Elise Duckworth stood at the podium in the Pine-Richland School District’s board room one day this fall, stressing to school directors the importance of having books in school libraries that represent marginalized people and allow students to see themselves represented.
At the time, the 17-year-old junior thought she’d speak at one school board meeting and then turn her focus back to school. But sitting in on what have become hours-long debates about books in her school changed that idea.
Today, Elise — who is balancing school, junior class president duties and a dancing role in the high school musical — has seemingly become the face and voice for Pine-Richland high schoolers pushing back against possible drastic changes to the policy many fear will remove vital books from school libraries. Elise has taken a strong stance against the policy, consistently speaking out at board meetings and creating a petition calling on directors to listen to librarians.
The petition has garnered over 2,100 signatures.
“They’re not a threat,” Elise said of the books this week while sitting in her Pine Township home with her mom, Tracy Howe, and 13-year-old dog Nalo. “They never should be seen as a threat cause they’re books. They’re works of art so they shouldn’t be seen as anything more than that.”
Board President Philip Morrissette did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about next steps for the policy and how the board considers student input.
Pine-Richland was thrust into what has become a nationwide debate over the appropriateness of school library books in October 2023. At the time a group of residents pleaded with school directors to remove books from libraries they deemed to be sexually explicit and obscene.
Fourteen books in the middle and high school libraries were challenged, launching a review of the novels. A 10-person committee of community members and district staff was compiled, which read the books in their entirety. Following the review, Superintendent Brian Miller in April said the books could remain in libraries.
Afterwards, directors said they planned to tweak language in the policy. But last month directors took steps to possibly implement major changes to the document.
Proposed changes largely focused on book challenges, acquisitions and parental rights.
Under the outlined amendments, if a book is challenged it will be reviewed by the superintendent or designee who will decide if the material can remain in the school library. The complainant would have 21 days to challenge the decision. A final determination would be made by the school board. New materials coming into the library would also be placed on a 30-day public review before purchase with final approval coming from the superintendent.
And a new section details parental review, which states that “the ultimate determination of appropriateness for a minor lies with the parent/guardian.” It continues, saying families can direct librarians to have certain “materials not be assigned to or checked out or otherwise made available to their child.”
School directors will now do a first read of the policy.
At the same time the board was working through the policy, directors were also contemplating if the book “Angel of Greenwood” by Randi Pink could be included as a core text in ninth grade. The historical novel is about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. But last month, directors voted against use of the novel, saying it’s not challenging enough for ninth graders.
The ongoing discussions have ignited the Pine-Richland community.
Board meetings are heated with some attendees holding signs saying the district will not ban books. Others fear the policy will silence the voices of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color. Proponents of the changes, some of whom read religious scripture during public comment, say the policy will protect students.
But for Elise, one major issue has been a lack of student input on the contentious topic.
“They’re not getting the perspectives that count and so I don’t appreciate them talking for us,” Elise said.
Student involvement
The high schooler went to her first board meeting in the fall after hearing her mother talk about issues the board was considering including teacher contracts and books.
At the time, Elise noticed that “no students had really been speaking about the books.”
Her comments that night, she said, made an impact. Other students began reaching out to her. And slowly, more students began filtering into school board meetings.
But the turning point came during a seven hour meeting in January. During the joint governance meeting — public comment comes at the end — parents and residents continually asked if students could speak early given the late hour and that midterms were scheduled that week.
After several failed attempts, directors finally permitted Elise and another student to speak.
“That’s when everybody was like they’re not serving the students anymore and they’ve just shown that they don’t care,” Elise said. “And so I think that’s when all the students were like this now feels like a personal attack.”
The other piece that led to increased student involvement, she said, stemmed from a conversation between school directors and Mr. Miller in which the superintendent raised concerns about proposed policy language such as nudity, suggesting it could exclude books such as “Captain Underpants,” which has a bare-chested main character.
“The whole ‘Captain Underpants’ comment made everybody go crazy cause these books are from our childhood. … When I started telling people that would be taken out they were like, ‘Are you serious?,’” Elise said. “There’s just kind of a common sense factor that I think comes in with this decision and all these students are able to recognize that it’s a little bit absurd so they are getting pretty fired up about it.”
By the following meeting more students showed up to speak on the policy and “Angel of Greenwood.” When the students left the meeting that night, they were met with applause from dozens of residents pushing against the changes.
Students have also supported Elise by sharing her change.org petition on Instagram. And while it has gained support from residents and Pine-Richland alumni, the petition was also signed by people in Florida and North Carolina.
Conversations around book bans nationwide have been ongoing. Locally, several districts have had similar conversations including Hempfield Area and Blackhawk.
At the same time, Pine-Richland students and community members are working to have Ms. Pink, the “Angel of Greenwood” author, visit the district. Ms. Pink in an email said she is tentatively planning to visit the area at the end of February. She also said her publisher sent 100 copies of “Angel of Greenwood” to the Pine-Richland area.
Ms. Howe, a former sixth grade teacher, is “delighted” at seeing her daughter stand up for what she believes in.
While Elise has “always been a strong person” — she pointed to Elise growing up with two older brothers — the teenager in the past would become frustrated with political talk at the dinner table. But those discussions, Ms. Howe said, taught Elise how to speak about “what’s happening in the world in a very eloquent way. … I would say the family dinner table is where she’s honed the skill.”
Still, it was the district’s conversations around books that got Elise “activated,” Ms. Howe said while sitting across from her red and blue copy of “Angel of Greenwood.”
“I’m just really proud that she’s been able to be the voice for the student body and figure out how to juggle doing all of these things so she could be that person,” Ms. Howe said. “Because I do think, to her point, it’s a very difficult thing to stand up in front of adults and tell them that you disagree with them.”
For Elise, her involvement at the local level has sparked an interest in future advocacy work.
“Especially in today’s world having kind of no fear of pushback is what’s most important,” Elise, who plans to study music and political science in the future, said. “So I’m willing to be a person that stands up for what they believe in and not be scared of what comes after that.”
But for now, the fight at Pine-Richland isn’t over.
“Students didn’t know about this,” Elise said. “Parents still don’t know about this. It just takes one person to just say, ‘Hey, do you know this is happening?’ And then it spreads. And it’s spreading all throughout the school.”
First Published: February 1, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 3, 2025, 1:10 p.m.
