Here are the 12 school library EVSC has barred or restricted after parent challenges

Nadia Scharf, Evansville Courier & Press
·4 min read
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EVANSVILLE – The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. has removed or restricted access to 12 books due to parent challenges over the past two years.

The reasoning for the removals varies from violence to sexual content to profanity, EVSC spokesman Jason Woebkenberg told the Courier & Press.

"We want to make sure that our students have access to the resources, books and materials they need," he said. "But we also want to make sure that it's appropriate for each student."

Half of the barred books come from one author: Ellen Hopkins, a young-adult writer whose work includes themes about drug addiction, violence and other heavy topics.

The other books range from classic literature to fantasy books to a memoir about religion and racism.

Books challenged:

How books are challenged within the EVSC

Hopkins was the most banned author in the U.S. during the 2022-23 school year, according to Pen America.

According to the American Library Association, her books often discuss topics such as drug addiction, prostitution, unwanted pregnancy and violence, and four of her books made PBS's list of the top 100 banned books of the decade in 2020.

In the EVSC's case, many of these books were challenged due to sexual content or language which was deemed inappropriate, according to Woebkenburg.

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Books were generally challenged either by contacting the EVSC or speaking at one of the school board's "town hall" meetings, which are held before the school board meeting's official start time.

Once a book is challenged, it's sent to the EVSC's director of digital media and resources, Brandi Clahan, who works with a committee of staff members to make a decision about the book's appropriateness.

Clahan and her team read the books and rely on a number of online resources to make their decision, Woebkenberg said. Those include Common Sense Media, which provides reviews, content warnings and age-based ratings; the School Library Journal, a review magazine aimed towards librarians; and Goodreads, a site where users can post and search reviews.

The process takes around two weeks. Challenged books can be assigned different levels of access based on their content: some are banned from lower grades only, some require parent permission for all or younger students, and some are removed completely.

Books not in the library's catalog can and have been challenged.

For example, "Smoke" was challenged and determined to be inappropriate without it being available for student checkout. If challenged books are deemed appropriate but individual parents disagree, they can also make a request that their child not be allowed to check out that book, and the school will make a note in the system.

"We're always going to respect the wishes of the parent as it pertains to their students," Woebkenburg said.

New Indiana law

The complaint process will be made easier after HB 1447, which requires schools to post their library catalog and streamlines parent removal requests, went into effect July 1.

Local schools will be required to have their catalogs available online by Jan. 1, 2024, according to the Indiana Department of Education.

The law establishes a procedure for parents, guardians and school district community members to submit a request to remove any material described as “obscene” or “harmful to minors,” as defined in the Indiana Code. These requests must be reviewed and responded to by the school corporation at a public meeting.

The Indiana Department of Education has not yet put consequences in place if school corporations don’t comply by Jan. 1. Press secretary Christina Molinari said the DOE is still working through the legislation and guidance will be released as needed.

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The EVSC, as well as Warrick County School Corporation, the Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon, North Posey County Schools Metropolitan School District and South Gibson School Corporation, have already posted library catalogs for their schools online.

Warrick County declined to comment on the bill's passage and the books they've reviewed, saying they’re still "filtering through" after the bill was passed. South Gibson said they haven’t removed anything.

Superintendents for North Posey and Mount Vernon did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The bill was originally drafted to include guidance on school use of third parties for personal analysis, evaluations and surveys. Legislation on school library materials was added in the bill’s fourth and final version.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Here are the 12 books EVSC parents have challenged over two years