School board member 'disturbed' by books in school libraries, calls for review committee

The topic of banning books, movies or other media deemed inappropriate by some is a growing controversy nationwide. In the first eight months of 2022 alone, the American Library Association found the number of attempts to ban or restrict library resources in schools exceed the record set in 2021.

Now, New Hanover County Schools is wading into the controversy as district leaders explore the possibility of establishing a “book review committee,” an entity of mostly parents or community members who would be given the power to decide what books are appropriate for the school system’s more than 25,000 students.

Unlike elsewhere in the nation and even in North Carolina, very few formal attempts have been made to remove books from New Hanover County Schools’ instructional materials. In fact, the district has received only one official request in the past two years, according to Josh Smith, chief communications officer for New Hanover County Schools.

Yet, some district leaders are claiming the public wants the school system to act. Others believe the creation of a districtwide board to review books would infringe a parents’ rights to decide what their students read.

What’s being proposed?

New Hanover County Schools’ book review committee would be made up of 10 members; a non-voting school board member liaison, one teacher, one media specialist (who couldn’t vote), and seven parents and/or county residents, according to board member Melissa Mason, who presented an outline of her vision for the board during Tuesday’s school board meeting.

The school board liaison would be appointed by the school board chair, while members of the public could apply on a first-come first-serve basis. Public appointments to the board would last for a semester.

Mason cautioned her fellow board members during the meeting that the proposal was a work in progress, and that the ultimate goal was to get more involvement from the community.

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Who’s supporting it?

Those who came out in favor of the book review committee included Mason, and board vice chair Pat Bradford, both of whom campaigned in favor of this issue in November’s school board election. The other five members either opposed the idea in general or had concerns about Mason’s committee as presented on Tuesday.

Mason introduced the proposal because she’s passionate about books and kids, she said, and after reading some of the books at the district’s schools, she became “disturbed” they were available to students.

“That's really the biggest focus,” Mason said. “We need to be making sure that we are presenting age-appropriate content to our kids, and if it's not, then we need to put warning labels and we need to let people know.”

Bradford supported the idea she believes there are books that contain inappropriate content for certain age groups being used in the school system currently. In her opinion, the school district’s job is to educate students, and not to “share material that is age inappropriate and deemed by most of the people (to be) vulgar and inappropriate for that age level,” Bradford said.

Who opposes it?

At least three school board members, Hugh McManus, Stephanie Walker and Stephanie Kraybill opposed Mason’s proposal, stating the book review committee would violate parents’ rights to decide what their students should be allowed to read.

“The district has policies and procedures in place exactly for this purpose and it lays out these decisions squarely in the hands of the parents themselves and the guardians where it belongs,” Walker said. “They are the ultimate deciders of what their child can and can’t read. It's not the job of seven us here or a lesser committee to put in place any procedures that are counter to our policies.”

Kraybill in particular found it hard to support the idea of creating a districtwide book review committee, what she deemed as “another layer of government,” when the public made clear it didn’t want more government control.

“Some of us here on this board ran on and argued with the old board about masking and that (the school board members) were taking away their right to have their kid not wear a mask,” Kraybill said. “Now, you’re trying to take away my right to let my kid read the books they want.”

Where do we go from here?

Mason’s proposal is a starting point for the school board to move forward with. As board chair Pete Wildeboer said, “I think what Ms. Mason started is a discussion…,” adding that her presentation was meant only for informational purposes and no actionable steps were going to be taken yet.

Multiple board members, including Wildeboer as well as Josie Barnhart, alluded to the idea that the school board might need to reexamine New Hanover County Schools’ policies on this topic to address inconsistencies. Whether that examination also means creating a committee to review educational material used in the district isn’t clear.

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This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover school leaders wade into national book banning controversy