The Nampa School District, which came to national attention earlier this year for banning 22 library books, has submitted a proposed procedure for handling future book complaints.
The Trustees voted against adopting this procedure at Monday’s regular board meeting after recognizing that the policy governing the selection of library materials in the school district must first be changed. That policy requires districts to follow a “uniform complaints procedure” when handling book complaints, rather than the proposed procedure the board considered Monday.
Board secretary Chrissie Lamont recommended that the Trustees first consider changing their policy to reflect the proposed procedure. This the board was unable to do on Monday because a policy change vote required by Idaho law was not on the meeting agenda.
As a result, the Board unanimously selected a working session to further refine the policy and proposed procedures. The Board of Trustees in attendance on Monday included his chairman Jeff Kirkman, Brook Taylor and Marco Valle.
Monday’s decision follows the board’s controversial May 9 vote to ban the book from libraries.
EdNews requested emails associated with the contested books leading up to the board’s May 9 decision. This request resulted in hundreds of pages of emails from patrons, staff, councilors and others.
In June, the trustee told Nampa interim director Greg Russell to introduce new procedures for handling future book complaints after some board members criticized the process leading up to the May 9 vote. The resulting proposal, discussed on Monday, clarifies that book challenges will be addressed first at the school or building level, and provides information on how to proceed from there, if necessary. Contains
The Trustees agreed on the key steps outlined in the proposal but disagreed on some aspects that may be inappropriate for children. Feasibility concerns dominated the first half of Monday’s debate.
“Just because you’re a librarian doesn’t mean you know what’s good for children,” Valle said, raising concerns about the objectification and vulgarity of children in some library materials.
Taylor and Kirkman agreed with some of Valle’s arguments, but argued that it was more difficult for some to reach consensus on what was inappropriate.
“What is child sexualization?” Kirkman asked, suggesting that definitions vary from person to person.
Taylor noted that some children, including her, are accustomed to hearing words that are considered vulgar.
While this proposal would change the process for handling future book challenges, it could also pave the way for the Trustees to reconsider past decisions to ban books. The prospect didn’t show up at the meeting on Monday, but he did before. Kirkman, who voted to ban the book on May 9 with Valle and his trustee Tracey Pearson, later addressed the issue in an email to concerned patrons on May 23. hinted at the possibility of reconsideration.
“There is always an opportunity to reconsider a motion after a robust and transparent process has been put in place. It added that it had intended to “pause” everything until it introduced appropriate procedures.
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