If you’ve been following the recent Board of Education meetings here in Roxbury, you know exactly how contradictory things have become. At the June 9, 2025 meeting, the Board reviewed the findings of its own book review committee — the very group created to fairly evaluate challenged books using an established, thoughtful process.

This time, two books were on the table again: Gender Queer and This Book is Gay. Both had already gone through this process back in 2023 and were found appropriate to remain in the library. Once more, the review committee carefully read, discussed, and concluded: Gender Queer should stay on the shelf with no change, and This Book is Gay should be moved to public circulation, no longer requiring parental permission.

Sounds straightforward, right? But then came the twist.

A majority of BOE members — Mr. Bonilla, Ms. Colucci, Ms. Galdieri, Ms. MacGregor, Ms. Purcell, and Mr. Milde — voted against accepting the committee’s recommendations. They offered no explanations for ignoring the very process they are supposed to uphold. So the status of the books should have defaulted back to the prior approved review — meaning no change.

Or so it seemed.

This was on Monday’s BOE agenda:

“RESOLVED, that at the request of a Board of Education member, the Roxbury Township Board of Education approves to limit access to the book Gender Queer (Author M. Kobabe) by placing the text behind the counter of the media center.”

Let’s be clear: this book has now been reviewed twice by the committee and deemed appropriate BOTH times. Yet certain Board members want to override that decision anyway — ignoring the outcome they didn’t like while claiming to value a “fair and thorough review process.”

This is blatant hypocrisy. How can our community trust the process when Board members only respect it when it suits their personal political agenda?

BOE members Hernandez, Hopkins, and Scheneck called out that the Board’s own policy requires them to provide a reason for removing or restricting a book. The Board’s attorney said putting it “behind the shelf” wasn’t a “removal.” Member Scheneck pointed out that the policy also requires a reason for limiting access — something the Board president only came up with on the spot (claiming it was “developmentally inappropriate”). Who exactly on this Board has the credentials to make that determination?

Even more frustrating: during the June meeting, the only public voices supported the committee’s findings — to keep the books accessible. At the most recent meeting, two parents spoke out against this action. No one spoke in favor of removing the book.

So what exactly is this Board accomplishing other than proving they’re willing to ignore their own policies to push a personal agenda? The same thing happened with Policy 5756 — removing it changed nothing day-to-day but signaled to the community that policies can be disregarded whenever they feel like it.

And then the question becomes: what happens when the next policy they decide to ignore affects your kid?

They’re telling parents and taxpayers that they don’t care about law and order as long as they get their way. They’re wasting time and money on personal crusades instead of tackling the real issues facing our schools.

So, Roxbury parents and students: pay attention. Ask your BOE members why they bother with committees and policies if they’ll just ignore them. Ask why they think they know better than the educators and librarians who follow the process. And most importantly, ask what else they could be fixing instead of fighting the same book battles over and over.