Conroe ISD Book Bans Lead to Discussion of Policy Revisions
The removal of classics like Brave New World, The Color Purple, and Beloved expose flaws in current EF Local Policy.
Last month, the Conroe ISD Board of Trustees heard a Level-3 grievance regarding the removal of 19 books—including classics like Brave New World, The Color Purple, and Beloved—from high school classroom collections. Lamentably, the board voted not to return the books to classrooms, with the majority arguing that because the committees that removed the books had not violated district policy in making their decisions, the board’s hands were tied.
However, the hearing did lay bare the flaws in Conroe ISD’s current EFA and EFB Local policies, which have been adapted over the past two years to make it easier to remove books quickly and in greater numbers. In particular, current CISD policy allows for books to be removed via an “internal review” process in which committees are primarily comprised of administrators—many of whom have no experience teaching the books under review or working with the population of students likely to benefit from those books. And the current process does not require reviewers to read in their entirety the books under review. As a result, educationally suitable books of clear literary merit can easily be caught up and removed without receiving the consideration they deserve. This is exactly what happened with the 19 books under appeal last week, and their removal will cost Conroe ISD students valuable educational opportunities.
Texas Freedom to Read Project thanks trustees Theresa Wagaman and Skeeter Hubert for recognizing the need to reconsider policies EFA and EFB Local, and we are happy to provide guidance to help craft instructional resource policies that ensure compliance with the law and state-mandated library standards without unnecessarily removing books that can benefit districtstudents. We also appreciate trustee Melissa Dungan’s willingness to consider requiring committees to read works in their entirety before removing them—that is an important measure that can help avoid ill-considered book removals.
We are especially grateful to trustees Stacey Chase and Datren Williams, who voted to return these 19 books, advocated for their value, and pointed out the flaws of policies that can produce such problematic outcomes.
Most of all, we commend the complainants, Theresa Neman, DeDe Fox, Andrea Yang, and Erin Miller—along with Deborah Leiber, who served as a proxy presenter for Neman—for their courage and for the thought they put into their petitions. They made forceful cases for the value of the books being removed and for the importance of policies and procedures that require reasoned consideration of books under review. Their efforts showed their care for Conroe ISD and their desire to ensure that the district provides the best possible education for its students.
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