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Pine-Richland High School is seen on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. (Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette) #pgcovid19
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Residents push Pine-Richland school directors to pull books from library

Steph Chambers/Post-Gazette

Residents push Pine-Richland school directors to pull books from library

A handful of community members in the Pine-Richland School District pleaded with school directors Monday evening to remove books from school libraries they deemed to be sexually explicit and obscene.

Over the almost 2½-hour school board meeting at the A.W. Beattie Career Center in McCandless, around a dozen people questioned why certain books such as “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, a graphic novel version of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Push” by Sapphire are available to students.

Their comments, which suggested the books were inappropriate for high school students, were largely met by applause from the almost 50 people in attendance.

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“I’m concerned about the future and I want to express to you that it’s really critically important that each of us examine the things that our children are reading,” Cindy Vogel, pastor of the Church at the Heights in Pine, said. “From my own personal experience being exposed to sexual content too early is a very very serious thing.”

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Thirteen books have been challenged over the past few days, Superintendent Brian Miller said during the meeting. Because this is the first time in recent years the district has received a book challenge, school directors are now planning to reexamine policies around resource materials and how books are chosen for student access. That process could take months.

To help keep parents informed in the meantime, board President Greg DiTullio suggested that the board consider a resolution during the Nov. 13 meeting to notify parents if their child checks out a book that is going through the review process.

“I have not read every book in our library,” Mr. DiTullio said. “But when some of this came to me … there are some things that I am personally concerned with. So I think that parental notification I thought is a reasonable ask and could be implemented rather quickly than a full discussion on OK, how does a book get here, why is one book accepted, one book rejected?”

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Concerns expressed by parents and community members come as several book challenges are taking place nationwide.

According to the American Library Association, there were 695 attempts to censor library materials between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 along with challenges to 1,915 unique titles. That’s a 20% increase from the same period last year, which saw the highest number of book challenges since the ALA started compiling the data more than 20 years ago. And of those challenges, the vast majority were to books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ community.

Nationally, the Scholastic Book Fair is separating dozens of books focused on race and LGBTQ themes, allowing elementary schools to decide if they want to offer or exclude the novels from book fairs. And across the country over the past few years lawmakers in Texas and South Carolina have called for investigations around “pornography” in schools while a Kansas district in 2021 froze library checkouts of 29 books including “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison.

Locally, Hempfield Area School District in Westmoreland County revised its policy for selecting resource materials to require librarians to submit a public list of requested books and permit the public to voice any concerns about the titles before they can be purchased. The change came after a small group of parents challenged “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which chronicles the author’s journey growing up as a queer Black man, and “The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person” by Frederick Joseph, which discusses the author’s experiences with racism.

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Norwin School District in March failed to pass a motion that would ban fifth grade students from reading the novel “Al Capone Does My Shirts” by Gennifer Choldenko. Debate over the book started the month prior when some school directors raised concerns over what they deemed sexual innuendos, references to rapists who are in the prison and the use of an outdated word when describing a person with special needs.

Under the current policy at Pine-Richland, which educates 4,550 students, complaints are submitted through a district-developed form. Challenged materials will stay in circulation until the complaint is reviewed by a committee made up of community and staff members. The committee will then submit its recommendation to the superintendent, who can direct “questionable materials” be placed on a limited access shelf pending a final determination.

The superintendent’s decision is final.

But since the district has not yet received a challenge, a committee is not in place to review challenged materials.

Mr. Miller suggested the committee consist of 10 members including five staff members and five parents with high school students. Under the proposal, staff would include the high school librarian, library department chair, an English teacher, school counselor and high school administrator.

But the proposal was met with pushback from school Director Christine Brussalis, who cautioned against including a librarian “because I feel like we need some impartiality there. They’ve already made their choice and we need people on there who aren’t necessarily defending the positions but who have an impartial view toward the book they are reading.”

Mr. Miller defended the librarians, calling them “the certified professional. … We have 90,000 books in our library. They are one voice but as the superintendent I would say if I’m going to get a recommendation from a committee that’s balanced of parents and staff, I would want the voice of our librarian to be one of those voices.”

But Pine resident Christine Dawson agreed with Ms. Brussalis.

“How did these books get into the library in the first place,” Ms. Dawson said. “I should be able to trust those individuals deciding what goes into our libraries to not include dirty, graphic porn and that is clearly not the case. If it was the certified professional known as a librarian I’m even more alarmed. No professional should ever allow, support or defend porn in schools.”

Other board members, including Lisa Hillman, called for a more extensive review of the district’s policy to determine how certain books were permitted into the library. Others suggested the board needs to create a clearer pathway for when books are challenged.

Ms. Dawson, a 2015 Pine-Richland graduate, said any change is needed after reading the “shocking” content available to students.

“I am here because the PR I grew up in and was proud to graduate from is not the same one that exists today,” Ms. Dawson said. “Quite frankly, I don’t recognize it, and in its current state I would never send my children here.”

A possible vote regarding resource materials could take place during the Nov. 13 board meeting.

First Published: October 24, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: October 24, 2023, 6:43 p.m.

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