Longmeadow Middle School Librarian Arrested for Child Porn while MA Reps Advance Bill that Protects Porn in School Libraries
Will finding an (alleged) predator in their own backyard help Beacon Hill do what's right? Parents should demand that it does.
That thing that we are told never happens, happened again - and this time, in Longmeadow. On Wednesday August 13th, 2025, a public school employee - a school librarian who worked at Williams Middle School and Glenbrook Middle School - was arrested for the alleged distribution of child pornography. Scott McGinley, 55, of Holyoke, MA was charged by criminal complaint with one count of distribution of child porn (and by some accounts, that may just be the beginning). According to the FBI:
“It is alleged that, in July 2025, McGinley distributed CSAM to a group called, “Little boyz only,” on an encrypted messenger application. When contacted by undercover law enforcement posing as a fellow user on the app, McGinley allegedly disclosed his sexual preference for “boys age 2-12” and “especially 4-7.” It is further alleged that, in the conversations with undercover law enforcement, McGinley stated he had “students” who were “11-14 years old” but, “ha[d]n’t touched them sexually,” and that he sat “hot boys strategically so [he could] see under their desks, and close to [him],” and made graphic sexual statements about the boys.”
Also according to the FBI, a search of McGinley’s basement yielded a locked Pelican case alleged to have contained a medley of items for children approximately five to seven years old – including but not limited to, assorted children’s clothes, a Santa costume, diapers, diaper cream and apple sauce packets. The case also allegedly contained a toolbox with boys’ underwear and bedding stuffed inside.
You can read the FBI’s full press release in its entirety HERE.
Longmeadow parents, rightfully horrified, began speaking out. According to the Boston Globe, in a letter to families on the same day the news broke, Longmeadow Superintendent Martin O’Shea said the district is cooperating with investigators and is in contact with the state Department of Children and Families.
“Our highest priority is and always will be student safety and well being,” O’Shea said. “LPS has policies and protocols in place to protect students through student education, staff training, and the use of background checks and mandatory reporting.”
Read Superintendent O’Shea’s full statement HERE.
The very next evening - Thursday the 14th - the Longmeadow Public Schools hosted an information session for parents, caregivers and staff with local and federal law enforcement to answer questions and listen to concerns. According to The Reminder, approximately 100 people attended - and some in attendance indicated that this arrest wasn’t the first time they thought something might be ‘off’ with McGinley.
As reported in The Reminder:
“Several people said it was “widely discussed” among students that McGinley was “creepy.” One parent said there was a “school culture of hiding things under the rug,” another said McGinley “had been warned” about his behavior and a third asked if the School Department had a file detailing his behavior. O’Shea confirmed that the administration keeps files on employee disciplinary issues…”
“Some people asked about McGinley’s role as the advisor for the middle school LGBTQ+ club, with one person calling it “predatory.” Others mentioned an incident a few years ago in which middle school students found McGinley’s account on the dating app Grindr, which caters to LGBTQ+ individuals. A parent said a student who was circulating the information was punished, but McGinley was not. O’Shea said, ‘You don’t know that.’”
While we don’t know the details of the concerns mentioned by parents, we were able to find evidence that seems to support some of their statements. This screenshot allegedly showing the librarian’s Grindr profile was shared in the Facebook comments on a news article about the story.
This graphic, and a photo of a poster for the same club, were also shared in the comments elsewhere on Facebook.
McGinley’s name does not currently appear on either the Glenbrook Middle School or the Williams Middle School website connected to this club, but we did locate archived pages showing McGinley as an advisor for the “Reality Club” at Williams MS from at least 2019-2022.
Now of course having a Grindr account, or advising a sexuality-themed club, does not make someone a criminal. However, whenever an adult’s sexual preferences begin to show up at work, and that adult works with children, it’s wise for parents to question it. That’s especially true when that person works in a position where they can have a great deal of influence over the hearts and minds of children by putting sex-and-gender related books into their hands, without the oversight or scrutiny that might be experienced by a classroom teacher.
What books was McGinley stocking for his students specifically? The Williams Middle School Library webpage seems to have been taken down, but fortunately through GoFollett, we can still see the full WMS collection.
McGinley had also created a variety of resource lists for students, including the two sexuality-related ones noted below.
You can see the content of his LGBTQIA+ Books @ WMS Library list here.
While thankfully this list, and the overall catalog, does not include some of the worst offenders like Gender Queer or Let’s Talk About It, it certainly contains some books that are far too sexual for kids as young as 11. One such example is the Heartstopper series, which catalogs the relationship of two young men, including their sexual debut.
Books like the Heartstopper series are often included in public school libraries in the name of “diversity” and “inclusion.” They are recommended by the American Library Association and School Library Journal, frequently for these stated reasons. We don’t find this justification compelling - it’s quite the opposite. We believe putting books like the one above in the hands of 11 year olds discredits the organizations that recommend them, and it casts doubt on the judgment of the “expert” school librarians who select them.
We don’t know what will ultimately happen with the case against McGinley, but since it has been reported that he has already filed for retirement benefits (and is facing very serious charges), it’s safe to say he won’t be back in the LPS. Longmeadow parents should continue to pressure their district, however, to ensure that the truth comes out about what red flags may have been ignored so that something like this does not happen in their community again. We also encourage anyone with additional information, or anyone who needs support, to reach out to the contacts provided in this article. MassLive has reported that another discussion like the one that happened last night will take place this coming Monday (August 18th), but this one will be on Zoom. If we receive information on how the public can access that session, we will post it here.
