NIXA, Mo.– The Nixa school board has banned or restricted three books from its district.
The first in almost two decades.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto” and “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” were banned, and a third book, “Homegoing”, was restricted.
“Once it’s appealed to the board, the board takes all the information,” said Nixa school board president Linda Daughtery. “We read the books, we go through everything and we make a decision based on what each individual, there are seven members, thinks is best to take all the information.”
The district received 17 complaints about books with mature themes earlier this year. Only three made it to the school board for consideration.
“Most of those books had concerns about sexually explicit material or graphic and sexually explicit descriptions,” said library liaison David Liss.
Opinions on the school board’s ruling are divided. Some parents are happy with the way the school board chose to govern.
“I think we’ve lost the courage to protect innocence,” said mother Jennifer Rosebrock. “I think that’s a really important thing. And I think it’s up to parents to decide what they consider, you know, where they set the limits for their kids.”
Another mother, Tamara Yancy, said that a parent’s right to choose should not infringe on hers.
“If parents have a problem with that content, they can tell the librarians, you know, the librarians can write down the tab and restrict their kids from checking out those books. However, if they are removed from the library, I don’t even have that chance,” Yancy said. “It just isn’t even an option for me.”
Both parents discuss what other options students will have to use now that these books are not available in school libraries.
“There are plenty of other places for them to find those materials,” Rosebrock said. “I mean, they can buy it online. Amazon, Barnes & Noble. There are many places where you can buy that material. They can go to the public library and find those books.”
“Not all of them are available at Christian County libraries,” Yancy said. “If I, as a Christian County resident, want to have a Greene County library card, I have to pay money. So there is a barrier. Transportation, when we talk about students of non-driving age, there is a barrier. I feel like there are too many barriers that it’s not really a viable option.”
The Springfield-Greene County Library said that while they don’t know if it’s directly related to the Nixa Board’s ruling, they are seeing multiple holds on all books against the board.
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