School Board Acts on Library Committee Recommendations

The Mat-Su Borough School Board has acted on the first round of book recommendations from its Library Citizens Advisory Committee.

At its meeting on February 21^st, the school board took up a recommendation from Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani regarding the nineteen books reviewed by the committee through January.

Most of the challenged books reviewed thus far will be returned to school library shelves. The eleven-member committee voted unanimously that five books do not violate Alaska statute covering distribution of indecent material to minors. At least seven of the members voted that another eight books do not violate state statute. The board voted to return all of those books to shelves with the provision that district administration determine which schools’ libraries would be age appropriate.

The committee’s votes on five other books saw a narrow majority of six-to-five with regard to state law. The school board voted to allow district administration to make the final determination on whether they would be returned to school libraries. Those titles include The Bluest Eye, It’s Perfectly Normal, Flamer, Breathless, and Forever.

The committee voted eight-to-zero with three members not voting that, It Ends With Us does violate state statute. The school board voted to remove that book from all district libraries.

The committee has reviewed about one third of the total challenged titles. At its February meeting, members chose not to allow abstention from voting on individual books. Since two members were absent and did not provide their votes in advance, all of the books for February are still pending final recommendation.

The March meeting for the Library Citizens Advisory Committee was initially scheduled for March 14^th, but that meeting is likely to be rescheduled due to spring break. The books to be reviewed next month are A Court of Thorns and Roses, Wicked, Ugly Love, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.