Educators, It's time to save books

Book banning is nothing new for public schools. In the 1980s, I was teaching “Lord of the Flies.” I took a call from a grandpa convinced I was ruining his granddaughter’s life by introducing her to characters like Piggy, Jack, and the gang.

According to grandpa, the book was porno about a bunch of boys stranded on an island who become savages. I was happy at least he understood the basic plot.

But my happiness was short-lived when he called me, “A dirty, commie, liberal who shouldn’t be teaching.” I was 23, didn’t know any communists, but knew I’d soon be fired.

Just as I started to respond about the free exchange of ideas in class and as the imaginary fife and drum music revved up as background music, the phone went dead.

I was furious; grandpa hung up. But I discovered in my frantic pacing, the cord had disconnected from the phone. I quickly plugged it back in to apologize, and hoping I could finish my stirring speech. He was gone.

Now, I knew I was fired.

But my principal visited that class a couple of times, got bored and even dozed off once. I let him sleep. He didn’t come back.

The difference is that in the 1980s, grandpa didn’t have the majority party in both chambers of the Legislature and the Iowa governor on his side passing laws that gave him power to silence discussion about those stranded boys.

Gov. Kim Reynolds recently signed Senate File 496, a bill that contains attacks on public schools, and it means the educational family must work together.

Part of the new law bans books with written or visual descriptions of sex acts from school libraries and classrooms, except for religious texts like the Bible, Torah and Quran.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with parents deciding what their children should read. But there’s something terribly wrong with parents deciding for every child in the public school what should be read, especially if that decision is based on hearing just selected passages. Educators can’t wait for the scream machine to kick in. The time to plan is now.

School boards: Find some of the many parents who want books in the classroom that educate and challenge kids. Unlock those voices.

You already have board policies detailing procedures on removing books. This summer is the time to review and strengthen those procedures. For example, parents who want to remove a book need to have read the entire book, not just the passage they are objecting to. Find teachers and parents who will confront the complainers with questions. Don’t overreact.

Administrators: Agree as an administrative team on the steps you’ll take when book banning parents are at your doorstep. If one parent is screaming about a book, don’t immediately fold like an old lawn chair. Use the process established by the school board.

Teachers: Don’t start tossing books just because you believe they may be a problem. Get support from your principal before there’s a book banning storm.

President Dwight Eisenhower, no liberal, said it best, “Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing the evidence that they exist.”

Bruce Lear lives of Sioux City and worked in public education for 38 years before retiring.