Greenville County School Board votes to remove book from elementary schools

The Greenville County School Board voted Tuesday night to remove the book "George" by Alex Gino from elementary schools.

The vote was in response to an appeal to the Material Review Committee's decision to keep the book in elementary and middle school libraries, with access restricted to students in fifth grade and above.

"George," which has since been renamed "Melissa" is about a young transgender girl struggling with her identity as the rest of the world sees her as a boy.

Here's what to know about the vote:

• Greenville County Schools board members voted 10-2 to remove the book from the library shelves in elementary schools.

• The amended motion will allow the book to be available with parental permission in middle schools and unrestricted in high schools.

• The book is currently in six elementary schools, six middle schools and one high school.

For subscribers: Greenville County Schools board explains vote to remove 'George' from elementary libraries

School board wants publishers to rate books for appropriateness

The school board also approved a letter to be submitted to the South Carolina Congressional Delegation suggesting a voluntary book rating system.

The letter requests that publishing companies provide a rating on books that come into their district. The rating system would be similar to those used by the video games, music, and film industries.

Previous reporting: Greenville County Schools reviewing books after McMaster calls for statewide investigation

"One of the real challenges with selecting books is that historically looks are rated by the reading ability and not necessarily on the content," board member Derek Lewis said.

"So our recommendation in this letter is that the members of Congress will work with us and the U.S. Department of Education and other school districts and book publishers to just start a discussion about how a voluntary rating system could be implemented."

In addition to the SC Congressional Delegation, the letter will be sent to the school board association and Gov. Henry McMaster.

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Alexis Hamilton is a Beaufort, SC native covering higher education in the Upstate. Reach her at 727-514-5734 or ahamilton@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville County Schools vote to remove book from elementary schools