There is also a meeting of the Longmeadow School Committee scheduled for Tuesday August 19th at 6:30. There is time for public comment, and “District Response to Criminal Matter” is under new business. Longmeadow parents are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting and let your leaders know that you demand better protection for your children and strong accountability if any rules were violated or red flags ignored. See the agenda HERE, or click below to download it.
We will keep an eye on the situation in Longmeadow, not only because we think MA parents need to know, but because what happened with McGinley points to a larger problem. And it’s a problem that the MA legislature is poised to make much worse.
Last Wednesday, on the same day Longmeadow parents were learning the terrible accusations against their trusted Library Media Specialist, the Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development favorably advanced bill S.2328 to Ways and Means. This bill, one of the “Library Porn Bills” that Massachusetts Family Institute has been warning parents about, would make it drastically more difficult for parents and school committees to intervene if a school librarian provided students with objectionable material. It makes “receiv(ing) information, including through materials determined to be educational and age-appropriate for inclusion in a school library by the school library teacher in the district licensed by the department” into a new “right” for students, and it even opens school districts up to potential lawsuits if they remove a book that a librarian has selected!
To learn more, listen to MFI’s Director of Research and Engagement Jess Richardson’s testimony against this bill below, which had a hearing back in July.
Voices like Richardson’s were the minority at the hearing, which you can listen to in its entirety HERE. In fact, the hearing was full of librarians, including school librarians, who seemed to operate under the assumption that their judgment should be considered unimpeachable because of their credentials and training. They no doubt would have demanded the same deference for their colleague, Mr. McGinley. We certainly hope they would see things differently now.
A common-sense legislator not swayed (or driven) by progressive ideology should immediately see that a bill that protects the rights of librarians over the innocence of students must be rejected. Perhaps the Committee that advanced this bill didn’t understand the urgency, but now that the news is out about McGinley, his position in Longmeadow, and the accusations against him, all legislators must act accordingly.
Not all school librarians get arrested for child porn. But some people who get arrested for child porn are school librarians. This is one more reason - and an example in our own backyard! - for why parents should never be asked to unequivocally accept the judgment of a school staff member over their own, and legislators should never pass laws that pressure them to do so.
According to child sexual abuse prevention expert Adrianne Simeone of The Mama Bear Effect, who also testified against S. 2328, “I cannot stress enough how vigilant and protective parents need to be when it comes to children being exposed to sexual content. Regardless of the rhetoric, many of these explicit books that are allowed and are being promoted in school libraries normalize sexual behavior with youth, making it easier for those who seek to sexually abuse children to groom them.”
Mom and dad, now is the time to act. Contact your legislator today and tell them to reject S. 2328, and any other bill that prioritizes the feelings of school staff over the protection of children. Send them this article, or other articles about the shocking arrest in Longmeadow. Tell them that if they support a bill that codifies protections for school librarians, they are extending those protections to EVERY school librarian in MA.
In light of the news this week, they simply cannot do so.
To contact your legislators today to tell them to reject S. 2328 and other bills like it, click below.
Click HERE to read and download MFI’s brief on why you should reject these bills.
If you live in Longmeadow and have additional information about this situation that you would like to share with us for possible publication in future posts (or for updates to this one), please email us at massinformedparents@gmail.com.
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Parents, be vigilant and stay on your toes.
I graduated Mount Holyoke and left Boston after 9/11.
My daughter attended GSA club after school for a few weeks in 6th grade without my permission. Since I said no, she told them she didn't "feel safe" telling me, and they let her come without the permission slip everyone else brought. I even called the GSA sponsor teacher during this time period. In speaking with this GSA sponsor, the teacher failed to disclose to me that my daughter was attending GSA without my permission. Now in 8th grade, the school has been encouraging staff members to affirm a trans identity for my daughter the entire time I've been objecting. With a policy in place, the bulwark principal props up the GSA queer activist teacher as the subject matter expert.
My daughter's friend group passed the "heartstopper" books around during sixth grade. I was able to stream the books from the local library, and was reading them along with her.
They're relatively vanilla, but it's obvious that the kids, who attend neighboring girls and boys prep schools in England, are pushing the social boundaries in a fantasy land where all the adults are super affirming. When they go on a class trip, boys bunk with boys, girls with girls, so a magical romance reaches an inflection point when they are visiting Paris. The thing reads like it was written by a female romance novelist, because that's what it is. Read up on fan fic. It's mostly produced by females, expressing female type feelings, etc. This is part of the online existence we give to our kids. You can only control so much.
Professional boundaries deserve serious treatment, and GSA Clubs in middle school are absolutely suspect. Sure, parents are free to teach their kids whatever values. On the day that I walked into the school to pick my child up from the GSA Meeting, the other parents were all waiting in their cars in the parking lot. Don't hesitate to walk into that school if you think someone's lying to you.
"IF IT SMELLS LIKE FISH, THEN THERE ARE PROBABLY FISH PRESENT."
"Advisor for the middle school LGBTQ+ club" SHOCKED! Not shocked, but absolutely disgusted. All sexuality themed clubs should be banned for students under grade 9 (13-14 years old typically) at the very least. Parents must get involved! State guidance has been promoting this unbeknownst to the public. It's coming from the dept of education, not just individual teachers. Stop sexual grooming in our schools!!
https://www.doe.mass.edu/sfs/lgbtq/