AUSTIN (KXAN) – More people in the Eanes Independent School District are challenging the books that are in schools across the district.
Pulling books from shelves that some deem inappropriate has become a hot topic, not just in Texas, but across the country. He even caused a central Texas librarian to lose her job.
Between March 28 and May 1 there were 129 different books that were challenged in Eanes ISD. The titles covered a variety of topics such as race, religion, and books about the LGBQT community, including titles like The Holy Bible, “Being Jazz: My Life as a Transgender Teen,” and “How to Be an Anti-Racist.”
The district has dealt with book challenges before, but never like this. From 2018 to 2021 there were only six challenges. In the interest of transparency, the district decided to create a public database to share information about the book challenges and the review process.
“I think it’s important that if a parent, a staff member or a community member feels a book is inappropriate, I think it’s the right thing to do so we can look at it and make sure we’re going through a formal process to do it. make sure it’s an appropriate book to be in whatever library it’s placed in,” said Molly May, Eanes ISD assistant superintendent of instruction and curriculum assessment.
If a parent, staff member, or resident of the district feels that a book needs to be reviewed, they submit it to the district. From there, the person submitting a challenge has their name next to the title they are challenging, as well as the date and status of the review. Ultimately, the board will review the book and decide if it should be removed.
“What we have established at Eanes is three committees,” May said. “So we have an elementary, middle and high school committee, and we’re trying to read one book per month, per committee, per level, so we’re also not reading over the summer or on our vacations, so we’re looking to get around eight books a year for each level read.”
So far, no book that has been reviewed has been removed from the shelves.
The district has a list where anyone can follow the review process and see what books are in the review process.
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