To the Editor,

The writing on the wall seems to suggest that, come Tuesday [May 16], our children will be losing two resources. Should these resources have been in the library to begin with? I’m not sure, I haven’t read the books. But they are there and have been there; so as far as I’m concerned, the children will be losing resources.

Unfortunately, I have not seen many solutions presented that address all sides of this controversy, and none have gained traction. We are a few days from the vote and all we residents have provided to our BOE is books or no books. We are a diverse community with diverse views and morals but books or no books is literal binary — one or zero. In an attempt to provide a net positive outcome for our children, I submit this compromise proposal to our town and our children.

I submitted this compromise to our BOE on May 4 via e-mail and received a kind acknowledgement back. Board Secretary Ramsey specifically spoke of compromise during the May 2 BOE meeting. I hope he and the rest of the Board seriously considered my compromise.

I understand if you reject it but only if you considered it.

The proposed compromise requires sacrifice and I hope all residents can see that the net benefit to our children is far more important than the sacrifice. This compromise applies to all books currently in our NPS libraries:

Newtown does not ban books. Newtown does not remove books. Newtown replaces books. Current library books that are successfully challenged must be replaced by ten books of similar content/theme/message/genre. Books are to be challenged against a crystal clear, squeaky clean criteria that our BOE or appropriate NPS staff must develop. All books introduced to the NPS libraries must adhere to the criteria.

Most importantly, the children of Newtown walk away with many more resources, materials, and entertainment than they have today. Less importantly, this appears to address most of the town needs on all sides. Compromises are hard but the outcome presented here is certainly better for our children than what many residents are expecting on Tuesday.

Regardless of how this ends, my family pledges to donate three books to the NPS libraries that are of similar read to Flamer/Blankets. Please leave book suggestions in the online comments.

Newtown, I hope you find this helpful. At this point, there are only a few days left to give our children a net positive outcome. I do not see how this is possible unless we compromise. If you have anything to add or a different idea altogether, please email our BOE. Please be kind and respectful because the members of the Board are our neighbors, too.

Do it for the kids,

Brendan Lukaniec

Newtown