Appeals filed on 5 books taken out of Beaufort County schools. Now the board will decide

The Board of Education will have the final say on whether five of the 97 books removed from Beaufort County will stay on library shelves.

On Monday, both original complainants, Mike Covert and Ivie Szalai, submitted appeals to the review committees decisions to allow “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Speak,” “Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “The Kite Runner” to remain in Beaufort County schools.

“The Kite Runner” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” committees voted for the titles to be available only in high school libraries. “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Speak,” reviewers voted to include the books in the school libraries for all grade levels.

Regarding the two most recently reviewed books, Szalai included “The Lovely Bones,” in her appeal. Covert, who was the sole original complainant for the young adult version of “Stamped” said he hasn’t made an appeal for that book yet. He said he will likely appeal most of the decisions, but it will depend on whether the committees restrict the books to certain grade levels, and the content of the books.

Only these six books have been reviewed by committees so far. Another 10 are slated for review in January.

Committees voted to return “Stamped” to grades 6-12, but not grades K-5. They voted to return “The Lovely Bones” to grades 6-12, and it was never in grades K-5.

Robyn Cushingberry, the board’s executive assistant, acknowledged the board received the appeals. Now, board members have until Jan. 19 to make a final decision on all five books appealed Monday. Cushingberry said board members didn’t have any meeting scheduled to discuss the books yet.

Previously, some board members said they’d follow what the review committees decided.

All that was needed to appeal was “something in writing” to the district, like an email, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder.

Covert emailed a 31 page appeal, while Szalai’s was 29 pages.

“Are they going to get an ‘Appealing this. Love, Mike?’ No,” he said. “I believe that it’s important that you need to provide documentation to support your position.”

Between the two appeals they cited state law, select passages from books, Supreme Court cases and quotes from clergy members in the Bluffton area.

Covert said he spent six to eight hours on his appeal. He said he had concern with the school district employing the majority of committee members.

“There was too many on there that were school district employees or principals,” he said. “I mean, all that is the same box of marbles.”

Superintendent Frank Rodriguez appointed the review committees, which consisted of seven members: a community member, a district-level administrator, a parent, a school administrator, a member of a School Improvement Council within the district/school, a school librarian and a teacher.

However, three of the first four committees were missing a parent and the other was missing a community member when the time came to vote. Bruder said this wouldn’t impact the process or the decisions.

New Committees Announced

Bruder recently announced six new committees:

▪ “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo

▪ ”Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous

▪ ”Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher

▪ ”Impluse” by Ellen Hopkins

▪ “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins

-▪ ”Glass” by Ellen Hopkins

Committee members are in the process of getting their books, and they will be reviewed Jan. 19 along with four committees announced last week:

▪ “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur

▪ “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them” by Erin Gruwell

▪ “Looking for Alaska” by John Green

▪ “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover