Jason Major BCSC School Board candidate District 1 Mike Wolanin | The Republic
The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board on Monday began considering an appeal of a committee’s decision to keep a book challenged by a board member in school libraries.
The request for the review of the book was filed by District 1 board member Jason Major in January 2023 and a committee decided in March that the book was appropriate to stay in the library at Columbus East High School.
Major is appealing that committee’s decision, but also suggested he would pull his request if the board enacted an additional policy that would create a separate space in the library for books that parents would have to opt-in for their child to view.
“My concern was really giving an opportunity for parents to opt into a section of the library that might be above and beyond the age of their child,” Major said.
The board has 60 days to consider the committee’s report and ultimately decide whether the book should remain in the two high school libraries.
Major filed the complaint on “People Kill People” by Ellen Hopkins, a New York Times bestselling book which publisher Simon and Schuster describes as “a compelling and complex novel about gun violence and white supremacy.”
It’s the first time the process has played out place since new policies about library materials went into effect Jan. 2.
How the process works
In December, the board updated two policies dealing with library materials to comply with state legislation that requires school libraries to establish a formal complaint process for parents, guardians and community members to submit requests to remove library materials that are obscene and harmful.
Policy 2520 – “Selection of Library Material and Equipment” developed administrative guidelines for the selection and maintenance of library material and equipment. It also states that parents or community members could go through a review process for “material that they contend was inappropriately selected for a school library’s collection.”
Policy 9130 – “Public Complaints and Concerns” was updated to include a section for school library materials.
The section permits a parent or guardian of a student, or a community member residing within the corporation, to submit a request to remove material they believe to be obscene or harmful to minors, as defined by Indiana Code.
The process starts when an individual presents a written request to the relevant building principal in writing. The principal then tells the assistant superintendent of human resources of the request. The assistant superintendent, upon the superintendent’s approval, appoints a review committee.
Next, the committee renders a decision on whether the book should remain. The requester is able to appeal via a written request within 30 days to the superintendent, which is where the process is in this case. The board then advises the complainant of its final decision within 60 days.
The complaint
The complaint was centered on pages 138 and 139 in the book. “In these pages there was a description of an act of Rape of a child (male to boy Pedophila),” Major wrote in the complaint.
Major also checked “no” on the section asking if he had “read, viewed, or listened to the complete work.”
In the “action taken” section of the complaint, school officials at East wrote of their decision to keep the book.
“The book is a cautionary tale about choice related to guns, racism, and relationships. It does not normalize the issues but instead, gives insight into various views and opinions related to the timely issues of immigration, racism, and gun control.”
A six-person committee reaffirmed the decision on March 10, 2023.
Board member Dale Nowlin noted during the meeting that board members had already considered the special section Major was advocating for at a previous meeting proposed by District 6 board member Logan Schulz and it was voted down.
After she was initially confused about what Major was suggesting, Board President Nicole Wheeldon double-checked with BCSC attorney Michael McIver to ensure everyone was on the same on page.
“What I hear Mr. Major saying is that if the board would choose to take other steps related to its library policy, he may not be interested in moving forward with the challenge,” McIver said.
The appeal of the committee’s decision and the enactment of a special section for books are essentially two distinct questions, McIver said, and the next step would be for the board to determine a timeline for when they can go through the material. Once that is done and a decision on the appeal is made, if there is any other discussion surrounding library materials the board would like to have, they could fit that into the agenda in an appropriate way.
Public responses
During the public comment section of the meeting, two community members shared their views.
Crystal Pumphrey said in her experience, a lot of books come with a trigger warning and that the pages Major described could be a trigger for some students.
“I understand that there are certain topics in it that could be discussed, but I feel like with that graphic nature of a book, it shouldn’t be in the school,” she said.
Another community member, Kermet Key, voiced his displeasure with the complaint, saying, “I am disappointed with one of our board members and their continued push for a personal agenda regarding books in our school libraries.”
Key said he was miffed that Major had recently lamented that the board had spent so much time on the topic and so little discussing Envision 2030, calling what Major was doing “hostage negotiations.”
“Anyone can claim that they are not an extremist or pushing extreme ideologies, but when they receive less than 50% of the vote, continue to be outvoted and deny the findings of the review committee and still refuse to compromise, then we can draw no other conclusions,” he said.
