Katy ISD eyes ‘pervasively vulgar’ books
District decided to pull five titles after parents expressed concerns
Katy Independent School District is launching a broad review of school library books that may be considered “pervasively vulgar” and is encouraging parents to report concerns about material through a new online portal.
The announcement followed a decision by the district to remove five books after a group of parents raised concerns about several they said were vulgar at a recent Katy ISD board of trustees meeting. An internal review by the district determined the books violated school policy.
The five books — “Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)” by L.C. Rosen, “Forever for a Year” and “The Nerdy and the Dirty” by B.T. Gottfred, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison — were banned from district libraries and classrooms because of “pervasively vulgar content,” according to Maria Corrales DiPetta, manager of media relations for the district.
In a letter sent to parents Monday, Superintendent Ken Gregorski wrote, “During recent weeks it has been brought to our board and administration’s attention that some campus library collections contain books that do not align with board policy, nor our values as a school district . ... Through an ongoing internal review, a handful of books identified thus far have been found to clearly violate board policy. These books have been removed and are no longer included as instructional resources within district libraries and classrooms.”
The district, Gregorski wrote, is committed to removing books that meet its “pervasively vulgar” material standard.
The five books removed by the district mostly are aimed at teen audiences and have been highly rated by reviewers, library groups and booksellers.
For example, “Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)” is about a teen who offers sex advice to his peers and is
pressured to curb his sexuality. The book openly celebrates gay sexuality. It was named in the Guardian’s Best Books of the Year, the American Library Association’s Rainbow Book List Top 10 and was Barnes and Nobles’ favorite young adult novel of 2018. “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is a New York Times bestseller that was adapted into a movie. The book is a coming of age story about an awkward teen, his friend and a girl with terminal cancer.
“Lawn Boy” is about a 12-year-old doing landscaping work who schemes to make money to achieve the American dream. It was lauded by the New York Times Book Review as a humorous take on working-class America. “Forever for a Year” follows the personal journeys of two teens falling in love and becoming sexually active. It is highly rated by Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. “The Nerdy and the Dirty,” a 2016 novel about a teen boy trying to find a girlfriend, has been rated highly by Kirkus Reviews, Booklist and Publishers Weekly.
Gregorski said the district for years has relied on recommendations for books from school library journal reviews.
“We realize the process that was utilized in previous years to make library selections has failed,” he said. “Therefore, Katy ISD is re-evaluating this process and determining additional protocols to ensure library resources deemed pervasively vulgar remain inaccessible via our district libraries.”
In addition to a new book review process, the superintendent said the district is starting a new online portal for parent book complaints and “encouraged” their feedback. Starting Friday, parents will be able to request an immediate internal review of books through the district’s website.
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico that school boards have discretion to remove works considered vulgar based on community values but cannot ban books because of views expressed that may be considered controversial.
Deborah CaldwellStone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the court’s decision did not define “pervasive vulgarity” and that there have been few opportunities since for courts to apply it.
“Whoever is making these decisions about books being pervasively vulgar should have a good explanation about what makes them pervasively vulgar,” she said.
Katy ISD’s policy defines “pervasive vulgarity” as “content deemed lewd or profane and spread throughout.”
The district’s current policy on challenging books allows any district resident, parent or employee to file a formal complaint about the appropriateness of instructional resources. Books may be removed because of “pervasive vulgarity” or based solely on “educational suitability.”
After receiving a complaint, the superintendent may appoint a committee made up of a principal, teachers, library specialists, parents and others. The committee would review the material and decide whether it meets the district’s selection requirements. During the review process, the district may pull the challenged material until a determination is made by the committee.
Katy ISD has a history of temporarily and permanently pulling library material because of parent complaints.
In October, a formal parent complaint filed by a community member over so-called critical race theory in a graphic novel prompted the district to temporarily pull all copies of the work from school libraries and postpone an event with award-winning Black author Jerry Craft. The district’s review determined that the books were
not inappropriate. The books were reinstated, and Craft’s speaking engagement was rescheduled.
In November 2017, the district came under fire for temporarily pulling “The Hate U Give” from its libraries. School officials at the time said the book, which is about racism and police brutality, was temporarily removed after a parent complained about its language at a board meeting. The book was allowed back into the district’s high school libraries, but parental approval was made a requirement for students to read it.
Mary Ellen Cuzela, a parent of two students in
Katy ISD, has been speaking at board meetings about the “vulgarity” of the recently banned books since September.
“I followed national news about parents reading these books at school board meetings, and I was curious if we also had the books in our libraries,” she said Tuesday. “I started wondering, if we filter internet access, why are we not filtering books with the same key words out of libraries?”
Cuzela said her issue with the books is solely the “explicit sexual material” she says they depict.
“This is beyond any political ideology,” she said. “This is about self-respect, dignity and guarding that for our children, who are our future.”
Zahabia Kanchwala, a student at Katy ISD’s Seven Lakes High School, said she thinks her peers are mature enough to read about topics related to sexuality. She added that books that deal with adult themes often have value beyond those passages.
“I don’t think a page or paragraph about a sexual act should define an entire book,” she said. “There are books out there that are meant specifically for sex ed. There may also be a character in a book that takes part in (an) act and learns from their mistakes. We can learn morals from other people’s stories.”
“This is beyond any political ideolog y. This is about self-respect, dignity and guarding that for our children.” Mary Ellen Cuzela, Katy ISD parent