A Lehighton Area High School library book audit got underway Monday night as around 20 community stakeholders and school board members lined up to each get a title director Sean Gleaves dubbed as potentially being “unacceptable for children without parental consent” based on their titles.

Gleaves had 33 books in all pulled from the library for the audit and said his intent was to have anyone who wanted to volunteer read one in preparation for the discussion to continue in September.

Two weeks ago, Gleaves said the titles included “White Privilege, Human Trafficking, Black Lives Matter, and LGBTQ Families: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Transgender Rights and Issues, and Homosexuality.”

“I think the assumption is I hate people who identify as other genders,” Gleaves said during Monday’s meeting. “I don’t agree with it but I don’t hate them. I think we should protect the innocence of children’s minds and not influence them to make life-altering decisions. I pulled titles related to that. I don’t think it’s appropriate to influence children at a young age, but I don’t hate people because they are different from me.”

Gleaves’ comments came after some tense back and forth with community members during which the Texas native said he is a dad in the far-right Moms for Liberty group that advocates against school curriculum that mentions LGBT rights, race and ethnicity, and critical race theory.

“I was alarmed to see many books on your list that are commonly used materials for argumentative research papers,” Kerry Palumbo, a Mahoning Township resident and Palmerton Area High School English teacher. “The right to access information and express ideas without restriction is essential for individual and societal growth. Our high school library is a crucial space for fostering this freedom. Censorship undermines this mission.”

Gleaves said his ultimate goal was not to see any books banned, but to create a list of books that high school students could only check out after permission is received from their parents. A similar policy was implemented at Lehighton Area Middle School several years ago. The middle school librarian, Principal Steve Ebbert said, curated a list of books that, while students are able to check out, require parent notification.

“All books come up in a search that a student does,” Ebbert said. “If the book they are seeking to check out is on the restricted list, our librarian has a private conversation with the student and the parents. But they are not prevented from checking the book out.”

Tina-Smith Henninger said Monday night she has a “huge concern” with any library book restrictions, calling it the first step to government censorship.

“I raised my children so that if they bring something home I don’t consider appropriate, I can have that discussion with them,” she said. “Let us parent our children. If you can’t talk to your child as a parent, that is on you.”

Several times throughout the discussion, Gleaves responded to comments with his thoughts on transgender individuals.

“About 20 years ago, none of these problems existed,” he said. “We didn’t have children cutting off their genitals and changing genders. They are being manipulated to cut off their genitals. That is a real thing that is happening. I don’t think it is a good thing for people to do.”

Sydney Vincent, a 23-year-old lesbian who graduated from Lehighton in 2019, told the board the place where she felt encouraged to learn and grow now “feels hostile.”

“This will always be my home, but something has changed,” she said. “This is not the same place I grew up.”

While around 20 people took one of the books from Gleaves’ list home to read Monday night, there were no definitive guidelines as to what would qualify it to be on a “parental permission required” list.

“If there is no criteria that has been vetted and is being used with fidelity to decide what is or not appropriate, it boils down to someone’s opinion and that is not OK, that is censorship,” Lehighton teacher Christina Haupt said.

The books handed out Monday night, Gleaves said, are due back by Lehighton’s Sept. 9 workshop, when the discussion is expected to continue.

Gleaves said anyone who wants to volunteer on the audit committee can contact him at sgleaves@lehighton.org.

Editor’s note: The list of books discussed was not available at press time.