Readington board faces public pressure over book challenge, names board representative for review panel

The Readington Township Board of Education heard sustained public concern on a book challenge and approved a board representative to serve on the review committee under district regulation 2535.

Several residents demanded transparency during the first public forum after learning a complaint had been filed. "Censorship never announces itself as a censorship. It starts at the edges," said Capernia Reington, who told the board her family had lived through state censorship and urged open proceedings. Other speakers voiced support for librarians and criticized the policy change that lets board members scrutinize materials.

Administrators described the formal process that will govern the complaint. "Within five days, the school principal has to forward the complaint to me so I can convene this committee," Superintendent Dr. Hart said, summarizing the regulation-mandated steps. He added the committee — which the regulation specifies will include the superintendent, the principal, the media specialist, a board-selected representative, an age-appropriate teacher, a parent and other members as needed — will have 60 school days to recommend action to the board; Dr. Hart said the district expects that the process will likely pause over summer and resume in September.

Board members moved on agenda item 407, which required selecting a board representative for the review committee. After nominations and procedural amendments, the board amended 407 to name a board representative (the amendment passed) and then approved the block of items that included the amended 407. Counsel advised that the board member who filed the complaint would recuse from discussion and vote; the chair confirmed that recusal and an abstention for the related votes would occur as required.

The board and legal counsel also said the complaint will be posted publicly once counsel completes a brief review and appropriate redactions, and that the full committee will be asked to read the material in full before producing a recommendation. Dr. Hart said the district will make the complaint available on its website "relatively quickly" after counsel's guidance.

What happens next: the appointed committee will convene, read and review the challenged material and issue a recommendation to the full board within the statutory timeline; the board will then vote to keep, restrict, or remove the material under the regulation. The committee expects to meet in the fall if the 60-school-day timeline pauses over summer.

The meeting closed public session and moved to executive session on legal matters after the board's votes.