School board meets to discuss books, long range plan
By Jazmine Knight
The St. Joseph School Board met to hear community opinions on the current challenged books and discuss progress on the long range plan.
The meeting started with residents taking turns to voice their concerns with some of the district’s challenged books.
Currently, the district has 10 challenged books including “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, “If I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo, “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, “Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson, “The ABCs of LGBTQ+” by Ash Hardell and “This Book is Anti-Racist” by Tiffany Jewell.
SJSD board president, LaTonya Williams, says many are concerned with parental choice.
“There is parental choice. I mean, every individual parent or guardian is able to make the choice on their own kids and the board upheld that tonight,” she said.
Book bans have sparked much controversy in recent years not just in Missouri but nationally. Williams says oftentimes it’s not about the actual books, but control.
“It’s not about the books. It’s not about school safety or the children at all,” Williams said. “It’s about the message that the banning of books is able to show.”
Williams describes reading “The Bluest Eye” when she was an eighth grader and then again as an adult. For her, the biggest difference was seeing the book from a parent’s perspective instead of an impressionable young child.
“It made me more protective of the kids in our community over reading the book. I know that there are lots of kids in the community who go through those atrocities,” said Williams.
For the long range plan, the district discussed the need and timelines for the plan.
“The problem is that everybody waits… it’s very scary,” said Williams. “Our time is now.”
Superintendent, Gabe Edgar, isn’t sure what exactly the plan will look like, whether that be two new high schools or renovating two or three of the current high schools. However, he is sure this is something the community needs.
“We have a middle school model that is not right for kids. we have feeder patterns that are creating logjams in our system,” said Edgar. “It’s about a systemic change that will fix the entire district pre K through 12.”
One concern brought by Isaura Garcia was the fact that Edgar would be retiring following the 24-25 school year. Garcia suggested putting the plan on the August 2025 ballot instead of April. This would allow the new superintendent additional time to become accustomed to the position before having to execute the long range plan.
“She’s right. There have been five superintendents in the last 12 years,” Edgar said.
However, he believes current district employees and staff have worked hard and will continue to work hard on the plan as presented.
For the superintendent search, Mike Moore, board member, suggested making the long range plan a part of the interview process in order to weed out candidates that are not on board or equipped to handle the plan.
Additionally, the district will likely be moving middle schools to a seventh/eighth grade model with the approval of the long range plan.
Officials say they originally thought sixth through eighth was the way to go but a district survey showed otherwise.
“All that does is change the capacity at the elementary schools, whenever you have the K through six in the elementary, you have to have 420 capacity rather than 360 capacity,” said Edgar.
Williams also touched on a new ELD center to accommodate 34 languages spoken in the St. Joseph School District. She says it provides a place for families new to the country or new to the district to go and have their questions answered while feeling welcomed.
