Hearing on removing school books leads to testy exchange

A hearing Monday on Iowa school districts’ processes for reviewing and removing school library books and materials some parents and community members deem obscene devolved into testy exchanges between Democrats and Republicans.

Iowa parents, many activists with the conservative group Moms for Liberty, told state lawmakers during a Feb. 6 hearing that there should be more restrictions and parental permission required for school books they find obscene and divisive. Parents read passages containing profanity, descriptions and illustrations of sex, sexual abuse and other content they said were not suitable to be in a school library.

Rep. Brooke Boden, R-Indianola, and chair of the Government Oversight Committee, said parents who had gone through the book review process with their schools were asked to speak before the committee about their experience before hearing later from superintendents and school board presidents from the Carlisle, Carroll, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee and West Des Moines districts who deal with the review processes.

“This is not a subcommittee on a bill legislating whether these books should be in schools,” Boden said in a statement to The Gazette. “If it was, all members of the public on all sides of the issue would be welcome to come and share their thoughts on the legislation. This is a hearing meant to help us learn more about the book review process. The parents who are in support of these books in schools do not have any experience with the book review process to discuss before the committee.”

Republican lawmakers questioned school officials about their review processes.

The Waukee school district pulled the book “Gender Queer” off its library shelves after parents complained that the books had exposed their students to inappropriate content. However, a 10-person reconsideration committee in Carlisle unanimously recommended keeping the book “Gender Queer” in the high school library.

The committee said the book’s content provides “a perspective that is relevant to today’s teens and has an educational and social-emotional component for students interested or needing information on the topics in this book.”

Rebekah Schurz, a junior at Carlisle High School, said “Gender Queer” provided an “honest and open” account by the author that has helped students at her school that are questioning their gender identity or want to better understand the “fluid world of gender identity, and the many different avenues and nuances of identifying as nonbinary.”

In cases where school officials chooses to retain the book, parents are afforded the option to request their child not be allowed to view or check out the material.

Republican lawmakers, however, questioned the literary and educational value of books like “Gender Queer” that contain sexually graphic images.

Boden asked school officials in Carlisle, which chose not to pull the book from high school library shelves, whether a student would be allowed to wear a T-shirt with images from the book depicting sexual acts.

While a student would not be able to wear such a shirt, school officials said just one passage or set of images is not sufficient for a book to be considered obscene. Under state law, a book must contain obscene material when taken “as a whole” and lack “serious literary, scientific, political or artistic value.” There is also an exception for the use of “appropriate material for educational purposes” in schools and public libraries.

“I don’t see how a book could be removed using the standards you’ve discussed here,” Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, said. “And so that’s the concern I have and something I think we need to take a hard look at. It seems to me there are probably mountains of books that could have literary value and connect to students without having some of graphic images like we see in ‘Gender Queer’ and some of these other books.”

Rep. Sean Bagniewski, D-Des Moines, remarked “there are graphic images in the Bible, that if we put them in comic book form, would not be appropriate on a T-shirt.”

“And, as a devout Catholic, I don’t want the Bible banned from our public schools,” Bagniewski said.

The remark elicited a sharp rebuke from Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, to which Bagniewski chuckled.

“You can laugh all you like, but the hubris that’s oozing, in my opinion, from your statement is speaking for itself,” Kaufmann said. “Those of us that are here today are here as concerned parents. … And to just make light of that and continue to grin at people that have serious concerns about the materials, I think, speaks more about you than this committee.”

Earlier Monday, several parents and some students and educators spoke against the proposals in a special hearing held by Democrats.

“They believe that their discomfort with the content and characters of these books should override the expertise of teachers and librarians in developing curriculum and maintaining libraries,” said Emily Harris, the parent of a junior at Johnston High School. “This discomfort should apparently prevent all other parents from making choices about what’s best for their own kids. This isn’t about the reconsideration processes that schools use. Those work just fine.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com