Trustees Mull Opening Up Optional Books to Challenge

The Highland Park ISD board of trustees during an April 4 work session discussed the possibility of changing district policy to allow parents to challenge optional materials, such as library books, in addition to required materials.

“Our current policy deals with instructional materials, and instructional materials is very broad-based and as part of that definition is everything that’s used in a classroom and also all library books,” HPISD Superintendent Dr. Tom Trigg said. “That policy indicates that any choice materials are not challengable. The philosophy simply being that if you have a choice to do it or not do it or read it or not read it or whatever, then that would take care of concerns….what we’ve done is we’ve asked…our attorney to work with [staff] and come up with an alternative that will allow for challenges of library books that you may or may not want to consider.”

The district’s current policy is available here. The possible change discussed during the work session would allow parents or adult children to challenge library books whether or not the book is being taught to students. 

A member of the community spoke during the work session in support of such a change.

“This issue is not about free speech,” Austin Hopper said. “This is about decency and protecting our children.”

The board members indicated they were open to pursuing the challenge avenue for library books and examining the district’s material challenge policy generally.

“I do think this is a worthwhile exercise and I do think generally I’m in favor of allowing a challenge process for library books,” said board vice president Maryjane Bonfield. “I do appreciate the protection that the law provides for us in terms of defining standards for how we assess those challenges.”

“I think we should have a conversation as a board; are we interested in modifying the policy,” said trustee Bryce Benson. “My personal take is yes, I would like to have a mechanism for parents to challenge library books.”

Questions remain, though, and the proposed change is expected to take a bit of time to mull over. 

“I think we need to define what we mean by challenge. Are we talking about challenging the book’s inclusion in the collection as a whole? Are we talking about challenging its physical placement in the library? Where is it? Are we talking about challenging access for certain students, age groups or otherwise?” trustee Jae Ellis said.

“Parents should absolutely have a voice in what their children read, but I also believe, and it may be unpopular, that our librarians and our educators have to form the heart and the soul of…what’s in the collection,” trustee Stacy Kelly said. “We need to be intentional. I think that whatever we do, I get to do what’s right for my students, but if somebody has a difference of opinion than me, that our process also supports them being able to do what they think is right for their student.” 

For all the recent debate regarding instructional materials for teaching reading and writing in the district, the most recent formal request the district received was an objection to Girl Haven by Lilah Sturges in 2022. The person who filed the objection said the book discussed LGBTQ+ children, serves as an “introduction to sexual confusion” and “[preys] on vulnerable children at school without parental knowledge.”

The American Library Association in March, though, reported a record 1,269 challenges to library books and resources in 2022, nearly double the 729 challenges reported in 2021.

A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021. 

Of the reported book challenges, 58% targeted books and materials in school libraries, classroom libraries, or school curricula; 41% of book challenges targeted materials in public libraries.

“A book challenge is a demand to remove a book from a library’s collection so that no one else can read it. Overwhelmingly, we’re seeing these challenges come from organized censorship groups that target local library board meetings to demand removal of a long list of books they share on social media,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Their aim is to suppress the voices of those traditionally excluded from our nation’s conversations, such as people in the LGBTQIA+ community or people of color.”