Keller schools’ new book removal policy rates titles on amount of offending material

Jeers and protests clashed with cheers and applause at the Keller school board meeting Monday night, where board members approved new guidelines for the type of content allowed in books in classrooms and libraries at each school level across the district.

The new policy, which rates books on the amount of offending material in 14 different categories, will be used when purchasing new books as well as a rubric for committees to use when parents flag content as potentially being in violation.

Books that contain illustrations or descriptions of “nude intimate body parts,” for example, are not allowed at any level, while drug or alcohol use by adults is only banned from elementary school libraries, allowed sparingly in books in intermediate and middle school libraries and allowed to be commonplace in high school libraries.

But critics of the policy, which passed 4-2 with one abstaining, say the rating system is overly vague — and could lead to large swaths of collections being removed.

“Out of the seven teachers that I spoke to, they said that they would have to remove two-thirds of their books,” trustee Ruthie Keyes said. “And it’s not like those are talking about explicit sex scenes.”

Keyes said that the definition of the categories and the ratings could vary widely from family to family and school to school — opening them up for vast interpretations.

Charles Randklev, the board president, said that the new guidelines were meant to provide more clarity, in place of prior guidelines, which only offered that books should not be “pervasively vulgar” and should be educationally appropriate.

“One could make the argument and there were good, wholesome discussions that happened during that challenge process that would … flesh that out. Pervasively vulgar, was defined committee by committee,” he said. “This is an attempt to kind of standardize some of that, and to help guide those discussions.”

But the process to pass the guidelines Monday night was anything but clear.

One trustee, Beverly Dixon, abstained from the vote after a series of amendments were made in confusing succession to address questions as they were brought up by board members.

“I’ll be abstaining because I feel like this is getting too muddled,” Dixon said. “I don’t feel like this is quite ready to be voted on because we’re adding amendments, people aren’t able to read and we’re trying to follow along … it’s, to me, we’re just muddling it too much for a vote tonight.”

In one exchange, the word “prurient,” which means having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters, was removed from the definition of “intimate parts” during one amendment, only to be added in several amendments later.

Other board members asked for more feedback to be gathered from librarians to actually attain the impact the policy will have when implemented.

Book discussion comes after TEA directive

The policy change Monday night was the culmination of months of scrutiny of the district sparked by a complaint from a parent and ending in a directive from the Texas Education Agency.

The agency opened an investigation into the district after a complaint about library books with “sexually explicit content,” according to a report.

The TEA informed the district of its investigation in a letter obtained by the Dallas Morning News in December.

The district came under fire in October of last year for having “Gender Queer,” a graphic novel on gender identity, on the shelves in one of its high school libraries.

The book was removed shortly after a parent posted about the book’s contents on social media.

The event drew the attention of Gov. Greg Abbott, who said he wanted the TEA to investigate “criminal activity” related to pornography in public schools.

Randklev said the policies adopted in recent weeks were mandated by the TEA after they concluded their investigation into the district.

Students, teachers speak out against book policies

Students, literacy coaches, former teachers, veterans and community members spoke out against the measure voted on Monday as well as the removal of 41 titles as reported by local and national media outlets in recent days. One of those books was a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, which includes a description of genitalia that could keep it off the shelves under the new guidance.

Superintendent Rick Westfall said in a statement last week that he anticipated titles removed the first week of school would be shelves very soon” after being temporarily removed as the titles are reviewed to ensure compliance with new standards.

“I am Jazz,” “The Storm in the Barn,” “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” and the Bible were back on the shelves Friday.

Randklev, the board president, chided what he called a “mob” Monday night and said misleading media reports were spreading misinformation.

“For the record Keller ISD has not banned the Bible or Anne Frank,” he said. “Sexually explicit obscene content has no place in our schools. The new Keller ISD Board of Trustees and the district has acted decisively to protect our children from pornographic material.”

Eleven public speakers spoke out in support of the changes, welcoming the changes by the district and saying action long needed to be taken.

Many public comments pointed out that several of the titles that were removed during the first week of school featured characters of marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ community.

Cameron Munn, a senior at a Keller high school school, spoke about his experience as a gay student, struggling with bullying and harassment as he grew up.

“I often ate lunch by myself reading books I checked out from the library,” he said. “I found books that had boys that felt the same way I did; misunderstood and hated by the world around them. I loved being able to finally relate to a character and feel truly seen and authentically, for the first time in my entire life.”

Munn said the moves in recent weeks by the board would jeopardize that representation.

“Your attempt to legislate and ban these stories is harming so many students like me, and I hope that I’m able to help you see this,” he said. “Please stop your attacks on my own safe space.”

This story includes content from Star-Telegram archives.