review Committee’s findings for Gender Queer (Author M. Kobabe).”

While it’s unclear what the committee’s new “findings” are, one thing is clear: both of these books were already reviewed in 2023.

Not only is this process redundant, but it reeks of obsession—a fixation on controlling which books young people can even access with parental consent. It’s particularly ironic that This Book is Gay continues to be cited as dangerous or “inappropriate” when it’s already been behind the counter for two years.

What exactly is so scary about a book that requires a parent’s permission? This isn’t about protecting kids—it’s about some community members attempting to decide what all kids and parents can access, not just their own.

The Bigger Picture: What the BOE Should Be Focusing On

This repeated review of previously vetted books comes at a time when Roxbury faces critical educational challenges:

• Severe budget shortfalls
• Teacher resignations, with many positions going unfilled
• The loss of our Assistant Superintendent position for next year
• The impact of losing Title I funding
• Rising concerns about classroom overcrowding, academic recovery, and staff morale

All of these issues deserve urgent attention. Instead, the BOE is spending time and energy chasing the same books around the same ideological hamster wheel. This is not governance—it’s distraction.

A Call for Sanity

If parents disagree with the content of a book, they have every right to restrict their own child’s access. But forcing those personal beliefs onto every student in the district? That’s not protecting children—that’s censorship.

Let’s stop pretending these book reviews are about student safety. They’re about politics. And they’re happening at the direct expense of student success, teacher support, and the financial future of our schools.

It’s time for the Roxbury BOE to stop relitigating the past and start planning for the future. Our students deserve more than political theater. They deserve leadership.