Librarian says she’s being called a child predator over books at school. She’s suing
A woman working as a high school librarian is fighting back in court against local residents who she says are targeting her and calling her a “child predator” over books on the school’s shelves.
Roxana Russo Caivano, a librarian at Roxbury High School in New Jersey since 2010, accuses four Roxbury town residents of slandering and libeling her by suggesting she’s exposing students to books that they consider pornographic, according to a lawsuit filed in state superior court in late March.
One resident attacked Caivano’s character online on a Facebook page for high school students’ parents — writing she’s including “hard-core pornography” in the school’s library collection — while three others accused her of luring and exposing children to pornographic material, “characterizing (her) as a child abuser,” at a school board meeting, a complaint says.
Now she’s suing the four residents for defamation. She says their accusations, which began in September, wrongly accuse her of criminal behavior and are aimed at harming her reputation and job, according to the complaint.
McClatchy News contacted attorney Walter Harold Schneider, who’s representing one of the defendants, for comment on May 1 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
The other defendants are being represented by Corinne Mullen, who told The Daily Record, which first reported the case, that Caivano’s lawsuit would “impose a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of the parents.”
Anthony Caivano, Caivano’s attorney who is also her husband, told the outlet that parents concerned about any school library books should redirect their efforts to the township board of education or the state, which has approved the books as part of the curriculum.
McClatchy News contacted Anthony Caivano for comment on May 1 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
What books are residents complaining about?
One of the books at issue in this case is “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, according to Patch.com
The illustrated coming-of-age story is considered the “most challenged” book of 2022 by the American Library Association, which is strongly against book censorship. The ALA says a challenge to a book could result in it being banned from libraries and schools.
According to the ALA, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” is challenged for its “LGBTQIA+ content” and accusations of being sexually explicit.
In addition to this novel, six other books included on the ALA’s most challenged 2022 list, such as “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, are challenged for including LGBTQIA+ content, among other reasons.
The organization says 2022 saw the largest number of attempts to ban books since the ALA started tracking book censorship in libraries over 20 years ago.
Banning access to certain books in schools could restrict students from learning about the world outside of their communities and prevent them from hearing different perspectives they may not be introduced to otherwise, according to Maoria Kirker, who leads George Mason University Libraries’ Teaching and Learning team.
“While families have the right to restrict their children from reading certain books, they can’t enforce that on other families,” Kirker said. “Banning books also has the potential to create significant gaps in knowledge for young learners.”
More on the accusations against school the librarian
Three defendants named in the complaint are women who spoke out against Caivano at a March 6 Roxbury Board of Education meeting, according to the lawsuit.
At the meeting, they “attacked (Caivano’s) credentials and employment status, and caused (her) emotional distress by stating that (she) has engaged in luring children with sexually explicit materials, stating that (she) is a child predator, stating that (she) exposed minors to pornographic material…,” the complaint says.
Caivano argues these three women do not have children who attend Roxbury High School.
Two of the women have said they are parents of children who go to the school, including in an interview with Fox News on April 28.
McClatchy News is not naming the women to protect the identity of their children.
One woman told the outlet that at the board meeting, they were arguing they’re “in the fight against the sexualization of our children in America and especially in New Jersey…and we feel that this content should not be made available to minor children, especially in the school district.”
Caivano says one of the women has published “libelous and defamatory” information on a blog, saying she’s “guilty of criminal acts by including certain works of literature” at the school library, according to the complaint.
That blog is titled The Roxbury Parental Rights in Education, The Daily Record reported.
The blog says “Pornography, obscenity, pervasively vulgar. Regardless of how you describe them, there are books in Roxbury Public High School that are not age or school appropriate. Parents have sent us correspondence with the librarian and the Superintendent who defend keeping them in there under the guise of ‘‘inclusivity’ and ‘reflecting the community.’”
McClatchy News contacted Roxbury Public Schools Superintendent Loretta Radulic for comment on May 1 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
With her lawsuit, Caivano is seeking an unspecified amount of damages in connection with her defamation claims.
The case comes as the amount of books banned in U.S. schools are on the rise, with Texas and Florida the top two states that have banned the most, CBS News reports.
School libraries banned more than 1,600 books nationwide in 2021-2022, according to the outlet.
Roxbury Township is about 45 miles west of New York City.
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