EVSC responds to new law on allegedly 'obscene' or 'harmful' materials

EVANSVILLE — No one knows whether a new law requiring Indiana school districts to set up procedures for objections to allegedly "obscene" library materials will start an avalanche of challenges to books.

But the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. has a plan.

House Enrolled Act 1447, which took effect on Jan. 1, requires school districts to review requests by parents, guardians and community members at public meetings and to hear appeals if needed. It requires schools to maintain public catalogs of library materials. No local legislators voted against it.

In response, the EVSC school board is expected on Feb. 20 to pass new policies, recommended by the Indiana School Boards Association, that lay out procedures for making challenges to library and curriculum materials. The policies, which are intended to replace a similar policy, speak of requests made in writing, review committees and procedures for appealing decisions.

But during a Feb. 5 meeting at which the school board received the proposed new policies for review, member Melissa C. Moore cut through the legalese to ask a penetrating question.

Moore noted the proposed new curriculum materials policy's declaration that, "No material in question may be removed solely because it presents ideas that may be unpopular or offensive to some."

"What is the definition of ‘unpopular or offensive’ when we’re talking about this particular policy?" she asked.

School board attorney Pat Shoulders' answer acknowledged the subjectivity of it all.

"Those are ambiguous terms which allow us to apply our modern sensibilities to bring that definition to the group of people that will make that decision," Shoulders said. "What would have been offensive in 1920, I’m guessing is not offensive, perhaps, in 2024. But any more specific definition than that would tie the hands of a later board or a later committee.

"I think it was Potter Stewart on the (U.S.) Supreme Court who said, trying to define pornography, ‘I know it when I see it.’ It’s almost that type of definition."

Recommendations of review committees could be appealed under the new policies to the school board in the case of library materials and to the district superintendent in the case of curriculum materials. But Shoulders said the elected members of the school board are ultimately responsible.

"(They are) representing the moral judgement of a community as our elected school board," the attorney said.

What is 'harmful to minors?'

HEA 1447 initially was drafted to provide guidelines regarding third-party vendors for analysis, evaluations or surveys in schools. Late in the 2023 legislative session, language was added that would classify literature "harmful to minors" under the same umbrella as already banned obscene materials.

Indiana Code outlines the following definitions of materials that are "harmful to minors":

• Nudity, sexual content or "sado-masochistic abuse"

• A persuasiveness for minors to engage in sexual activities

• Offensive content to community standards for adults considering what's suitable to minors to see

• Content void of "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" for kids

More: School librarians could face prison for sharing content under this new Indiana law

Librarians who violate the law could be charged with a Level 6 felony and face up to two and a half years of jail time.

Opponents worry about the chilling effects of stiff penalties creating pressure to remove books with anything controversial, such as LGBTQ content.

EVSC spokesman Jason Woebkenberg did not acknowledge a request to discuss the new policies the school board will consider on Feb. 20.

'We demand to know how this filthy book got in our schools'

The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Indiana Capital Chronicle contacted about 440 school districts and charter schools in the state seeking any complaints or challenges they had received since Jan. 1, 2020.

They got back two from EVSC, resulting in one documented case of a book being removed.

The complaints, forwarded by the Arnolt Center, speak to the emotional intensity that can color the issue.

One complaint quoted passages from "Looking for Alaska," a 2005 novel by John Green, that described in some detail a sex act.

"We demand to know how this filthy book got in our schools and demand that it and others like itbe removed immediately!!" stated the complaint filed by Karin Conger of Indiana Constitutional Women.

EVSC wrote Conger a few days later that the book had been "removed from library shelves, pending review."

In subsequent messages, Conger named "other books of pornographic nature."

A few months later, Conger asked EVSC to "please update me on this matter of porn in EVSC libraries."

According to the correspondence provided by the Arnolt Center, Brandi Clahan, EVSC director of digital literacy and media, wrote back to say, "We are still reviewing the list of books provided, but we are making progress."

"We have taught all staff how to review books properly and subscribed to a professional reviewers website to utilize when purchasing books in the future," Clahan wrote, adding definitions for EVSC's dispositions of challenges.

And there the correspondence ends. Conger and Clahan did not return phone messages about the exchange.

Ruth Baize, a retired teacher and a 2020 candidate for an EVSC school board seat, quoted sexually explicit passages from "Exit Here" by Jason Myers.

The correspondence forwarded by the Arnolt Center includes a letter from EVSC Superintendent David Smith saying this about Exit Here: "During review of this title it was found that it is recommended for more advancedage groups and not appropriate for high school aged students."

EVSC did not take similar action with the other book about which Baize complained, "All the Rage" by Courtney Summers.

Smith's letter stated that All the Rage "has won many awards including the American Library Association Young Adult Award and Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult fiction."

"This title also has rave reviews from nationally accredited journals such as the School Library Journal. This book is labeled age appropriate by booklist reviewers for students in 10th–12th grade. Therefore, this book will be available to students by parent permission only," Smith wrote.

Baize also did not return messages seeking comment.

The EVSC school board's Feb. 20 meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the EVSC Administration Building's board room.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: EVSC responds to new law on allegedly 'obscene' or 'harmful' materials