Urbandale schools pause removing books referencing gender identity, sexual orientation

Urbandale schools are hitting pause on removing from its libraries and classrooms books that reference gender identity and sexual orientation, according to an email from the district's superintendent to staff and families.

Though one school board member called the changed course a victory, Urbandale Superintendent Rosalie Daca said in the email there are still 64 books, including some considered classic novels, that will not be allowed in the district because of a new Iowa law that bans books in schools that are not "age-appropriate" because they depict sex acts.

The decision comes days after it was made public that the district had flagged 374 books for removal from classrooms in response to Senate File 496. That law, passed by the Republican-led Legislature this year, bans books in schools that depict sex acts, which an existing Iowa law defines as sexual contact between two or more people, such as penetration with a penis or touching one's genitals at the direction of another person.

More: Iowa school district flags 374 books as potentially banned, from 'Ulysses' to 'Heartstopper'

The law also prohibits schools from providing instruction about gender identity or sexual orientation before seventh grade, which Urbandale officials believed included books, according to instructions provided on the district's list.

Urbandale has since decided not to remove books on the list with LGBTQ-related themes and instead focus on books that depict sex acts. That narrower list now includes 64 titles. (The Urbandale list counted 382 titles, and later 65, but the Register found duplicates.)

"I would first like to recognize that there may be staff and students who were unintentionally negatively impacted by our attempt to comply with the new state law," Daca said in the email. "For anyone who felt marginalized, please accept my sincere apology."

The revised list includes titles such as "The Kite Runner," "The Handmaid's Tale," "Brave New World," "Beloved," "The Color Purple" and "Native Son," as well as books including "Gender Queer," "All Boys Aren't Blue" and "The Hate U Give" that have more recently been the focus of backlash by Republican lawmakers.

There are 22 new books that weren't on the original list.

Titles taken off the list include classics such as "1984," "The Catcher in the Rye" and "A Farewell to Arms," which Urbandale officials decided don't violate the law. Also removed was "You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!", which doesn't directly address LGBTQ issues but instead includes a narrator whose sister is deaf and with two aunts who are married to each other.

Dena Claire, spokesperson for the Urbandale district, said the larger list was meant to provide guidance to K-12 teachers about books that might violate the state law. In the absence of guidance from the state, the district said in a statement July 31 that officials did not want to put teachers in a position where they had to guess.

"We had to take a fairly broad interpretation of the law knowing that if our interpretation was too finite, our teachers and administrators could be faced with disciplinary actions according to the new law," the Monday statement said.

But Daca changed course by Thursday afternoon. The pause on removing books referencing gender identity and sexual orientation will continue until the district receives guidance from the Iowa Department of Education, which has not been made available.

Urbandale does not necessarily have all the books on the list in its system, but teachers have been instructed to review their libraries and classrooms and remove them if they are. Daca said any book that is removed will be stored in a central location.

She said the district wanted to move before class started at its year-round school, Karen Acres Elementary, on July 27. State law says teachers or administrators who violate the law could face disciplinary action starting Jan. 1.

"As someone who is tasked with the livelihood of 450 teachers and administrators, I owe it to every staff member and their family to be careful, mindful, and intentional about the guidance we provide knowing that if our guidance is wrong, we could jeopardize their professional and personal lives," she said in the email. "This has weighed heavily on my mind and heart."

What titles are on the new list?

Urbandale board member hopes decisions a 'cautionary tale' for other districts

Also Thursday, the Urbandale School Board met for about 45 minutes in a closed session to discuss the performance of an employee.

It was not clear whether the closed session was related to books, though it was posted to the school board's website Wednesday after the initial list was made public. Board members have told the Register they were not consulted on the list before it was finalized.

Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, was concerned about any possible correlation.

Evans sent a letter Wednesday to Daca and school board members assuming that the meeting would be about the superintendent and that discussion could move from a performance evaluation into a discussion about the district’s broader response to the new law on banning books.

“Discussion of the superintendent’s job performance certainly is appropriate for a closed meeting. But the Iowa FOI Council believes it would be contrary to the spirit and letter of the open meetings law if every discussion of concerns regarding policies implemented by the superintendent could only occur in a private ‘evaluation,’” Evans said in the letter.

He encouraged the district to consult with legal counsel before the meeting to avoid any violation of open meetings law.

After the meeting, Katherine Howsare, the board's president, would not say what it was about but said performance evaluations are not unusual. Board member Daniel Gutmann also would not comment on the meeting.

But Gutmann said moving forward he wants Iowa school districts to have "thoughtful, open and transparent conversation in front of the public" on ways to stay compliant with Senate File 496.

"There's going to be vocal opposition. There will be conflicting ideas. But that's what America is," he said.

"I hope Urbandale is a cautionary tale for other districts considering exceeding the scope of anti-LGBTQ legislation. It's not acceptable to the communities they're serving," said Gutmann, who is gay.

He credited the district's course change to efforts this week by students, Annie's Foundation — a group that opposes book removals — alumni who wrote letters, former staff and other school board members.

"I'm happy that we saved 320 books," Gutmann said.

Phillip Sitter covers suburban growth and development for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Urbandale pauses pulling books with LGBTQ+ references; some still out