Kangaroo Committee - How the policy CAN be changed to protect kids.
Kangaroo Committee - How the policy CAN be changed to protect kids.
We have another call to action, if you didn’t have time last week, please consider calling your commissioner. Calling again wouldn’t hurt as we have new information today for you to share.
Montgomery County, TX
Library policy/content didn’t make the agenda for this Tuesday, but that’s okay. Maybe the commissioners are gathering more data first. Let’s keep up the pressure. If you haven’t called your commissioner, please still do so. We have more recommendations in this post and a new script, if this is helpful.
In this post we will discuss:
The current library reconsideration policy, and why this is a kangaroo committee.
How we can reasonably change the reconsideration policy and the children’s content policy in the near future.
Why our public library reconsideration committee is a kangaroo committee.
First, what is a Kangaroo Court? Remember when President Biden talked about “packing the court?” That would have made it a Kangaroo Court. Those extra justices would have been placed to do his bidding. When there is a vacancy, Supreme Court justices should be appointed by the elected leaders to follow the constitution.
What we are talking about here is a committee who should be enforcing our community standards. How do we measure those standards? One way is through elections. Our county overwhelmingly elects conservative leaders.
Currently we have a “packed” committee or kangaroo committee.
Our committee currently consists of five citizens appointed by each elected commissioner’s court member, but it’s packed with five additional members, librarians. Guess who heads the committee — Andrea Yang, our county library acquisitions manager.
In case you missed it in last week’s update, here one of the letters she recently sent on behalf of the committee: (markings are my own)
If you missed last week’s post, you might want to go check that out. We exposed Andrea Yang’s clear bias.
Andrea Yang doesn’t seem to understand what a Kangaroo Court is.
She replaced the Supreme Court justices she doesn’t like with kangaroos, one can only assume because they follow our United States Constitution…?
Okay, so we have made the point right? Librarians shouldn’t be controlling the committee, and certainly not led by Andrea Yang. Librarians are the individuals placing the books and should not be overseeing themselves.
Additional problems with the Kangroo, I mean Reconsideration Committee:
There is no vote taken. The committee just discusses the book. (We assume the librarian who directs the committee relays the discussion to the library director.)
The committee has no “teeth.” According to current library policy, the library director is under no obligation to follow the direction of the committee.
The committee is operated in secret. Minutes are not taken, and citizens are not permitted to observe.
What reasonable changes can we make?
The commissioners are hearing from you, and we know you guys are getting responses. There seems to be some confusion about what happened on July 11th. We encourage you to go back to the July 11th footage and watch for yourself.
With all the confusion, here is a list of changes we believe are reasonable and doable. Please add your personal convictions to your list when you contact your commissioner.
Reconsideration committee:
The reconsideration committee should represent the community. That means there should be one member appointed by each elected member of the court. The committee should have teeth. (Currently the committee’s decision is only a recommendation for the library director, and the library director makes the final decision.)
5 members: one appointed by each member of the commissioner’s court.
No librarians should be on the committee, except perhaps one to serve as an advisory capacity only without voting rights.
The committee’s decision should be binding.
Minutes should be taken; this should not be a secret process.
The meeting should be open to the public.
There should be a reasonable set time period for completing the reconsideration.
Books under reconsideration should be listed on the website for transparency.
Material that should not be in the children’s section: (ages 0-12)
This should help the librarians to make decisions regarding book curation, so as not to waste the reconsideration committee’s time.
The following content should not be in any books located in the children’s section:
Self-harm
Suicide/suicidal ideation
Sex scenes or sexual activities
Medical transition – (not legal to get this type of medical care in Texas)
Gender discussion/social transition
Any grooming language:
“Scott taught me how to delete my search history so my mom wouldn’t find out.”
“Search, “trans” on YouTube and find bloggers who are trans.”
The last bullet point, “any grooming language,” may be too difficult to define, and might not be able to be part of the policy. If so, this is where the reconsideration committee will come in.
What is in some of these books? Find out here:
Contacting your commissioner:
If you haven’t already contacted your commissioner, it’s not too late. In addition, if you have already contacted your commissioner, please consider following up with an email containing the requests above. You can simply copy and paste the bullet points into an email with:
Dear Commissioner ___,
I am a concerned citizen in precinct ___. The reconsideration committee is currently “packed” with librarians who do not represent our precinct. Please consider the following recommendations to help keep children’s content safe for kids. I appreciate your time.
(Paste bullet points below this and sign your name.)
Phone script if you need one: “Hello, my name is ____, and I am a concerned citizen in precinct ___. I recently learned that the decision made by the commissioners on July 11th is uncertain. I would like to respectfully ask Commissioner ___ to consider revising the reconsideration policy and children’s library content policy to reflect the values of our community and protect children from harmful content. Thank you.”
Feel free to elaborate with details and of course, your own personal convictions.
Here is the map, so you can find out what precinct you are in.
Find the map on the commissioner’s website here:
https://mctx.org/departments/departments_a_-_c/commissioner_s_court/county_commissioners/index.php
Montgomery County Commissioner Precinct 1
Office of Commissioner Robert Walker
510 Hwy 75 N. Willis, TX 77378
936-539-7815
commissioner.pct1@mctx.org
Montgomery County Commissioner Precinct 2
Office of Commissioner Charlie Riley
19110 Unity Park Drive
Magnolia, Texas 77355
281-259-6492
For all work order requests or inquiries, please contact Karen Cantrell.
karen.cantrell@mctx.org
Montgomery County Commissioner Precinct 3
Commissioner James Noack
1130 Pruitt Rd
Spring, Texas 77380
Spring: 281-367-3977
Conroe: 936-539-7817
Fax: 281-364-4231
Evan.Besong@mctx.org
Montgomery County Commissioner Precinct 4
Commissioner Matt Gray
Contact us
936-597-4444
contactp4@mctx.org
Office
23628 Roberts Road
New Caney, TX 77357
County Judge
Judge Mark J. Keough
Contact Us:
501 North Thompson
Conroe, Texas 77301
Suite 401 - Fourth Floor of the Alan B. Sadler Commissioners' Court Building
(936) 539-7812
email: cojudge@mctx.org