COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC) school board has set up a work session for the purpose of discussing its library book policies for Monday, September 11, at 5 p.m. The regularly scheduled BCSC Board meeting is at 6:3o p.m.
“We will also start to move into policies regarding books,” said Board President Nicole Wheeldon on Monday night. “We will begin, as a team, familiarizing ourselves with current policies regarding books and decide as a group how we want to move forward on that very important topic as it seems in our community.”
During its last meeting, the BCSC board acknowledged receiving a petition with 500 digital signatures from concerned citizens claiming certain materials in school libraries are harmful to children. It asked the board to enact standards for “appropriate” library books at elementary, middle, and high schools.
Board members also obtained a letter from 14 BCSC librarians and assistants saying such concerns “undermines our professionalism and shows a lack of trust in our abilities to perform our jobs.”
“Currently a parent would need to discover a book, then make a complaint and file a form for review of the book. At that point a minor could have already been exposed to adult content that they are not mature enough to process,” said Amy Menefee, who spoke in favor of forming a book subcommittee.
This comes at a time when state legislatures across the country are passing laws aimed at removing materials “obscene” or “harmful to minors” in school and public libraries.
“We would like to continue to urge all members of the board and members of our community to keep in mind that we work very hard at our jobs that are often thankless and demoralizing,” said Columbus North English Teacher David Spencer. “And we would really like to find grace and a sense of dignity for the decisions we make at our school and we would like to be trusted as college-educated individuals and licensed teachers and librarians.”
