Teachers’ Union Collects Information on Parents Who Create ‘Problems’ by Opposing Sexually Graphic Books for Children

A woman pulls a cart of children's books given out by teachers from three unions protesting against state guidelines requiring them to remove sexually inappropriate books from classrooms during "The Great Florida Read In" near the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., on March 14, 2023.Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

A New Jersey teachers’ union has used a reporting tool for educators to monitor parents and parental rights groups who’ve challenged obscene library books or caused other “problems.”

The tool encourages teachers to report problems in a way that avoids them being on the public record.

“Participants in online hate groups, notably NJ Fresh Faced Schools and Team Protect Your Children, have been encouraging their members to file public information requests of their school districts, seeking personal contact information, compensation records, and email correspondence,” the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) warns teachers in its resources for members.

A child reads a book that promotes transgenderism in Irvine, Calif. on Aug. 30, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“Please use this form below to help us identify issues in your district so that we can provide our staff and leaders with resources to maintain integrity and honesty in our schools,” the union’s online reporting tool instructs.

“Be sure to specify the type of issue you’re dealing with, whether it’s aggressive book banning, anti-inclusion activity, organized political groups, or any other problem you are facing.”

The tool advises teachers to avoid using school district email for such communications. Anything written in government emails could be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The reporting tool appears to be a response to recent parental outrage over sexually explicit curricula and library books in public schools around the state.

Protecting Children or Banning Books?

In New Jersey, concerns over sexually explicit materials presented to children have galvanized parental rights activism groups.

New Jersey Fresh-Faced Schools, Team Protect Your Children, and other groups have campaigned to remove sexually explicit books from local libraries. They’ve said they’re inappropriate and harmful.

But other groups have labeled those efforts as book bans.

A petition on activist organization FightfortheFirst.org warned of an attempt to “ban books” in Sparta’s schools.

“Banning books is just plain wrong,” the petition reads.

Sparta Middle School librarian Kelly Kiff and a local high school librarian Angela Deluccia were behind the petition, local mom Christina Korines told The Epoch Times.

Ms. Korines had expressed concern to the school about the campus library book, “The Upside of Unrequited,” which included 118 curse words, a description of an “orgy” with kissing and groping, and drug references.

The cover of "The Upside of Unrequited" by Becky Albertalli. Courtesy of Christina Korines

She asked school officials to move the book from the middle school library to the high school library. Emails Ms. Korines provided to The Epoch Times confirm that.

But that’s when the problems began.

After her private email to a school official about moving the book, Ms. Korines discovered she was named in online posts about the petition, and was accused of being a member of a “hate group,” “creating problems,” and using her daughter as a political pawn.

The Epoch Times reached out to the superintendent of the Sparta Township Public Schools, the New Jersey Coalition for Protection of Public Education (NJCPPE), and the NJEA. None responded by publication time.

Backlash Against a Parent

Fight for the First is an organization that opposes parental calls to remove books from schools. The group created a petition opposing Ms. Korines’s request.

An activist with the New Jersey Association of School Librarians and the New Jersey Library Association named Ms. Korines in the comments of the petition.

“The ‘concerned parent’ Christina Korines is part of an online hate group called New Jersey Fresh Faced Schools, and she has been creating problems up for there for over the last year,” the commenter wrote.

“This is not her first book challenge. She fought against sex-ed curriculum, too. There is zero chance that her daughter just happened upon this book. This is 100 percent orchestrated.”

Ms. Korines said this put her and her daughter in the public spotlight over requests she made in a confidential email, she said. It also suggested to school leaders that her daughter was a political pawn, she said.

The comment later was deleted. An image of the online conversation was provided to The Epoch Times and verified.

New Jersey mother Christina Korines, photographed while in treatment for cancer in Middletown, New Jersey, in 2020. Courtesy of Christina Korines

Now, Ms. Korines wants answers.

“Who is sharing the details of the incident with the organizers of this petition?” Ms. Korines asked school leaders in a Feb. 15 email.

“How is this not a violation of confidentiality? Accusing my child of having nefarious intentions on a public petition is completely out of line.”

Because she doesn’t want her child accused of being part of a scheme to stir up trouble, “I have had to tell my daughter not to take out any books,” Ms. Korines told the school board in an email.

“The school is making me feel that if I continue to fight for what is right for my children, they will enlist the union to try to intimidate me or silence me.

“How is this ethical? Why is the Union VP [vice president] participating in phone calls with this group? How am I supposed to trust the school, when the teachers continue to be out of compliance with multiple policies?” she wrote.

Schools for Radicals

Although the NJEA claims on its website to have goals involving better pay, better education, and bigger membership, its materials show a commitment to political activism.

The NJEA’s campaign support playbook states its mission is promoting “student-centered trust between families and educators,” but opens by referring teachers to Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.”

Mr. Alinsky, a left-wing political radical, wrote an oft-quoted guide to aggressive protests.

“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules,” Mr. Alinsky advised in the book published in 1971.

“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon,” he wrote.

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it,” Mr. Alinsky encouraged. And “whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”

These are just a few of the rules the NJEA advises teachers to follow when facing “enemies.”

“Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions,” the quoted sections of Mr. Alinsky say in the union’s teacher guide.

The NJEA’s website also includes warnings about parental rights activism groups.

Transgender-themed children's books in Irvine, Calif., on Aug. 30, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“In addition to public records held by the district, certain groups have started to target school employees who have signed public petitions or have posted on social media and have gone so far as to identify and publicly list their names and districts online,” union resources read.

For teachers and their union to be collecting information about parents they’ve deemed “problems” seems inappropriate, Ms. Korines said.

“Someone from the school reported me as an extremist that they have to keep in this database,” she said. “Like I’m a psycho because I don’t want my kid learning about this crazy [sexually inappropriate] stuff.”

Despite the activist campaign against her, Ms. Korines remains undeterred. She says she will always fight for her children, no matter how unpleasant.

“I beat cancer,” she said. “This is nothing.”