Community still divided on challenged books at St. Joseph schools

By Kendra Simpson

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison received the green light to stay in St. Joseph School District libraries, but some community members still aren’t happy about its place in local schools.

In June, the district announced it would be forming a committee to review books that were challenged by community members. The committee is made up of a librarian, a community member, a principal of the building that the book is at and a person out of administration.

This group recently read “The Bluest Eye,” and the St. Joseph Board of Education voted 4-3 at its Aug. 12 meeting to retain the book in SJSD libraries. The committee also retained “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell in late June.

School board President LaTonya Williams voted “yes” to retain “The Bluest Eye” because she said she believes in giving St. Joseph families a chance to choose what is best for their children.

“A big thing in our lives right now is parental choice, and if I removed this book out of the library, I’m choosing for all parents to deny access on this book,” Williams said. “I trust the professionals in the library and it’s their job in order to choose our educational tools for our kids. So it’s either we trust them to do their jobs or we don’t.”

Board member Kim Miller voted “no” because she said she believes the book could have a negative impact on the mental health of students.

“There’s some pretty bold, graphic sex descriptions in it … there’s a lot of swearing. There’s some sections on prostitutes in this book,” Miller said. “Most of the time, we would label or we rate movies and video games and we do that on how graphic those are. So everything has some kind of restriction and it has just been a curiosity of mine as to why we don’t do that with books, especially in the school system.”

The community was invited to the board meeting to provide their concerns and thoughts on the subject. One person who challenged “The Bluest Eye,” Frank Freudenthal, provided a statement suggesting the book not be banned, but restricted to students without parental consent.

“You could segregate a list of books which have sexually explicit material and make them unavailable to students unless their parents have given specific permission for their child to have access to those books,” Freudenthal said. “This permission could be a simple form that names their child as having their permission to access these books, and then signed by the parent.”

Many parents and parental figures in the community continue to express concern over the retainment of “The Bluest Eye” through Facebook comments. Several of these comments included the suggestion of checking the book out at school libraries and then burning or destroying the book.

“Who’s stopping us from getting these books and taking Sharpies to every page? Like blacked out court documents,” one Facebook comment said.

“What schools are these books in? I’m going to have my kids check them out and bring them home so I can destroy it,” another Facebook comment said.

In response to the commentary, Williams said the best solution is not to destroy the books but to get involved.

“I don’t think it’s my right to destroy district property or to restrict access to something based upon my own personal opinion, especially after professionals have already approved that,” Williams said. “If you’re concerned about it, contact your librarian, get to know your librarian and I would also let the library know that these are (your) concerns. Get involved as a parent and make the decision on your own.”

Miller also encouraged parents to communicate with their schools.

“You can take a tour of the library, you can look at the books, you can ask for a list of those books and that’s how you become more aware,” Miller said. “You have to talk to the school, the librarian, the administrator at that particular school and they will help you with opting in or opting out to read particular books. You can also tell them, give the kind of genre that’s preferred for your child or that you would prefer not for your child.”

The decision to retain these books still leaves eight others in limbo. The committee will continue to read the challenged books and make decisions on whether to retain them or ban them from SJSD libraries.

“Our school district continues to go through the board policy procedures for each of the ten challenged books. We anticipate wrapping up the processes for this group of books by the end of first semester. Parents can reach out to their child’s school if they have any questions or concerns,” said Ashly McGinnis, assistant superintendent, in a district statement.

The committee recently voted to retain “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins and “This Book is Anti-Racist” by Tiffany Jewell. The decision was appealed by a St. Joseph resident. The school board will vote as to whether to retain these books or not at their meeting Sept. 9.

The other challenged books include: “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, “If I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo, “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher and “The ABCs of LGBTQ+” by Ash Hardell.

Parents who wish to restrict what books their children are able to access at SJSD libraries should contact the school’s librarian.

“It’s about what’s best for our kids and that has to always be uppermost,” Miller said. “That’s why we have a school, you know? That’s why we have a board. That’s why we have community involvement. It’s the best thing for our kids, and we can’t forget that.”