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The Lexington School Board was presented with updated draft policies for selection and removal of library and instructional materials at its meeting last week.
This comes after the Board’s controversial decision to remove two books – “Kiss Number 8” and “It’s Perfectly Normal” -from the Lylburn Downing Middle School library in September, following a parent’s public complaint.
The proposed policies were first presented at a School Board meeting last month, at which more than 20 citizens spoke both for and against “Kiss Number 8” and the draft policies.
To allow time for public response, the Board last week delayed voting on
, the updated policies until its December meeting.
“If you did attend our prior meeting, there was a discussion that, as you look at our agenda, the update on the library materials policy would be an action item. You will note it is not,” said Timothy Diette, board chair.
“We realize that you will not necessarily have a chance to comment on those policies, and that’s why any action is pushed off until at least our December meeting as we look forward to your continued feedback and comments on those policies,” he told the public.
Feedback from and since the October meeting has informed some of the changes in the updated policies, said Rebecca Walters, district superintendent.
“These changes note feedback that’s been offered since that October meeting by community members, staff members, School Board members, folks that have written in, taking some of those pieces into consideration and looking at some updates that might be helpful as we clarify some of the policies and procedures,” Walters told the Board.
The updated drafts maintain the same distinction between instructional materials, those used in classrooms or for school assignments, and library materials, and set a separate complaint protocol for each.
The structure of complaint protocols is the same in the updated policies. First, a complaint form would be filed with the school, then reviewed by the principal and the teacher (for instructional materials) or the principal and the librarian (for library materials).
If both agree, the book or material can be removed without going through a formal review committee. If they do not, a committee will be formed to make the decision, which can be appealed to the superintendent, then the School Board.
However, the revised drafts would limit who is eligible to file a complaint. According to the document, those eligible to file a “request for reconsideration” are “a resident of the city of Lexington,” “a parent/guardian with a student enrolled in the class in which the instructional materials subject to the challenge are used,” or “a parent/guardian with a student enrolled and attending the school in which the library materials subject to the challenge are available,” or “a Lexington City Schools Employee who has professional responsibilities within the school where the library [or instructional] materials subject to the challenge are available [or used].”
Another change in the complaint section is that “challenged instructional material may remain in use unless the potential harm from the material outweighs the educational benefits”.
The updated draft policies specify that the superintendent and teacher (for instructional materials) or the superintendent and librarian (for library materials) will be responsible for this decision, but do lay out the criteria by which the determination will be made.
Sexually explicit materials will still be prohibited in both elementary and middle school libraries, but the updated drafts have removed the restriction of content that is “excessively graphic, vulgar, obscene or violent,” due to concerns about vague wording.
“In the second draft, as you’ll see this evening, we’ve removed that second specific restriction of content, that stated ‘excessively graphic, vulgar, obscene or violent’ based on feedback at the last Board meeting and also feedback from some of the other folks who had offered input, as there were concerns about specificity on those terms,” Walters told the Board.
The updated policies also have an additional reference to the American Library Association’s selection criteria, which reads, “For libraries serving minors, the library media specialist should consider the age, social and emotional development, intellectual development, interest level, and reading levels of students served in the school while making selections for the library collection.” -Several more citizens spoke at the Board’s November meeting, addressing either the updates or the library policies in general.
One speaker, Kim Anderson, noted that the complaint structure outlined in the policies could put pressure on the librarian or teacher to agree with the principal of their school.
“The principal, teacher or specialist stage contains an extreme power imbalance and more eyes need to be on the decision-making process. Naturally there’s going to be pressure for that teacher or that specialist, especially if they’re a newer employee. Even if the dynamic right now between principal and specialist is good, that doesn’t take into account future dynamics, that power imbalance will always be there,” Anderson told the Board.
She also suggested more openness throughout the complaint process.
“If a complainant is allowed to appeal a decision to the School Board, then a committee vote that ends in the book being banned should also be appealable by an LCS staff member or a parent of a child in LCS,” she said.
“This would require that committee meetings may be public, so that eligible people may view the process and appeal based on the disagreements that they have with it.”
Another speaker pushed for greater trust of the school’s librarian.
“By profession I am an economics professor; I have worked at VMI for decades now,” said Tinni Sen. “Each of us are experts in our field. When there is a policy or a concern, I think it’s important that we turn to the experts, listen to the voices of the experts.”
“In this case, the experts are the librarians and the American Library Association. By that I mean, we don’t consult the experts; we start with them,” she said.
“The point I’m trying to make is to please have the librarians make the decisions, and then they can then adjust the policy according to what the board, the teachers, what they want.”
Chris Gavaler thanked the Board for the work they’ve put into the updated policies, but said that further clarity may be necessary.
“As it turns out, terms that we all use, I think the one most used in this case is ‘sexually explicit,’ each of us individually would say, ‘I know what sexually explicit means.’ But when you actually dive into any specific case, things get really ambiguous,” he told the Board.
“My sense of the policy right now, is that there’s a tendency to want to avoid the real specificity. I think that’s a problem. If a policy is open to interpretation, if there are subjective adjectives in there, that means you don’t actually have a policy,” he said. “You have to be sharp and specific in how you define things going forward.” -The full draft policies as presented on Nov. 7 are available online by going to the school board tab on the Lexington City Schools website, clicking on “school board meetings,” then selecting the policy drafts folder.
