Millburn District 24 reinstates Reader’s Choice Award program following community backlash
The Millburn District 24 school board voted 4-3 Monday night to restore district participation in the Reader’s Choice Awards — also known as the Caudill program — reversing a decision made March 18 to withdraw from the program.
The vote followed weeks of community outcry, dozens of public comments in support of the program and a change.org petition with 1,743 signatures. Board President John Lorentzen, who in March voted for withdrawal along with three other board members, reversed his position Monday evening and cast the deciding vote for reinstatement.
“It showed that he actually listened to the community,” said Lia Neveu, a junior at Lakes Community High School who started the change.org petition. “I thought that was huge.”
Lorentzen did not respond to efforts seeking his reasons for his changed position.
Reader’s Choice is a statewide program that allows students to vote for their favorite book from a nominated and vetted list of 20, and the Millburn summer reading program asks students to read one book from the list. It became a source of controversy when board member John Ruggles asserted that some books on the list were politically and culturally leaning, leading to the district’s initial withdrawal.
Megan Hener, an area teacher and a parent of a Millburn Middle School eighth-grader, filed a grievance after the March 18 meeting against the four board members who voted to nix participation in the program. She asserted the members had circumvented protocol by deciding the issue as a board instead of allowing parents to choose individually to opt their children out of the program, in accordance with the district’s curriculum opt-out policy.
“Just because a few people don’t want their kids to learn about that, or want to block that, doesn’t mean they have the right to dismantle curriculum they don’t agree with,” Hener said.
After nearly 45 minutes of public comment Monday night urging the board to bring the program back, board members Lisa Wooster and Jillyen Phelps presented a compromise: reinstating Reader’s Choice as an opt-in program requiring parent approval.
Phelps said the plan was chosen based on conversations with Millburn teachers. She said she appreciated that teachers’ voices were taken into account, but expressed concern that teachers remained uncomfortable with the opt-in framework.
“There was still apprehension,” Phelps said. “We’ve lost the trust of the teachers and the librarians.”
After a lengthy board debate, the compromise was rejected when Lorentzen, Phelps, and board members Fred Skeppstrom and Brendan Murphy cast votes against. Skeppstrom and Murphy said they believed an opt-in structure would limit access to the program and negatively impact participation.
The subsequent vote to fully reinstate the program was met with excitement and shock among gathered community members. Hener called the vote a win but said she expects people to remain wary.
“I think it’s really important for the community as a whole to keep an eye on what’s going on with this board,” Hener said. “And to hold them accountable.”