Major
The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has received official complaints regarding library books, including two sent in by current school board members.
Board member Jason Major confirmed that he has gone through the school corp.’s official complaint process for the book “People Kill People” by Ellen Hopkins. Additionally, fellow board member Logan Schulz has submitted a complaint about “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.
Amazon describes “People Kill People” as novel about gun violence and white supremacy. It also features characters dealing with teenage parenthood, racial tension and depression.
The issue of inappropriate materials versus concerns about censorship was one of the topics debated during BCSC’s 2022 school board elections. At one candidate forum in October, Major responded to a question about censorship by reading an explicit passage from a book — which he later identified as “People Kill People” — that he said was included in Columbus East High School’s library. BCSC’s Destiny system indicates that the book is also available at North.
“I would caution you if watching near smaller children as the material is sexually explicit and speaks of an adult male having forced sexual relations with a very young male,” Major said in a Facebook post that included a video clip of his forum answer. “This excerpt depicts a situation of rape and pedophilia. You be the judge as to whether or not this should be available to kids as young as 14.”
The book Schulz is concerned about, “All American Boys,” is a 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, according to Amazon.
“Two teens — one black, one white — grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension,” the book description states.
Schulz said he submitted his complaint based on profanity and recently met with all five principals at schools where the book is present, which he said is every middle and high school.
BCSC’s Policy 9130 on Public Complaints and Concerns details the steps that an individual can take if they have a request, suggestion, complaint or concern related to instructional materials, including library books.
The process starts by communicating with officials at the involved school and, if the individual remains unsatisfied, the matter eventually goes to the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for a formal review.
However, as this position no longer exists, school officials have said that assistant superintendent of human resources Gina Pleak would fulfill the same role in the complaint process. This includes appointing a review committee made up of one administrator, two teachers, two parents and one department representative. School personnel chosen for the committee must not be from schools involved in the complaint.
Upon reviewing the complaint, the committee will make a recommendation to the assistant superintendent, and a formal letter stating the findings of the committee and the official ruling on the challenged materials will be sent to the complainant. If the individual remains unsatisfied, they can bring an appeal to the school board by submitting a written request to the superintendent.
“No challenged material may be removed from the curriculum or from a collection of resource materials except by action of the Board, and no challenged material may be removed solely because it presents ideas that may be unpopular or offensive to some,” the policy states. “Any Board action to remove material will be accompanied by the Board’s statement of its reasons for the removal.”
Superintendent Jim Roberts said that BCSC is currently dealing with about five book complaints, with most of these still at the beginning of the process.
There was also one where an individual had appealed the matter to the school board. However, the individual decided to wait for the board to go through the process of updating their policy, Roberts said.
While he would not give a name for a complainant, he said that the book in question was “People Kill People,” and Major later confirmed that this was his complaint.
Major submitted the complaint in January and talked with the board’s attorney in April.
He added that he had suggested having a committee led by the school board that can ensure that standards on library materials are clear.
“The committee was not intended to be a committee of the community,” he said. “It was (meant to be) a school board-led committee including librarians and members of the community like parents, teachers, students and taxpayers. The intent was to have a strong, robust policy that could be a shield for the librarians, because they get attacked from all sides. And the focus would be, again, on having some kind of rating and ranking system to ensure age-appropriateness.”
BCSC’s current complaint process and other policies regarding library materials were discussed during a work session on Monday, with school officials discussing changes required by recent legislation.
The Indiana General Assembly passed a law in the spring that requires public and charter school libraries to post a catalogue of their available materials on the school’s website and make a hard copy list available upon request.
Schools must also establish a formal complaint process for parents, guardians and community members “to submit a request to remove material from the school library that is obscene (as described in IC 35-49-2-1) or harmful to minors (as described in IC 35-49-2-2).” The state also requires that, as part of the response and appeal process, the school’s governing body must review the request at its next public meeting.
BCSC attorney Michael McIver noted that the new law specifically requires schools to adopt a complaint process for all books alleged to be obscene or harmful to minors but does not dictate a process regarding materials challenged for other reasons.
Additionally, the new legislation removes schools from the list of entities with a statutory defense against prosecution for disseminating material “harmful to minors.” It also removes the defense that the material was shared for educational purposes, though defendants could still argue it was shared for “legitimate scientific purposes.”
The law also states that a library within a school corporation or charter school may not make available materials that are obscene or harmful to minors.
Indiana Code states that whether material is defined as obscene or harmful to minors is determined not just by the subject matter, but also by whether the material, as a whole, “lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
BCSC board president Nicole Wheeldon said that the school board plans to have its next policy work session on Oct. 30, prior to a 6 p.m. strategic planning session that same night. The board is also planning to have a private training session prior to their regular meeting on Oct. 23.
However, depending on the availability of certain individuals, the policy session may be moved to Oct. 23 and the training session may be moved to Oct. 30, school officials said.
