VICTOR JOECKS: School librarian furious over opposition to pornography in schools

After a school trustee opposed exposing children to pornographic material, a school librarian went to the cops. That sounds like a Babylon Bee headline, but it happened here in the Clark County School District.

Toward the end of last school year, a district police officer went to Reynaldo Martinez Elementary School. He was responding to a complaint from Nicole Beer, a librarian at the school. “During my lunchbreak, I saw an Instagram post from Trustee Lydia Dominguez,” Beer wrote in a statement for district police. Dominguez’s post “stated, ‘I pray for the children exposed to pornographic material in our libraries. In Jesus name cleanse these libraries from all evil.’ ”

Beer continued, “This is a statement from a fellow employee that I could be prosecuted for.”

I obtained the documents referenced in this piece via a public records request after Libs of TikTok highlighted that initial report.

There are multiple levels of crazy here. For one, someone is saying that children have access to inappropriate material in school libraries. One would hope that a school librarian’s first response would be to vigorously deny that accusation. Beer didn’t do that — and for good reason. There is sexually explicit material in district libraries.

“We have books that are in our libraries that are not allowed in men’s prisons because they are so obscene,” Dominguez testified before the Legislature this year.

Next, why is Beer worried about being prosecuted? Dominguez’s comment is an appeal to a spiritual, not earthly authority. The implication in Beer’s statement is that outside attention on her activities will expose her to criminal liability. That’s concerning. The website for Martinez Elementary School still lists Beer as its school librarian. In her picture, Beer is wearing a shirt that says “check your privilege.”

It’s doubtful that Beer was truly worried. If she had done something she knew was against the law, she wouldn’t be summoning the police. Imagine a bank robber calling the cops and reporting that his neighbor keeps talking about how the caller robbed a bank.

Finally, Beer seemed to think opposing pornography in schools could get someone in legal hot water. The good news is that the district police officer dismissed Beer’s complaint. You can almost see the officer’s eyes rolling as he or she wrote the police report.

“I was able to determine that the Instagram posts were not threatening in nature under NRS 392.915 or meeting the criminal element for Harassment,” the officer wrote.

I asked the district if any disciplinary action was taken against Ms. Beer for filing a bogus police report. The district declined to comment, claiming personnel matters are confidential.

What’s concerning is that Beer’s perspective is shared by many leftists. Last session, every legislative Democrat voted for a bill that could have made opposing pornographic books in schools a felony. Fortunately, Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed Assembly Bill 416.

In a sane world, school librarians who expose children to sexually explicit material would be fired. That’s not happening in this district. Parents and grandparents take note.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.