When Cathy Hoover recently visited King George Middle School to gain a better understanding of the book checkout process in the library, the school board member came away thinking no more tweaks needed to be made.
“In my opinion,” said Hoover, “it’s perfect.”
Principal Casey Nice and others demonstrated the process for Hoover. Students must have parental approval to check out books that are deemed questionable by librarians and school staff.
“We are definitely putting the decision in the parents’ hands,” Hoover said.
Still, that process is under scrutiny from members of the community. A county resident filed an appeal to the school board to remove two books from the middle school — “ttfn” by Lauren Myracle and “Sold” by Patricia McCormick.
The latter is a novel, published in 2006, about a girl from Nepal sold into sex slavery. Myracle’s 2005 young adult novel is written in the form of an instant messaging conversation, and critics contend that it is unsuitable for schools because of offensive language and sexually explicit content.
King George School Board members said Monday that they are still reviewing the books and will decide their fate at the Aug. 19 meeting, to be held at the middle school.
“We can’t very well decide on them unless we’ve read them, whether we want to or not,” School Board Chair David Bush said.
Several community members spoke at the meeting on Monday, with the majority speaking in favor of maintaining the same checkout process, and not banning the books. Former school board member Carrie Gonzalez said there are more critical issues at hand, and parents should establish closer relationships with their children so they can discuss various viewpoints expressed in literature.
“As a former school board member, I can attest to the fact that there are issues that are way more pressing that demand the time and attention of our librarians, teachers and our administrators than this discussion,” Gonzalez said. “Instead of being worried that our children are going to ask to check out a book to read, you should be worried about if our children can actually read, and how the Virginia Literacy Act is going to affect our educators and our children.”
King George Board of Supervisors representative Ken Stroud made another appearance in front of the school board to voice his concerns about library books. Several speakers said they were displeased with Stroud for calling out a librarian by name at the previous meeting, and Bush implemented a rule that no speaker is to refer to anyone by name in a favorable or unfavorable manner.
Stroud said his position is that he will always stand “between children and harm.” He also said that not all school personnel should be trusted as some want “untethered access to children.”
Stroud said parents who encourage their children to read whatever they want can purchase books rather than have taxpayers pay for them to be in schools.
“Let there be no mistake, there is evil in the world, and there are people that want access to children,” Stroud said. “There are people that would like for the defenders of children to be out of the way.”
Stroud disagreed with Gonzalez that parents are unwilling to discuss sensitive topics with their children. He said parents that he’s spoken to aren’t afraid of the conversations, they’re frightened by “the people that are out there, the predators having access to the kids.”
“There are predators that are inside the school system that are trying to do that,” Stroud said. “That’s the fear. It’s those people that want that access.”
An employee in the school division followed Stroud’s comments and said she worked in the Information Technology field for 30 years but decided to work for King George Public Schools for less money to positively influence youth. She said she is perplexed by “the people that walk around here and think people in the school system are all crazy because we want our kids to have access to lots of knowledge.”
“Because you read a certain kind of book does not make you commit crime,” she said. “It expands your worldview and your knowledge of what’s going on around you.”
King George Middle School seventh-grader Artemis Park also took exception to the potential banning of books, calling it “ignorant” and “selfish.” Park said he found a “safe space” in reading and relating to characters, and that each book gave him real world topics to ponder.
“Stopping children and teenagers from reading books isn’t going to prevent them from figuring out who they are or what they’ll become,” Park said.
The school board has two weeks to decide on the books. One speaker noted that the individual who initiated the challenges has not appeared at the past three meetings discussing book bans.
“This is a difficult and challenging issue,” Superintendent Jesse Boyd said. “But I think as we continue to have this very challenging discourse, it’s one that’s going to strengthen our community in the end.”
