Parents of students within the Madison County School District (MCSD) have challenged various book titles throughout the school library that they say may contain inappropriate materials for some teenagers.
Jennifer Miller, a parent of a middle school student and a high school student within MCSD, said the issue began back in December when a mother brought up a book her first grader had checked out of the library that contained content she found to be disturbing.
“That started the topic of how the school libraries select and screen the books they choose to carry,” Miller said. “Board Member Sam Kelly asked us for a list of books that would be concerning for parents, so a few of us started looking into the issue.”
The parents provided Kelly with an initial list and noted potential concerns based on their research in January.
“Most of the concerns I noted were graphic sexual context, but I also noted books that are known to have excessive profanity and graphic violent content,” Miller said. “Since that time, other parents have gotten involved and have added additional books to that initial list.”
Miller said she didn’t ask the board to remove these books, but rather start a discussion about the selection and review policy the district has set for the school libraries and whether or not it includes screening books for obscene material.
At the April school board meeting, some parents stood up and read excerpts of the books. As a result, the books were placed under restricted access. MCSD Director of Communications Gene Wright said the schools with impacted books also sent home a letter to the parents to keep them informed of the process.
“Around the country, there has been discussion recently regarding library books and what content is appropriate for students, and such concerns have been raised by a few parents here in our district as well,” Wright said. “These books may contain content that requires more mature thinking to appropriately process in the context of the literature. We want to partner with parents in terms of what reading material their students are checking out. The books recently placed in temporary restricted circulation are those that have been challenged by a few parents and thus are currently up for review.”
When a book is placed under restricted circulation, this means the challenged books have been moved behind the circulation desk and require parental permission for check out.
“A team of faculty from across the district will review the books that parents have challenged, and the review committee will determine the appropriate course of action,” Wright said. “Our district values the free exchange of ideas and respects parents’ different views regarding what reading material is appropriate for their children.”
There hasn’t been a change in policy regarding book challenges, but Wright said they have seen an increase in the number of challenges the school district is receiving.
“There are about twenty books in our secondary school libraries that a few parents have expressed questions about here recently, but we have a rolling process to evaluate books,” Wright said. “Educators from across the district are on the review team, and they use a set of criteria to evaluate the material for mature content. The review team will make a recommendation to district leadership.”
Wright said the libraries have a rolling process to determine which books are available on the shelves. They are constantly adding new titles and weeding out others.
“Any library’s catalog is very rarely static, whether or not book challenges are made,” Wright said. “A book challenge just initiates the review process for that particular book. Challenged books are still available during that process – there’s just an added step of contacting parents in the check-out process. We partner with parents in innumerable ways throughout the education of their children, and this situation is just another extension of that partnership.”
Out of the approximately 192,000 titles in the school district, there are 22 being challenged. Those titles are listed as follows:
The Bluest Eye
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Out of Darkness
Kite Runner
All American Boys
American Born Chinese
Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person
Dear Martin
Discovering Wes Moore
Eleanor and Park
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Let Me Hear a Rhyme
Love, Hate, and Other Filters
Monday’s Not Coming
Piecing Me Together
Queer, There, & Everywhere
Speak
The Benefits of Being an Octopus
The Hate U Give
Touching Bear Spirit
Uglies
Miller said the focus of the parents’ concerns regarding the books has been obscene material.
“If my child isn’t old enough to buy a ticket for a rated-R movie, then he shouldn’t be able to go to his school library and check out a book that would be rated-R,” Miller said. “The sole consumers of books in school libraries are minors, and it is against Federal and State laws to distribute or expose obscene materials to minors.”
Miller, who is a clinical psychologist, said there is a serious concern about the effects that exposure to obscene material has on a child’s mental and emotional development and well-being.
“Also, for children who have already experienced trauma, being exposed to some of the graphic content we have found could trigger that past trauma or even become a new trauma,” Miller said. “Such experiences can result in a child developing complex trauma – the ramifications of which are lifelong with effects reaching into all areas of their life. As a clinical psychologist, I would be mandated by law to report any adult who exposes a minor to obscene material because it is considered a form of child sexual abuse.”
She said a child cannot unsee something once they have been exposed.
“You can’t undo that kind of trauma, so we need to do our best to prevent it from happening in the first place,” Miller said. “That’s what the screening process we have requested is intended to do.”
Miller said they have asked the school board to update their selection and review process for the library books to include screening for obscene material. They also request the board retroactively apply the revised process to the books that a parent has raised a concern about.
“We are not asking the schools to simply remove books. We are asking them to review books that raise concerns,” Miller said. “If the schools want to create a system where some books require parental approval for check-out, I would support that option. The goal is to protect children by preventing potentially traumatizing exposure to obscene material and allowing parents to be the final decision-makers on what is appropriate for their child rather than discovering it after their child has already been exposed.”
She said it is their “sacred duty” as parents to train their children in the way they should go.
“This is not an issue about banning books – it is about jurisdictional lines on what the proper role of the school is versus the family,” Miller said. “The family was established by God as the first institution, and it will always be so. It is important to me, as a parent, to have a say in what books my children read because that is the way God designed the family system to function. I am responsible for their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual development and well-being and I take that stewardship mandate very seriously.”
Miller emphasized that this is not a book banning or censorship as the school libraries have a policy about how books are selected for the school’s shelves. They are simply asking for screening for obscene materials to be added to the process.
“The board could choose to not carry books with that material or they could choose to require parental consent for check-out of those books,” Miller said. “The point is to protect children from being inadvertently exposed to obscene material that could damage them developmentally or prove to be traumatizing.”
She also said it is not about pushing a religious viewpoint or her trying to act as “morality police.” She said it is about the school board revising their policies to adhere to laws designed to protect children.
“We have taken all our concerns directly to the school board because they set the policies,” Miller said. “We have no issues or concerns about the teachers or librarians who we know care a great deal about our children.”
The topic will be discussed at the next school board meeting on May 9 at 5 p.m. located at 476 Highland Colony Pkwy, Ridgeland.
