Fourteen books that were challenged in the Pine-Richland School District will remain available to middle and high school students, Superintendent Brian Miller announced Monday.
The determination by Mr. Miller came after a months-long review process — the first time the process, laid out in a district policy, was used — to determine the appropriateness of the novels that were first challenged in October when a group of community members pleaded with directors to remove books from school libraries they deemed to be sexually explicit and obscene. A month later another group of community members touted the importance of the novels, the majority of which focus on LGBTQ+ people or people of color, and of representing all students within the district.
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Mr. Miller’s recommendation is final.
“Because library books are optional for students, the stance that I have taken is that every book in the library should be suitable for some students, but no book in the library has to be educationally suitable for every student,” Mr. Miller said.
School directors on Monday did not push back against the determination, but they did suggest they would begin to “clean up” language in the policy moving forward.
In all, challenged books at the high school included “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson; “Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out” by Susan Kuklin; “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult; “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Perez; “Push” by Sapphire; “Shine” by Lauren Myracle; “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison; “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and “The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel” by Margaret Atwood and Renee Nault.
Other books challenged at both the high school and middle school included the first four volumes of “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman. “Nick and Charlie” by Alice Oseman was challenged at the middle school level.
Once the district received the challenges they put together a 10-person committee made up of community members and school officials as laid out in the district policy. In all, the district had 329 residents interested in sitting on the committee. Five were chosen through a lottery system.
Those who sat on the committee read each of the challenged books. They then came together to discuss the novels before putting together a written recommendation for each book and giving it to the superintendent.
The committee largely agreed that each novel should remain in the respective libraries, except for “Push,” for which there was a 5-5 vote, meaning a consensus was not reached.
At the same time, Mr. Miller also read each of the novels in their entirety, one of which he read twice. While reading through the books, Mr. Miller considered the educational suitability based on the age range of the middle and high school, with the idea of “if we think about a high school, an entering ninth grader is extremely different than a senior who’s preparing to move on to pursue their path,” Mr. Miller said.
Given concerns expressed by some residents, Mr. Miller also took into consideration sexually-related content and whether he felt it was pervasively vulgar, obscene or intended to sexually excite the reader, while considering demographic information about each book and the literary, artistic, societal and political value of the work.
Mr. Miller said he also read more broadly than the 14 books to ensure an understanding of the broader context of library books, considered library book titles in districts adjacent to Pine-Richland and looked at how book challenges are “one of several national political themes that are tied to culture wars in the United States,” he said.
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The American Library Association found that book challenges to unique titles increased 65% in 2023 compared to the year prior. In all, 4,240 books were targeted for censorship, and there were 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials and resources. Of those, 47% represented the voices and lived experiences of the LGBTQ+ community as well as the experiences of Black, indigenous and other people of color. Pennsylvania was also among 17 states that saw attempts to censor more than 100 books, the ALA found.
Locally, Hempfield Area School District in Westmoreland County revised its policy for selecting resource materials to require librarians to submit a public list of requested books and permit the public to voice any concerns about the titles before they can be purchased. The change came after a small group of parents challenged “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which chronicles the author’s journey growing up as a queer Black man, and “The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person” by Frederick Joseph, which discusses the author’s experiences with racism.
The Blackhawk School Board in Beaver County in October voted to amend its policy to allow students and parents to reject the use of resource materials that did not match their values or fundamental religious beliefs. That policy was rolled back in December after a new board was seated.
“The library is not the classroom,” Mr. Miller said. “At the secondary level, students’ use of the library is often voluntary and optional. I know we have a wide range of students and families in the district. Within the high school alone, we have a wide range of students; within any single grade level, we have a wide range of students.”
School directors now plan to tweak the policy starting at the next board meeting, a decision that came after the previous board in October originally planned to reexamine the policy around resource materials and how books are chosen for student access. But school directors in November tabled a potential review of the policy until newly elected school board members — now making the board majority conservative — were seated in December.
On Monday, Director Marc Casciani suggested the policy now needs to be “cleaned up” because there are certain aspects that he said are not happening, such as a list of purchased library books not appearing in a newsletter to families. He also said a list of donated books should be available for the public.
“We can’t just let the policy sit as is,” Mr. Casciani said, “because every parent, any parent, has the right to use the policy in this form and everyone should feel comfortable using this form.”
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