Bondurant school board votes to permanently remove 17 books from its schools. They are:
The Bondurant-Farrar school board voted unanimously Monday to permanently remove 17 book titles from the district and donate them to the city library.
The books include popular romance books and young adult novels that have appeared on lists of challenged or removed books in Iowa as districts work to comply with a sweeping education law that bans books with depictions of sex acts from schools. Officials said Monday that considerations to remove the books included the adult ages and perspectives of characters in the books, larger amounts of objectionable content and/or lack of interest from students.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 496 in May 2023. In addition to requiring that school libraries only contain "age appropriate" books, the law forbids curriculum and instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.
Penalties against teachers and district officials who didn't comply with the book restrictions were to go in effect Jan. 1, but a federal judge blocked enforcement while two lawsuits against the state over SF 496 work their way through the courts.
The state has appealed the judge's decision.
According to district documents, librarians and grades 7-12 teachers in Bondurant have "diligently" reviewed classroom and library books to make sure they comply with the new law. About 80 titles have been removed from libraries or classrooms at the junior high and high school levels.
District officials recommended that the school board approve permanently removing 17 of those books. The rest of the books, a list of which was not disclosed Monday, will remain off the shelves until there is further guidance from the state, documents say.
While the law imposes new requirements in school districts, librarians, teachers and administrators have their own discretion over what they feel are appropriate or relevant for their own schools and students, and cycle out books that they feel are no longer a fit.
No books have been removed at the K-6 level, according to information presented at the meeting.
By mid-December, the Des Moines Register had documented hundreds of book titles that have been removed from school shelves in Iowa to comply with Senate File 496. The judge's injunction, however, did not require school districts to restore books they had removed.
The Gazette reported that the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids districts would put books back on shelves, while others have told the Des Moines Register they didn't plan to reshelf books they'd already removed. Others still said they were still reviewing the judge's decision with legal counsel before making a decision.
What books are being permanently removed from Bondurant schools?
District documents listed the 17 titles the school board voted to permanently remove Monday. It was not immediately clear if the titles labeled "series" included an entire series, or just the novel in a series with that title.
"Another Day" by David Levithan
"An Ember in the Ashes" (series) by Sabaa Tahir
"Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist" by David Levithan
"Numbers" (series) by Rachel Ward
"Purge" by Sarah Darer Littman
"The Cellar" by Natasha Preston
"Throne of Glass" (series) by Sarah J. Maas
"Heart Bones" by Colleen Hoover
"Hopeless" by Colleen Hoover
"Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison
"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" by Jesse Andrews
"Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur
"Regretting You" by Colleen Hoover
"Shine" by Lauren Myracle
"The Carnival at Bray" by Jessie Ann Foley
"The Infinite Moment of Us" by Lauren Myracle
"The Haters" by Jesse Andrews
Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at chiggins@registermedia.com or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins_.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bondurant school board votes to permanently remove books from schools
