Beaufort Co. school committee votes on book flagged for ‘inflammatory’ racial commentary

Two more books — the young adult version of “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” and “The Lovely Bones” — will be allowed back in Beaufort County school libraries, barring appeals, after book review committees approved their return Wednesday.

“Stamped” will be returned to grades 6-12, but not grades K-5. Two of the four committee members voted to include the book in grades K-5, but a majority was needed.

“The Lovely Bones” will be returned to grades 6-12, and was never in grades K-5. All five committee members voted in favor of making the book available to students in grades 6-12.

All copies of these two titles will be removed from storage at the district office and placed back in the appropriate school classrooms and libraries. However, if an appeal is filed, the Board of Education will have the final say on whether the books remain on the shelves.

So far, all six books that have gone through the review process have been returned to schools in some capacity.

“Stamped” and “The Lovely Bones”

“Stamped,” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, was the only book on a list of 97 that wasn’t flagged as having inappropriate sexual content, despite that being the focus of parents’ main effort to remove books from schools.

It is flagged on BooksLooks.org, the rating system used to compile the local list, because, “This book contains inflammatory racial and social commentary.” The book bills itself as an “exploration of racism—and anti-racism—in America,” and has won multiple awards including the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

However, some have likened it to introducing critical race theory into the schools, which is illegal under South Carolina law.

Three review committee members said anyone who thinks the book has “inflammatory” commentary must not have read the book.

Parent Shelisa Benson was on the review committee, and said “Stamped” is important because it offers a perspective that isn’t historically taught in schools.

“Why I think it’s important for my kids, as an African American, to read this book is because its parts of history that we’ve all learned in school, but the viewpoint of what we learned in school is picked by those same people,” Benson said. “Therefore, what is published in our schools can only take you so far as far as textbooks go. This just opens up a whole new discussion.”

“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold is not one of PEN America’s 50 most-banned books. It tells the story of how a teenager’s family and friends cope with her rape and murder. The book has won multiple awards, including the American Library Association’s “Best Book for Young Adults” in 2003.

Review process could take months

These are the fifth and sixth books reviewed by committees set up to make decisions on 97 titles removed from school libraries in October.

Two months have passed since school administrators removed the titles for review over possible adult content based on a local conservative politician’s list. It has been almost a month since the first four review committees were selected and the review process began.

Mike Covert, who emailed the list the district used, is an outspoken GOP politician and former Beaufort County Councilman. For Covert’s own list, he said he used local Moms for Liberty member Ivie Szalai’s list and added “Stamped.”

More than a month away, the next four Library Materials Review Committees will make decisions on the following books Jan. 19:

• 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

The district hasn’t announced any of committees for the 87 other titles yet. At the rate of six titles per month, it could take the district almost 15 more months to complete the process. However, the district is in the process of increasing the number of committees per meeting, according to School District spokesperson Candace Bruder.

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.

So far, all of the six committees have missed at least one member during the voting process. Bruder said this wouldn’t impact the process or the decisions.

Although Covert hasn’t appealed the first four books yet, he told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette he was working on a multi-page appeal on Wednesday.

For “Stamped” and “The Lovely Bones,” Covert said he is waiting to be contacted by the district to make a decision on whether to appeal. He previously 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.

“If it just goes right back into the library system that anybody can check out, I’m probably gonna appeal that,” he said.