School Libraries: A Guide to Know What is in Your Children’s Libraries and What to Do About It.
Recently, Central Bucks School District made the news when the new school board President took her oath of office not on the Bible, but on a pile of frequently banned books. This once again brought to light the issue that many districts are facing across the Commonwealth and the country - banned books, or pornography in the libraries. Whatever the coined phrase is, it is clear that there are books in our school libraries that are highly age-inappropriate for children.
HOW TO FIND THE BOOKS
First, there are organizations that are working hard at compiling and updating lists of books that are consistently being uncovered by parents in their school libraries. Two great resources are from Take Back The Classroom (www.takebacktheclassroom.com) and Rate Books (www.ratedbooks.org). These two websites provide you with lists of books not only on their web pages that you can browse but also a downloadable file to use to search your own school library.
Once you have downloaded the lists of “flagged books”, you can do one of two things: 1) get onto your school website or 2) do an Open Records Request for the entire list of books available in your school. Most school districts use an easy to use software program that you can easily search through with some time and effort. But doing an Open Records Request ensures that you have the list to keep. Open Records Requests can cost a small amount of money for anyone who puts in a request that covers the cost of copies or a flash drive.
ALERT THE SCHOOL
As you find books that are in your library, the Rated Books website is a great resource because it provides a sheet with all of the inappropriate content samples and pages they are found on. The next step is to alert the school. Within your library school board policy, your school district will have guidance on how a community member can challenge a book with a form to fill out and delineate the process the school will use to review these challenged books. They may even find that the books in question violate their own school policy.
KNOW YOUR SCHOOL POLICIES AND ENGAGE YOUR SCHOOL BOARD
It is advantageous to have several different individuals challenging a set of books at one time, to help raise awareness of the issue. If there is a breakdown in the process, the next step is to bring it to the attention of the school board. Gather other like-minded community members to read the material to the school directors. If a policy is being violated or has broken down, share that information with the board. Many Schools will set up committees to review these books. While this seems fair, who makes up the committees can be one-sided. If the committee recommends to approve the material, the recommendation moves to the superintendent who would have final say over the books.
DO NOT GIVE UP
Remember, even if a challenged book makes it through the review process and remains in the library, it can be challenged again! It takes courageous moms and dads to stand up, educate themselves and respectfully advocate for their children.
Amy Krahe, Director for Parents in Action
