‘Fundamentally about freedom’: Beaufort Co. School Board makes decision on 9 more books
In a split vote for the second time, the Beaufort County School Board on Tuesday night voted to return nine more books to shelves in some capacity from the 97 books removed for review from school libraries for suspected sexual or racial content.
A majority of the board agreed with the book review committees to return the nine books to schools. Rachel Wisnefski and Elizabeth Hey voted against the motion; Victor Ney abstained.
The vote was 7-2-1 and only needed a simple majority to pass.
During a previous vote Jan. 18, newly elected members Ney and Hey voted against the motion to return books, and Wisnefski abstained.
There were over 70 people who attended the school board meeting, and about 13 who spoke during the public comment before the decision, including four students wearing “I read banned book” T-shirts. Only two people who spoke were opposed to returning books to shelves.
One student, Battery Creek High School student Isabella Troy, spoke in the public session after the vote.
“Your vote tonight has made us feel listened to. Sometimes it seems that as students we don’t have much power, were not taken seriously or heard, but your continued support has confirmed that our actions do matter,” she said. “I hope that you continue on this path to protect the literacy of our youth which includes me and my fellow students.”
Which books were returned?
The School Board confirmed review committee decisions and returned the following books, with some changes:
▪ “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo — returned to grades 9-12, previously was available in grades 6-12
▪ ”Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12
▪ ”Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher — returned to K-12
▪”Impluse” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12
▪ “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12
▪ ”Glass” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12
▪ “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur — returned to grades 9-12
▪ “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them” by Erin Gruwell — returned to grades 6-12, previously in grades K-12
▪ “Looking for Alaska” by John Green — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12
A 10th book, “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover, was removed from all grades, previously in grades 9-12, by the review committee and was upheld by the school board.
How the process works
The 97 books were originally challenged via email by outspoken local GOP politician Mike Covert, who used an identical list created by parent Ivie Szalai with his addition of “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.”
Szalai submitted an email hours later, and the district considers both original complainants.
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez made the decision to pull the books from library shelves for review Oct. 21. Review committees containing parents, educators and others were assembled to read and vote on the titles. Only Covert and Szalai can appeal the committees’ decisions.
The appeals go to the School Board, which has the final decision, which will stand for at least five years after a book’s original challenge date.
No one forced to read a book
Board members who upheld the review committees’ decisions had different reasons for doing so.
Vice Chair Richard Geier said the board of education couldn’t be expected to read all 97 of the books and that he trusts the process created by the state and school district to accurately assess each of the titles.
“I trust the committee that reads the books,” he said Tuesday night. “I trust the makeup of the committee is diverse enough to give me confidence that they are reviewing the books and telling us what books ... should be in the library.”
He also said it was about freedom.
“This is fundamentally about freedom, freedom to choose,” he said. “Our parents have the freedom to choose what books their children read. We don’t force any child in this district to read a book.”
Board member Ingrid Boatright said it was all about following the correct process.
“I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with what they found. We established a committee in the lines with state policy,” she said. “They performed their duties and I find no reason to overturn it.”
Boatright made a motion to amend the language from “concurs with the findings” to “no reason to overturn the findings.”
The motion failed in a 2-6-2 vote with Boatright and Carlton Dallas voting for the motion; Wisnefski, Hey, Geier, Earl Campbell, Chloe Gordon and Angela Middleton voted against the motion, and Ney and William Smith abstained.
What’s behind the opposition?
The committees makeup (a majority of district employees) along with the book opt-out process for parents continued to be issues for Ney, Hey and Wisnefski.
Hey and Ney, both appeared on conservative nonprofit Moms for Liberty’s sponsorship list during school board elections Nov. 8, although neither asked for the group’s endorsement, they said.
“I believe [the committees] are biased because they agreed to have the books in the library in the first place,” Ney said at the meeting.
Rodriguez appointed the review committees, which consist of seven members: a community member, a district-level administrator, a parent, a school administrator, a member of a School Improvement Council within the district/school, a school librarian and a teacher. The district followed the state’s best practices for the committees, plus the addition of a community member.
Parents can request their child not have access to specific titles through an opt-out form, but Ney, Hey and Winesfski said this isn’t enough. They advocated for a system where all library books are rated and then parents could opt their child out of certain rating levels. Ney asked whether the district would consider an “opt-in” form instead for students to read books.
“The opt-out form doesn’t allow for a content opt-out,” Winesfski said. “I know that we have a system right now for us to look up as parents titles of books in our libraries, but not classroom libraries. This is effectively not useful to parents who don’t know what’s going on in individual classrooms and who haven’t read all hundreds of books that are in the libraries.”
