Pine-Richland to reconsider school library policy after complaints about books

The Pine-Richland school library has not had a formal complaint about a book since July 2013, district Superintendent Brian Miller said at a school board meeting this week.

That changed this week when there were complaints filed on more than a dozen separate titles.

Former school board member Therese Dawson of Wexford has a theory in the sudden surge to purge the school library: “Marxist librarians.”

“People are waking up,” Dawson said during the meeting. “And the reason they’re waking up is because of the gratitude we should extend to five of our candidates in this district that are running for school board, that alerted us to Banned Book Week, which is offered by the leader of the American Library Association who’s a self-proclaimed Marxist.”

Dawson was referring to the president of the American Library Association, Emily Drabinski, who tweeted in 2022 that she was a “Marxist Lesbian” (the post has since been deleted). Drabinski took over as president in July and has faced severe backlash for her online comments, causing four states to cut ties with the organization.

“Isn’t that great our librarians are members of a Marxist-led organization, and we wonder why we have this conflict,” Dawson said. “Why you haven’t heard about it since 2013, because people finally are catching on to this scam called public education and lack of parental rights and lack of transparency and covert fake committees with handpicked members to bring in whatever the team of one wants to convince the rest of the team of nine about.”

Dawson, along with eight community members, addressed the Pine-Richland School Board during the public comment portion of the meeting for the removal of books deemed to be sexually explicit and obscene in nature. Residents questioned not only the material but also questioned Policy 109.1, which would allow the questionable material available at the public school.

According to the policy, questionable materials will stay in circulation until the complaint is reviewed by a committee comprised of community and staff members.

While not on the agenda, the board did discuss several ways to address the issue, including a revision of the policy and sending a notification to parents if questionable material were to be borrowed.

School board President Greg DiTullio said he was hoping the board could find a quick resolution before beginning the timely procedure to change the school’s policy.

“Can we put something in that … governs that what happens to the books that are … ‘in limbo?’” DiTullio said. “I can only speak for me. I have not read every book in our library, but when some of those came to me, and I have not even gotten through all of them, there are some things that I am personally concerned with, so I think a parental notification … was a reasonable ask and could be implemented rather quickly.”

Board member Lisa Hillman, along with many of the residents who spoke at the meeting, wanted to know how the school allowed the materials in the first place.

“We need to follow the policy,” Hillman said. “And if we were doing that, these books would not be in the library.”

One of the people who spoke at the meeting was North Carolina resident Pastor John K. Amanchukwu Sr., who was introduced to the board by Dawson as “her roommate.”

Amanchukwu has talked to several school boards across the country, including in Colorado, California, Florida, Nevada and North Carolina, often reading “explicit” passages from books.

“If you view the issue of pornography being in the public school system as acceptable, you are part of the problem and don’t get comfortable in that chair,” Amanchukwu said. “I hope that you are voted out on Nov. 7 if you support that kind of filth.”

Amanchukwu read a passage from one of the books in question, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by Geroge M. Johnson.

The board said it will continue to navigate this issue at the Nov. 13 meeting, with the possibility of forming a committee of residents and school officials on how materials are selected and how parents are informed when new books are available at the library.

Erin Hasinger, district director of communications, told the board that the Pine-Richland libraries post new books in their quarterly newsletters.

The list of books that are being reconsidered will be posted to the school’s website later this week, according to Hasinger.

“I understand, we understand and hear the comments and concerns here,” Miller said. “Some of the books mentioned — one of them does not exist in hard copy in our libraries. It does not exist. It exists digitally, and it’s never been checked out.”

Hasinger said the book that Miller was referencing was the same book that Amanchukwu read a passage from: “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”