Will WCPS Ever Actually Do Anything to Address Parents’ Concerns About Library Materials that are Claimed to be Inappropriate?
Last year, in November, 2021, I was hired by a group of concerned parents to address an issue that has been receiving attention around the country recently - educationally inappropriate, sexually explicit, and vulgar materials available in public school libraries.
One of these concerned parents had emailed the entire Board of Education and superintendent for Washington County Public Schools in Maryland with a list of 56 books that are available in various public school libraries in the county, complaining that a “large portion of these books” are “blatantly pornographic in nature” and asserting that they have “no business being available to students.”
After several emails back and forth and at least two School Board meetings (Nov. 2, 2021, and Nov. 16, 2021) at which parents appeared and read excerpts from some of the books they found offensive, neither the Board nor the Administration appeared to have taken any action to address these concerns.
Call to Action from November 29, 2021 Letter to Washington County Board of Education.
On November 29, 2021, I sent a letter to the Board and the then-superintendent detailing the chronology of the dispute up until that point, painstakingly setting forth the legal standards involved, and concluding with a call to action from the Board (pictured here - I would encourage you to read the entire letter).
The Chief Legal Counsel acknowledged receiving the letter, but could not confirm to me whether the Board or the Superintendent would ever respond to me.
After more than a month of not hearing any response, I sent another letter on January 5, 2022, indicating that COMAR 13A.05.04.01D that “Each local school system shall have school library media program implementation documents which are reviewed and updated on a periodic basis. These documents shall include: (1) Selection and removal policies and procedures...” and making a Public Information Act request for a copy of the “program implementation documents” that include “removal policies and procedures” as set forth in COMAR 13A.05.04.01D.
Within a week, the Office of Chief Legal Counsel replied, attaching a copy of the Library Media Collection Development Plan 2018-2024, which was represented to be “responsive to [my] request.”
In the intervening seven months, no further response has been received from the Board or the Administration on my November 29, 2021 inquiry and “Call to Action” pictured above.
Not content to allow WCPS to simply ignore the concerns my clients diligently presented to the Board time and again, I endeavored to press the issue, despite the fact that the Board and the Administration have declined to demonstrate any interest in addressing the concerns (none that they cared to share with me, anyway).
I observed at page 8 of the Collection Development Plan, the following statement: "Board Policy KEC/KEC-E governs the process and dictates that no material will be removed from a school library media collection without the proper procedures being followed” (emphasis added).
Although I was never provided with a copy of “Board Policy KEC/KEC-E,” and the Board and Administration declined/failed/refused (choose your preferred verb here) to point my clients to this policy during the November, 2021 emails and public meetings, I was able to obtain seemingly relevant documents, titled: KEC_final_18Nov14.pdf, RECONSIDERATION_OF_INSTRUCTIONAL_MATERIALS.docx, and KEC-E_final_18Nov14 from this link after conducting a fairly thorough search.
Per the “KEC” policy form, "the complainant is to complete the attached “Request for Consideration of Instructional Resource” form (Exhibit KEC-E) and submit it to the Chief Academic Officer."
One of my clients filled out the Request for Consideration forms for nine books, asserting, generally, that they contain graphic sexual content, pervasive vulgarity and indecency which is educationally unsuitable for school aged children. Specifically, the following books were addressed:
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - by Jesse Andrews
Tricks - by Ellen Hopkins
L8R G8R - by Lauren Myracle
All Boys Aren’t. Blue - by George Johnson
Crank - by Ellen Hopkins
Neanderthal Opens the Door - by Preston Norton
TTFN - by Lauren Myracle
Lawn Boy - by Jonathan Evison
Looking for Alaska - by John Green
Since WCPS doesn’t seem to presently have a Chief Academic Officer, on behalf of my client, yesterday, August 15, 2022, I submitted Requests for Consideration directly to the entire Board of Education, Superintendent, and Chief Legal Counsel.
The Chief Legal Counsel has acknowledged receipt of the requests and advised that they have been referred to the Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction “for follow up.”
As I stated in my November 29, 2021 letter:
[S]chool boards have “significant discretion to determine the content of their school libraries.”
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[The Supreme] Court acknowledged “the comprehensive authority of the States and of school officials . . . to prescribe and control conduct in the schools,” and that public schools are “vehicles for inculcating fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system.” … “We are therefore in full agreement with petitioners that ... there is a legitimate and substantial community interest in promoting respect for authority and traditional values be they social, moral, or political."
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My clients’ chief desire with this letter is to establish beyond all doubt (for the Board's benefit and the benefit of the public) (1) that the Board does have all appropriate power and authority to review existing library books that are brought to its attention and (2) should these materials remain on the public school library shelves it is because this Board has affirmatively concluded that the children of our County are better off for it. My clients will not stand idly by while the Board misrepresents to the public that the Supreme Court has tied its hands. In short, my clients want the world to know that this Board stands behind the books it chooses to keep in the public school libraries.
Time will tell what sort of “follow up” we may finally see on this matter.