Earlier this month, the newly elected president of a Pennsylvania school board took her oath of office on a stack of banned books, sending an implicit message about the Democratic-led takeover of the board.

On December 4, during a reorganization meeting, five Democrats were sworn into office after winning their seats in November’s municipal elections, shifting the balance of the nine-member board from 6-3 in Republicans’ favor, to 6-3 in Democrats’ favor.

November’s elections had served as a proxy war of sorts between conservative candidates backed by the right-wing organization Moms for Liberty — and a slew of anti-LGBTQ policies generally associated with them — and those running on the “Neighbors United for School Board” slate of candidates, who campaigned in opposition to the previous majority’s “book banning, anti-LGBTQIA+ policies, and ‘culture war’ politics.”

Karen Smith and Dr. Miriam Mahmud, the most senior Democratic-backed candidates on the board, were elected president and vice president by 7-2 and 8-1, respectively. Smith, in a nod to the issues on which she ran, chose to symbolically be sworn in on a stack of books that had been flagged for removal from classrooms and school library shelves by the previous majority.

“I’m not particularly religious,” Smith told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The Bible doesn’t hold significant meaning for me, and given everything that has occurred in the last couple of years, the banned books, they do mean something to me at this point.”

Upon being elected president by her fellow board members, Smith said, “Thank you for your trust in me. I do not take this hand lightly. I feel it as a very heavy responsibility and you have my word, I will do my best for everyone.”

Smith was first elected to the school board in 2015 as a Republican but later switched parties after fellow board members voted against allowing a school counselor to attend training on transgender issues.

She chose Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Eli Wiesel’s Night, Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, Flamer by Mike Curato, and Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin as the books she was sworn in upon.

Several of the books appeared on a list of “sexually explicit” titles flagged by the right-wing group WokePA, as well as on a list of 61 books challenged under the previous board’s policy — which sought to restrict the availability of books portraying LGBTQ characters, containing LGBTQ-themed storylines, or dealing with various social issues such as race, racism, social justice, or police brutality. 

Smith told the Inquirer she wanted to make her commitment “to fighting for the books, and for our students’ freedom to read” clear. 

Smith has taken issue with WokePA’s characterization of Lily and Dunkin as “sexually explicit,” noting that she had actually read the book and found no sexual content in it. “Just the existence of a transgender student in the book was enough for some folks who want to challenge it,” she told PhillyBurbs. “And it’s a beautiful story.”

She also described the six real transgender teens profiled in Beyond Magenta as “courageous,” calling it “a valuable book that some young people could really benefit from.”

While she acknowledged the presence of sexual content in the oft-banned autobiographical memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue, she also called author George M. Johnson “courageous” for writing about his own sexual assault in the book. 

News of Smith’s swearing-in earned her praise from LGBTQ rights supporters and opponents of book bans.

Singer Pink, a Bucks County native who has distributed thousands of banned books to audience members at her concerts in Florida offered praise for Smith, writing on X, “Makes Me proud of my hometown!!!!!!”

Makes
Me proud of my hometown!!!!!! https://t.co/RPq9wB6QWH

— P!nk (@Pink) December 7, 2023

 

According to Allentown-based WFMZ-TV, supporters of the new school board members were so excited about the election of the new board and the anticipated reversal of several controversial policies that they actually tailgated in the parking lot outside the school board meeting as if they were attending a football game.

Inside the meeting room at the district’s Educational Services Center, the crowd’s energy was palpable, with the room erupting into cheers and applause every time a new member was sworn in.

Once all the new members were sworn in, the Democratic-led board took steps to halt four policies passed by the previous board, which had aggressively pursued policies targeting LGBTQ visibility.

The board paused two policies dealing with book restrictions: the first prohibiting resource materials in classrooms referencing same-sex conduct or relationships by banning so-called “sexualized content,” the other setting up a process to make it easier to ban books for alleged “sexualized content.”

Smith promised that more than 60 books challenged under the old policies would remain on shelves. However, she was uncertain about the fate of two books that were officially banned by the previous board: Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, and This Book is Gay, by Juno Dawson. 

The board also voted to pause a policy against the so-called “indoctrination” of students by requiring teachers to take a neutral approach when discussing “socio-political issues” in the classroom, which led to the display of political symbols or flags, including Pride flags or rainbow-colored decals expressing support for the LGBTQ community or designating a classroom as a “safe space” for students. 

Finally, the board paused an across-the-board ban prohibiting transgender girls from competing on female-designated sports teams.

According to PhillyBurbs, all of the policies paused or reversed had been developed or recommended by the Independence Law Center, a religious liberties law firm and legal arm of the conservative Pennsylvania Family Institute, which has sought to impose similar policies throughout the state.

The board voted along party lines to hire a new solicitor to replace the district’s previous solicitor, who had announced his resignation in November following the most recent elections. It also voted unanimously to challenge the $712,000 severance package given to former Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh by the outgoing board.

According to Business Insider, the severance package was approved with just 24 hours prior notice, includes $39,000 in taxes that taxpayers must foot the bill for, and shields Lucabaugh, who resigned after Democratic victories in November, from being sued.

Some critics, including a lawyer who wrote to the previous solicitor, have claimed that the severance package may run afoul of a 2012 change to the Pennsylvania state school code.

The board also unanimously, although begrudgingly, approved a $1.14 million bill for legal services provided by law firm Duane Morris LLP, which had been hired to investigate four discrimination complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

That contract had been added to the school board’s agenda on the day before the meeting where it was voted upon. The law firm reportedly racked up an estimated $1.75 million in legal expenses, even though the district’s insurance will only reportedly pay for about $250,000 of that total.

The complaints being investigated by the firm had alleged that the Central Bucks School District had violated the civil rights of, and created a “hostile environment” for, LGBTQ students and their supporters in schools.

Last October, the ACLU of Pennsylvania sued on behalf of seven LGBTQ students, claiming the district had violated the students’ right to equal protection under the law and their right to be free from sex-based discrimination.