As a frenzy of book challenges rocks the nation at an unprecedented rate, local school districts are facing heightened scrutiny over which texts are made available in their libraries.

This week, a Hempfield Area School District committee will review a policy that determines how school materials are reevaluated after two books deemed inappropriate by a group of parents were permitted to stay in the high school library. The conversation will take place days after Franklin Regional paused the use of “Persepolis” in a freshman honors class.

“We are seeing a lot of these challenges right now, not just across our state but nation,” said Christi Buker, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association. “A lot of that is the political climate right now, groups organizing to express outraging concerns.”

During three months this fall, more than 330 reports of book challenges were recorded by the American Library Association. That’s double the 156 challenges reported in 2020.

In Hempfield, challenges this year have largely centered around “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, which chronicles Johnson’s journey growing up as a queer Black man. Parents also asked for the removal of “The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person” by Frederick Joseph, which reflects the author’s experiences on racism.

Over the past several months, a small group of parents have expressed discomfort over topics covered in the books, which are in the high school library.

A formal complaint was filed and the books were reviewed by a district committee. After the review, both books were allowed to remain.

However, three parents at Tuesday’s school board meeting continued to push for the books to be removed.

“I feel that this library and all of our libraries should be full of diverse materials,” parent Paula Cinti said during Tuesday’s board meeting. “We have diverse neighborhood of students and they should all be represented, but what I read here … that was sexually explicit and does not really need to be represented.”

In light of the complaints, the board’s policy committee will meet 4:15 p.m. Friday to review a document that details steps taken when a request to reevaluate materials is received.

Changes made to the policy would require a 30-day public review, said Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. After that period, the school board would vote again to approve the changes.

As the policy currently stands, a resident of the district can formally request the reevaluation of instructional or resource materials in the district’s library or classrooms. During informal challenges, the building principal will attempt to resolve the issues by explaining the procedure, criteria and qualifications for selecting the resource.

If the issue is not resolved, the individual can file a formal challenge, which will be reviewed by the superintendent.

A committee — made up of the school librarian, the library department chair, a teacher based on the content area of the book, a parent, student, complainant, assistant superintendent and superintendent — will then read the entirety of the book being challenged. After, the committee meets and reviews the book using a series of questions laid out in a separate policy.

The goal of the policy, several parents said, is to keep the decision-making process free of biased opinions.

“The policy as it currently stands is a voice to the educators and administrators, the people that the board has trusted enough to hire, to make educational decisions and to be the voice for every single student that Hempfield serves,” said Melanie Cowherd, who has two students in the high school.

Kristen West agreed, adding, “If you do not want your child to read a book, you do not have to, but this does not give you the right to censor my child’s access to that book. You cannot ban books and then go ahead and say that you want to limit my child’s access to those books for their education. That is is not allowable and this policy should stand.”

National phenomenon

Over the past several months, attention-grabbing headlines have detailed a nationwide push to ban books from school libraries.

One of the most high profile examples took place at the end of January when a school board in Tennessee unanimously voted to ban “Maus,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust. According to The New York Times, the book was removed from the classroom because it contains material board members said are inappropriate for students.

Similarly, a bill was introduced to the Oklahoma State Senate to prohibit public school libraries from having books that focus on sexual activity, sexual identity or gender identity.

In addition, conversations surrounding “All Boys Aren’t Blue” have taken place across the nation, with the book being removed from at least eight states, including Pennsylvania, Time reported. In October, parents in North Penn School District in Montgomery County challenged the book.

“The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person” was also challenged this year by parents in a district near Richmond, Va., BBC reported. According to the station, parents claimed the title is racist, and should not be available to children in public schools.

For Buker, several factors contribute to book challenges, which vary between books in the library and books in the curriculum.

“Unfortunately a lot of school districts have cut librarians so there’s no expertise to guide those conversations,” Buker said. “There’s a lot of kind of quick reactions to things because obviously folks that are speaking at school board meetings are often very vocal. We don’t know that they represent the majority of the public.”

She noted that books are a way to introduce children to experiences other their own.

“If you grow up in an area that you may not have a perspective or viewpoint or cultural traditions, how else are you supposed to learn about the world?” Buker said.

Hempfield parent Patrice DiPietro agreed, adding that banning books lays the groundwork for increased bullying and disrespect.

“Books are supposed to inspire us, to engage in debate and to exchange ideas, to open our minds to new experiences, whether that be another person’s struggles or another person’s triumphs,” DiPietro said. “We want to expand our children’s imaginations and experiences, not limit them to the confines of what a few people dictate and deem acceptable.”

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