School Library Committee to Hold First Meeting Thursday

The Mat-Su Borough School District’s Library Citizens Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting this Thursday from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the district administration building in Palmer. The committee was established by the school board this spring.

The committee’s citizen members were approved by the Mat-Su School Board last week.  They were chosen by school board members to represent their respective districts. District 7 includes the Northern Susitna Valley and will be represented by Melinda Dale. Other members of the committee chosen by school board members are John C Deal, Nathaniel Buck, Kali Ponder, Andrew Shane, Amanda Cottle, and Nicole Smith.

Four school district employees will also serve on the committee. That number was reduced from six at last week’s school board meeting after some board members expressed concern over district staff having near-equal representation to the committee’s public members. The four chosen are Katie Clark, a librarian, as well as Amber Rinella, Kristina Wilson, and Melodie Wright, who are all teachers.

The committee’s agenda for Thursday will cover some clerical issues, including formally introducing members and naming a chairperson. The selection process for books to be reviewed is also on the agenda. As currently written, the committee will choose three books from the list of fifty-six challenged titles each month. Members will be expected to read the books in their entirety and evaluate them for “Indecent Material” using Alaska state law as a guide.  At that pace, the current list of challenged books will take a little over eighteen months to review. The first books to be reviewed will be chosen at Thursday’s meeting.