SJSD planning parent notification system for library books
By Jazmine Knight
Amid many conversations about book bans, the St. Joseph School District is taking a new approach to keep parents informed.
Planned to start at the beginning of the upcoming school year, the district is working to implement a new parent notification system, which will inform parents of their student’s book choices when they check out at their school’s library.
The idea stemmed from a March meeting when a parent expressed concern about being unaware of what their child was reading.
“It’s something that we haven’t done in the past, but is something that we are now going to do in the fall,” said Ashly McGinnis, assistant superintendent of academic services with the district.
The notification system will give parents the choice to opt in for the email service. Parents can also set restrictions on books they don’t want their children to read.
“For example, if a parent does not want their student to check out scary books, then they can put that restriction on their child’s account,” McGinnis said. “If there’s certain authors that they would rather their child not read, then that’s something we can do as well.”
Overall, McGinnis said she thinks the system will be successful.
“As far as the impact, I think it could be an opportunity for parents to be made more aware of what books and what type of interest their students may have,” she said.
One local grandparent believes this system is a great idea. Eric Martin said this creates an opportunity for parents and grandparents to be more involved in their child’s education.
“If they know what book they’re checking out, they can make sure that the kids have the books and get them back to the school,” Martin said.
Martin’s fifth grade granddaughter, Maisy Kidd, said she has no problem with her guardians seeing what books she checks out. Martin thinks it will help the parents feel more confident considering some of the recent book bans.
“Yeah, it should calm the noise,” he said. “(Kids) see a book, they don’t really know what the book’s about. And sometimes there are values and beliefs that the parents have that they may want to instill or not instill in their kids and in their family.”
Library staff will be required to process these opt-in forms and create mirrored accounts that reflect the same as the students.
