2021 School Librarian of the Year Amanda Jones has filed two new federal lawsuits for defamation and false light against a man who has posted accusations of her being a groomer, distributing obscene material to children, and more.
Amanda Jones has had enough. Again.
The 2021 School Librarian of the Year, who has sued online harassers in the past, filed two new federal lawsuits on Tuesday.
Jones is suing Dan Kleinman for defamation and “false light”—an invasion of privacy that arises from publicity that unreasonably places the plaintiff in false light before the public. “The publicity need not be defamatory in nature, but must be objectionable to a reasonable person under the circumstances and must contain either falsity or fiction,” according to a court decision cited in the suit.
Kleinman, who blogs at SafeLibraries.blogspot.com, is being sued in his home state of New Jersey, as well as Jones’s state of Louisiana, where he traveled to speak against Jones at a meeting and on a local podcast.
Kleinman’s posts against Jones have escalated, she says. He has tweeted about her more than 300 times in the last year and contacted her principal and school board members. He frequently tags her legislators, district, and school in his posts. He showed up at one of her recent events where she was promoting her book, That Librarian.
“In addition to me feeling unsafe and that he is escalating [his harassment], I’ve been watching him do this to other librarians for years,” Jones told SLJ the day Kleinman was served. “I’ve had enough for me, and I’ve had enough for everyone else.”
Jones, who is still awaiting judgment on the re-petition of her original case in Louisiana, spent a year considering taking action against Kleinman before finally deciding to sue him.
“I’m just taking a stand,” she said. “I’m not sure how much more I’m expected to take from this man. He’s swaying the opinion of my school board members. It’s just unacceptable and it’s just escalating.…This is my only recourse. It’s the only thing I have.”
The suit includes tweets from Kleinman on X where he posts under the account @SexHarrassed and accuses Jones of being a groomer, sexualizing children, and, in one from September, says she is carrying a gun to defend herself against parents who object to her sexualizing and indoctrinating children.
After carefully considering her options, Jones files the suits. She reiterated that she has the means and support to take these actions—on behalf of herself and her fellow librarians that Kleinman has gone after for years. Jones’s legal cases have largely been funded by a GoFundMe that has raised more than $163,000. She posted an update to the GoFundMe page on Wednesday.
“What has our country become?” Jones wrote in the update. “People feel free to spew hate and lies about educators, librarians, authors, and anyone who speaks up for intellectual freedom. I refuse to stay silent about what this man has done to me and others. Yesterday, I began the process to take back my life. I chose to take a stand. I will continue to speak out, loudly and proudly. The hate and lies are not acceptable to me. I will not be silenced and I will stand against intimidation tactics.”
Kleinman was served with the papers at a North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School school board meeting by the husband of former school librarian Martha Hickson.
Read Jones’s full update from the GoFundMe page below.
Yesterday, I filed two federal lawsuits against a man in New Jersey. He writes patently false things about me and other librarians. He's done it for years and it's getting worse. These falsehoods are very dangerous. They make me feel unsafe. They make a lot of librarians feel unsafe. |
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