Iowa Board of Education advances rules on school library restrictions

DES MOINES — State education officials will not provide Iowa school districts with a list of library materials now prohibited under new K-12 book restriction rules, despite calls and suggestions for it to do so by school librarians and administrators and a state board member.

The Iowa Board of Education voted Wednesday to move ahead with proposed rules seeking to clarify restrictions under a new state law that prohibits books and curriculum in K-12 schools that contain descriptions of sex acts. The law also prohibits the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.

The law, Senate File 496, passed by statehouse Republicans and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, also requires school administrators to alert a student's caregiver if a student wants to use pronouns that differ from their sex assigned at birth.

School librarians and administrators have said lack of detailed guidance on the implementation of the new law was causing headaches as they prepared for the school year, and many have said they want to see more guidance from the Department of Education to clear up uncertainties about the policy.

Master list not required

State education board member Nathan Peterson, an Iowa City attorney, asked whether there was any effort by the state to provide a master list of what is or is not considered “age-appropriate.”

“Because it seems there should be an opportunity — other than going through every single book that’s in their library looking for something that may be objectionable — it seems there should be a resource a district could go to and say, ‘These have been found to be objectionable, should we have it in our library?” Peterson said during the meeting.

An earlier version of the law would have required the Department of Education to maintain a list of books removed from schools.

Thomas Mayes, general counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, said because the requirement did not make it into the final law, he’s “not particularly interested” in recommending it now.

“I think the more efficient thing is for superintendents talking to each other … sharing their collective wisdom with each other” than a “master list of books,“ Mayes said.

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The proposed rules bar visual and written depictions of sex acts in books but clarify that references or mentions that do "not describe or visually depict a sex act" are allowable.

School libraries serving multiple grades are expected to "exercise reasonable physical, administrative and technological controls" to ensure students only have access to materials that are grade- and age-appropriate.

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“Anyone who has actually read this law knows that certain school districts have been playing politics with their overly broad interpretations,” House Education Committee Chair Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said in a statement. “This is, and always has been, a reasonable law. Porn doesn’t belong in schools, and parents should be made aware if their child is transitioning at school.

“ … Unfortunately, the media allowed certain school districts to muddy the waters with weird rules about nicknames and by removing books that were never an issue. Hopefully, the Department of Education’s rules clear any confusion and ensure Iowans know this is actually a very common-sense law.”

What else do the proposed K-12 school rules say?

The rules also require school districts to maintain and update a comprehensive list of “all books available to all students in libraries offered by the district on its website in real time,” or at least twice a year.

School districts can apply for a waiver over the next two school years if they do not have an online “card catalog,” Mayes said.

Only library programs operated by a school district are subject to the proposed rules and do not apply to shared library programs between districts and public libraries.

The rules allow for books to have “neutral” mentions of LGBTQ characters, Mayes said. This includes an “observation regarding a book character's sexual orientation or gender identity that stops short of being a promotion.”

“That is sort of a safe harbor for classroom teachers,” he said.

The proposed rules also clarify that a student can be called by a nickname without first receiving a parent or guardian's permission if not being used to affirm a student's request to recognize a different gender identity.

Before the start of the school year, some Iowa schools required written permission from a parent or guardian to refer to a student by anything other than the name or pronoun on the student’s school registration records.

For example, “Thomas to Tom” is fine, Mayes said.

School officials would still need to seek permission if a student wants to go by a name other than their legal name or use pronouns that do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth if the request is an accommodation intended to affirm a student's change to a different gender identity.

Wednesday's conversation marks the beginning of the board's process to incorporate the rules into Iowa's general accreditation standards.

Penalties for violating the law take effect on Jan. 1.

Will schools be penalized for not removing books?

Iowa school boards and school employees who fail to remove books could face a written reprimand for a first offense.

Additional violations could lead school superintendents being called before the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners for a hearing and possible disciplinary action, should an investigation by state education officials find the district knowingly violated the rules.

If a violation is “voluntarily and permanently corrected” before the department makes a decision, officials may “exercise enforcement discretion” and decide “there’s no need for a citation,” Mayes said.

What do school officials have to day about the rules?

Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, the union representing Iowa’s public school teachers, said in a written statement that the board’s proposed rules did not go far enough in offering clarification and guidance over how educators should implement the law.

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“The proposed rules do nothing to address the chilling effect the law created,” he said. “So far, hundreds of book titles have been pulled from shelves across the state, and we've created ridiculous amounts of paperwork over topics like student nicknames,” he said.

“Public education professionals will still continue to spend valuable instructional time trying to meet vague state mandates.”

According to a database maintained by the Des Moines Register, districts in Iowa have removed at least 450 books from their shelves in response to the law.

Many districts have removed commonly challenged books like “Gender Queer” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” Books that are often assigned high school reading, like George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” also have been pulled by several districts.

Education and library advocates have argued an overly broad interpretation of the law by school districts trying to avoid legal repercussions will lead to schools pulling materials off library shelves that should not be removed under the law, depriving students of the opportunity to read books.

The Urbandale Community School District initially removed nearly 400 books from shelves it felt may violate the law. The district subsequently narrowed the list to 64 titles after more careful review.

The Iowa City Community School District released a list of about 70 book titles removed from schools to comply with the new law.

Lisa Remy, executive director of the School Administrators of Iowa, which represents more than 2,000 educational administrators, said the new rules “support the guidance we have been providing members.”

Erin Murphy of The Gazette’s Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.

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