Radnor school board could return banned books to the high school library

The Radnor school board is considering eliminating the ability of parents to formally challenge library books — and possibly restoring three books that were recently banned — amid backlash over the district’s decision to remove books following a parent’s complaints.

At a policy committee meeting Tuesday, some board members said they were interested in striking the district’s challenge policy, rather than revising it.

“I personally cannot think of a valid reason to allow any parent or guardian to dictate … what all of the other children have access to in our school libraries,” said board member Jannie Lau, noting that parents already can request to not have their child access particular books.

Members also said the board’s curriculum committee would consider next week whether to return Gender Queer, Fun Home, and Blankets to the Radnor High School library.

Here’s what to know about the library debate, and what the school board plans to do next:

The district’s current library policy, which dates to 2008, discusses the intent of book selection, including to support the curriculum, and “to provide material on opposing sides of controversial issues.”

It also specifies how materials should be “weeded” by librarians, including if books are in “poor physical condition” and in limited circulation or use.

And it includes a “material reevaluation procedure,” describing how someone who objects to library materials can submit a form seeking their removal. Under the policy, the district’s superintendent is then tasked with appointing a committee “composed of an administrator, a principal, a librarian, a board member, a classroom teacher in the subject area and a parent” to decide whether the materials should be removed.

District officials say that policy was followed when a parent challenged the three books in January, alleging they contained “child pornography.” The books, all graphic novels, include some images with depictions of nudity and sexual acts.

The committee — whose members signed confidentiality agreements — voted 5-1 that the books were “not age-appropriate for our students,” according to district spokesperson Theji Brennan. They were removed from the high school library Feb. 28.

» READ MORE: Radnor bans three books in response to a parent’s challenge, including ‘Gender Queer’

The removals provoked outcry from community members, including over the fact that two of the three books, which are memoirs, featured LGBTQ characters.

“Even though erasing queer stories may not have been the intent,” that was the message sent to students, Esme Luvaas, copresident of Radnor’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance, said during Tuesday’s committee meeting.

Students — who walked out of school in protest last month — and parents also said they were caught off guard by the bans, which some learned about not from the district, but from news coverage. The district had not announced the book challenges, or that a committee was reviewing them.

“What we heard from many, many students was they didn’t know what was happening until an email went out,” Janee Peterson, a Radnor High School teacher and faculty representative on the policy committee, said Tuesday. “That transparency piece is huge.”

She also echoed sentiments from students and other community members critical of another aspect of the district’s explanation for the removals: that the books were infrequently checked out. Circulation data “does not tell the full picture,” Peterson said, noting that some students read books while in the library.

In response to calls for the library policy’s review, administrators on Tuesday asked the policy committee for guidance on how to revise it.

Dan Bechtold, assistant to the superintendent, told committee members that administrators had solicited input from librarians and students, along with reviewing other districts’ library policies and consulting the American Library Association. Options for revising the policy, he said, include expanding the review committee by adding a student, and possibly other members; adding timelines for how often a book could be challenged; and incorporating more involvement of the school board.

Hadley Perkins, a community member and lawyer, told the board she had examined other local policies and found that, unlike Radnor, others included statements about the importance of academic freedom and opposing censorship. In some districts, like West Chester and Lower Merion, the final decision on removing a book rests with the school board, Perkins said. And some school districts do not have book reconsideration policies at all, she noted.

» READ MORE: Amid nationwide challenges to sexually explicit books, West Chester school district keeps ‘Gender Queer’

Radnor’s solicitor, Michael Kristofco, told committee members that nothing in state law required schools to have a policy for library book challenges.

He also said that nothing required the district to keep the three books out of the library, despite the recent decision to remove them. “The board could, if it wants, vote to put them back in the library,” Kristofco said.

Some board members indicated they were interested in eliminating the challenge policy — though they also noted questions around possible implications.

The challenge form gives parents a mechanism to voice objections, said board member Andrew Babson. “Alternatively, the channel could be a public protest — making a spectacle, perhaps."

Superintendent Ken Batchelor said parents always have the option to talk with him or librarians if they have objections. That prompted board member Susan Stern to question whether those conversations could lead to a book being removed “with no one knowing.”

Lau said the board needed to trust its superintendent. “I think it’s unlikely he’d go rogue,” she said.

Stern, the policy committee’s chair, said that she would consider striking the challenge process, but that the full school board would need to take up the issue. In the meantime, she asked administrators to prepare a revised challenge policy, in the event the board does not opt to eliminate it.

She also said next week’s curriculum committee meeting would include “a consideration for the board to be placing these three books back into our library.”