More censorship on the horizon, but rooted in politics
A new district policy for library book selection was officially released on Tuesday, April 10.
The policy would allow the school board to decide which books are placed in all of the district’s libraries and allow the board to remove books already in the libraries.
If a book is withdrawn from the library, it will not be subject to reconsideration for at least 10 years.
The policy states: “The selection of materials is an ongoing process that includes the removal of collections deemed by the Board or the District-level library supervisor or the Superintendent’s designee to be no longer appropriate and the replacement or repair periodically of materials that still have educational value. ”
A large part of the policy focuses on describing material that is considered “inappropriate.” For middle and high schools, that means “explicitly written descriptions of sexual acts.” For elementary schools, “explicit or implied written descriptions of sexual acts.”
Maura McInerny, legal director of the Education Law Center, said the policy violates the First Amendment right to free speech. She said the ELC is reviewing the policy and informing district parents of their rights.
“While certain limitations are constitutionally permissible, this is not what happens when students are told they can’t borrow books from school because they haven’t been ‘approved,'” McInerny said.
Pennsylvania schools have banned books more than 450 times in the past nine months, according to a new report from PEN America. That is the second highest total in the United States, behind Texas.
“What we’re seeing in Pennsylvania is a purge,” McInerny said.
Kate Nazemi is the mother of two students in the district and has been an outspoken opponent of the new policy for months.
“The target is LGBTQ [literature] because in a lot of the young adult literature on that, it’s about relationships and it’s about identity,” Nazemi said. “And you have to talk about body parts and people who are in romantic relationships if you’re going to talk about that experience. So it’s a safe way to get rid of all those books.”
Central Bucks parents have been reading passages from books they want removed from libraries since March. All the books are listed on the WokePa website, many by black and LGBTQ authors, including Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.”
The district’s teachers, librarians and parents showed up at Wednesday’s school board meeting for its policy committee to voice their opposition to the draft.
Katherine Semisch, a retired English teacher from Central Bucks West High School, said the proposed policy puts a “chokehold” on new books, in part because it requires the school board to read all books before approval.
“The proposed policy favors content removal, over content inclusion,” Semisch said.
“Is it the school’s job to edit the world, to prevent children from learning the truth?”
It listed books such as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and parts of the Bible, as works that would not qualify for libraries under the policy.
Many are concerned about the board’s lack of transparency.
Chris Kehan is one of the librarians at Warwick Primary School.
“When was this written? Who wrote it? Whose input was used? It’s clearly been cut and pasted from something else,” Warwick said.
The Bucks County Beacon recently reported that the policy was primarily a copy of a policy of the Texas Education Association.
Laura Ward, president of the Pennsylvania Association of School Librarians, said she has never seen a policy like this in Pennsylvania before.
She said: “It’s heartbreaking,” especially for vulnerable students.
“If we take away the things that reflect them, then we’re telling them we don’t value them, we don’t see them, we don’t want to hear them,” Ward said.
She said the policy violates the American Library Association’s “Freedom to Read” principles, based on the US constitution.
Due to widespread moves toward censorship in Pennsylvania, the PSLA recently formed an Intellectual Freedom Task Force to support any librarian facing censorship threats.