Debates continue over the appropriateness of some books on the shelves in the Warwick School District as the administration and staff attempt to create guidelines for librarians and have more community input.
The Warwick School Board included discussions at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting with an update on library materials selection criteria. Dr. Steve Szobocsan, Warwick’s director of secondary curriculum, instruction and assessment, said he was tasked by the board in October to do research on the library criteria used by the district.
Szobocsan said a group of administrators and teachers have been working on identifying issues raised by parents and other community members that need to be addressed by the district.
“We’ve clearly heard the discourse related to the library materials that are available to students, and we’ve come up with a lot of questions,” Szobocsan said.
Szobocsan said the initial questions developed by the review group include:
- Do all students see themselves in our library materials?
- Do parents/guardians have the ability to review the resources available at the school?
- How do we determine age appropriateness of library materials?
- Do we have a clear, manageable process for parents/guardians to determine what library materials are suitable for their child/children?
- Do we have a clear manageable process for parents/guardians to opt their child/children out of certain library materials?
- Do we have a library materials procurement process all librarians follow with consistency?
- What are the legal ramifications of creating additional restrictions on library materials for all students?
- Should library materials be defined similar to internet content or other definitions in board policy?
Szobocsan said the district already has answers to some of the questions, while answers to the others still need to be developed and expanded. He said the team meeting included discussions on what case law already exists regarding library materials and looked at existing definitions of rating systems and current library policies in other school districts.
“Let’s look around – we don’t always necessarily need to recreate the wheel,” Szobocsan said. “If there’s something here we can use, let’s find that and work off of that.”
Szobocsan said the team was unable to find a common set of definitions regarding inappropriate materials, making it hard to develop a rubric as to what is and is not appropriate to have in school libraries.
The administration asked the district’s librarians to create a document outlining how their library selects materials for different age levels.
Szobocsan said the first step the librarians identified is to define the audience age levels of the materials. Within the evaluation criteria for each level, Szobocsan said, the librarians look at “educational value, positive messages, positive role models, diverse representation, violence and scariness, sex, romance and nudity, language, products and purchases and drugs, drinking and smoking.”
Librarians also utilize organizations like Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology, to make determinations. He said they also “lean very heavily” on book awards from a list of 37 organizations, including the Children’s Book Council and the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.
Szobocsan said the case law regarding library materials is “very complex” and requires “much legal guidance.” He said case law exists all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on library materials, but it’s “kind of all over the place.”
The school board met with attorney Jeffrey Litts of Kegel Kelin Litts & Lord law firm of Lancaster in an executive session after the Committee of the Whole meeting.
Besides the guidelines, Szobocsan said the district is developing a library purpose statement to serve as the “backbone” of what the librarians are trying to accomplish.
The statement says, “The Warwick School District libraries are essential assets for helping students achieve academically and become lifelong learners. They serve as a space to provide access to diverse resources, both print and digital, to support independent interests and academic curriculum needs for all students and staff.”
Scobocsan said work also continues on the creation of the Library Materials Review Committee, a new group made up of community members, teachers and students to discuss media additions to school libraries. He said there has been “a lot of interest” in the committee, with 25 community members applying for positions.
The district sent out pre-screening interview questions to the applicants, Szobocsan said, and in-person interviews will be offered to some of the applicants. The district is looking to complete the process by December.
On the student side of the committee, Szobocsan said, 19 students applied for positions. The district will select one student from each grade level from electronic interview questions.
Parent Comments
Lititz resident Amy Martin said she asked the administration several weeks ago for the guidelines used to select school library books but never got a response.
Martin pointed to Warwick Board of School Directors Policy 702 – Gifts, Grants, Donations that states, “While gifts to the library are encouraged, such gifts shall be evaluated for selection or rejection in accordance with the library’s basic material selection standards.”
Martin asked if the district currently has material selection standards.
Superintendent Dr. April Hershey said the standards are “in draft form right now,” and as soon as they are finalized she would provide a copy.
Martin asked when Policy 702 was created, if there was a standard already in place. Hershey said, “We’re drafting a new version of what we had before.”
When Martin asked if the reason she didn’t receive the policy before was because a new policy was being drafted, Hershey responded, “Correct.”
Martin went on to read sexual scenes contained in the book “Waiting for the Barbarians” by J.M. Coetzee, a book used in the school’s curriculum. She said she views the language as inappropriate in a book that’s part of the school’s curriculum.
“The kids do not need to learn this in a required read,” Martin said. “How did this pass the selection standards?”
As Martin spoke, a previous speaker interrupted her questions, accusing another parent of making accusations that she was using drugs in the school. A security guard led the woman away from the building.
Lititz resident Veronica Myer talked about language contained in some of the books currently in the school libraries.
Myer said the current high school handbook states that students “should express themselves so that the following are avoided,” listing “inaccuracies and indecent or obscene language in school publications.”
In the “dress philosophy” section, the handbook states, “Clothing with inappropriate or derogatory language (illegal substances, illegal activities, violence, weapons, alcohol, foul language, etc.) is not permitted.”
In the elementary school handbook, an example of “level II offenses” leading to punishment include “vulgar language and gestures.” Regulations for students riding school buses include activities that are prohibited at all times like “insolence, disobedience, vulgarity, foul language, fighting, pushing, shoving, and similar offensive acts.”
“My question is, what is indecent, what is obscene, what is inappropriate, what is derogatory and/or foul language?” Myer asked. “Do you have examples of that for me?”
No board members or administrators responded to her question.
“If the students are not permitted to wear it or to use it, then you really need to define exactly what it is,” Myer said.
Myer asked if vulgar language as defined by the district would include the B-word or the D-word, which are included in a new high school library book “Ace of Spades” by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. She also asked if words like “mother F-word” or “A-hole” found in the book “Bad Girls with Perfect Faces” by Lynn Weingarten, another new book in the high school library, were inappropriate as indicated in the handbooks.
Myer also asked if the F-word or “damn” included in a new elementary school library book “A Snake Falls to the Earth” by Darcie Little Badger was inappropriate.
“There’s all kinds of education out there – education that lifts students out of the trenches and education that leaves them in the pit,” Myer said. “As a kid, the education we got at the bus stop was far different education than we got at school or at home. Approving books with this language, especially books with the F-word for elementary students, unfortunately looks like school is adopting the bus stop education.”
Lititz resident James Senft said he disagreed with removing books from the school libraries, saying some of the community members were “clutching your pearls” over some of the material in the books.
“What happened to my child, my choice?” Senft said. “I’ve heard a lot of that in the last couple of years. I’ve heard some people say these aren’t book bans. It’s simply trying to restrict access to inappropriate content. But who are you to define what’s appropriate for my kid? What makes you more qualified than a librarian to decide what books belong on the shelves?”
Staff writer Michael Yoder is an award-winning journalist who has been honored with several Keystone Press Awards for his investigative pieces.
