‘Our Library Matters’ advocates seek yes votes in Huntington Beach special election
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Patricia Singer is the president of the Ocean View School District school board. She considers herself a conservative, but she doesn’t believe the fight over Huntington Beach Public Library issues is about politics at all.
Singer was one of the speakers Tuesday afternoon at a press conference outside the Central Library organized by advocates from Our Library Matters, a political action committee urging Surf City residents to vote “yes” on two ballot measures that will be decided in a special election on June 10.
Measure A seeks to repeal a planned children’s book review board of up to 21 members, appointed by the City Council, whose duties would include reviewing and having final approval of children’s library books brought into circulation. The yet-to-be-formed board was the subject of a recent lawsuit filed against the city by a group including two teenagers and a former Huntington Beach children’s librarian.
Measure B would require voter approval for any future efforts to outsource operations of the public library.
Singer said the conservative City Council approved the plan for the review board from a place of political retaliation, instead of caring for children.
“The reality is this — I am a mom,” she said. “I don’t want anyone selecting the books my children read. I am their parent, I should have the right to do this. [The council members] keep saying they’re protecting parents’ rights. No, they’re not. They’re taking my right away as a parent. Every week, I bring my child to the library. She selects a good handful of books, and I trust her judgment.
“My role as a parent is to review what she’s reading, and make sure I answer appropriate questions. No one should take that right away from me. These council members should not be able to do that.”
Singer’s school board colleague Gina Clayton-Tarvin was also among the speakers, as was Diana Marks, president of the Huntington Beach City School District Board of Trustees and children’s librarian Lindsay Klick, who lives in Huntington Beach. The press conference was held three days after the 50th anniversary of the Central Library’s dedication ceremony.
Klick, who said she has worked in Orange County libraries for more than 15 years, selects the children’s and teen materials for her branch.
“I do this, as all librarians do, using book reviews, circulation statistics, knowledge of my collection and through interaction with my community,” she said. “As a parent, I know that while my values may differ from my neighbors, the library should still provide us both with the same level of service.”
Librarians were first instructed to start moving books that featured “sexual content” early last year, after the conservative council passed a resolution demanding it. The librarians took them from the children’s section to an adult area on the fourth floor of the Central Library.
A review of that restricted area on Tuesday found eight books, the majority of them dealing with puberty. There were two copies of “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health,” as well as two copies of another title, “Will Puberty Last My Whole Life: Real Answers to Real Questions from Preteens About Body Changes, Sex, and Other Growing-Up Stuff.”
Klick said, as the mother of girls ages 10 and 13, these books were very relevant to her family and should not be in a restricted area.
“To me, this is shaming of girls for going through natural things like puberty,” she said. “I just worry for them, and for parents that feel like they’re going to have to make a trek up there just to deal with their [childrens’] own bodies.”
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns, Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon and Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark crafted the written argument against Measure A, which calls the review board a “transparent, community-driven process.”
“This is about choice,” their argument reads. “The community deserves a voice in shaping their children’s education and maintaining the right to instill values that align with their community values, especially in public libraries paid for by the Huntington Beach residents and taxpayers.”
But Singer noted that Ordinance No. 4318 doesn’t require any qualifications for members of the review board, including a master’s degree or any sort of educational background. She added that her district’s families should be able to dictate what comes into their homes.
“Who are they to choose that for me?” she said. “It’s in the guise of protecting me as a parent, but I don’t need them to protect me. I’m a parent, so let me do my job as a parent and select the books for my kids. And our students — let their parents decide if they should come here for story time, what books they should select, what books should come into their home. We’re all different, and it’s concerning when you hear that over 16,000 signatures were collected, and they questioned whether [the signatures] were real or not.”
Measure B came about after the council looked into outsourcing library services last year, only to have private company Library Systems & Services pull its bid the day before the agenda item was set to be discussed.
Measure B advocates have said there’s nothing stopping LSS or another for-profit company from coming forward again. But council members have continued to say that they were simply looking for operational efficiency in every department, in the face of looming budget deficits.
“The City Council must retain the ability to pursue all options to manage our libraries in order to slow or prevent budget crisis,” the argument against Measure B reads. “The council is elected by the residents of Huntington Beach to make these financial decisions that are in the best interest of the community.”
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