Committee OKS “Beloved” for high school libraries

“Beloved,” the first of 15 book titles to be reviewed by a Greeley-evans School District 6 committee, has been recommended to remain in high school libraries.

The 25-person District 6 Book Review Committee, which convened this year in response to complaints filed by parents and district residents about books in District 6 schools, filed its review of the Toni Morrison novel with Superintendent Deirdre Pilch late last month.

Pilch sent a letter dated Tuesday to complainants who submitted a “public complaint form” on the book, and the letter and the four-page recommendation were posted on the district website the same day.

Pilch backed the committee’s recommendation. In her letter, Pilch said any parent or guardian in District 6 may request a school limit their student’s access to library material — a process that was available before the recent complaints. Parents and guardians also may request to receive notifications of books checked out by their students.

Complainants may appeal Pilch’s decision to the District 6 Board of Education within 10 working days of the decision. The deadline for appeal is March 21.

The committee is scheduled to review 14 other books through June 2024, although the timeline could be altered. The next book to be reviewed is “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.”

The committee’s recommendation also says in the middle and K- 8 schools where “Beloved” is part of the inventory, the schools should provide phone and email notifications to parents so they are aware their students checked out a book with mature themes.

The committee comprised five community members, five parents, two recent graduates of District 6, six teachers, four district administrators and three facilitators. The facilitators were led by retired assistant superintendent Wes Tuttle, who signed the recommendation.

At the time of the committee’s review of “Beloved,” the book was located in three comprehensive high school libraries: Greeley Central, Greeley West and Northridge.

The book was also in two middle or K-8 schools: Chappelow K-8 Arts Magnet and Franklin Middle School. The copy at Franklin was lost during the 2020-21 school year but remains on the school’s inventory, according to the committee report.

On the recommendation to allow the book to remain in high school libraries, the committee said it weighed “the relative literary value of the material as a whole with the consideration of the maturity of students and standards of the community.”

The finding is “Beloved” is educationally suitable for the maturity of high school students despite its inclusion of content or language that might be considered offensive.

The book explores topics of motherhood, violence, slavery and the difficulties of moving forward when haunted by the past, according to The Banned Books Project at Carnegie Mellon University.

At Chappelow and Franklin, the committee encourages school staff members “to work directly with students who desire to read “Beloved” to discuss and process the mature themes,” according to the report. The committee also says the book should be made available only to students in sixth through eighth grades at Chappelow.

The committee also recommends any middle school that opts to include “Beloved” in its libraries in the future follow the recommendations in the report, including providing parent notifications.

The committee outlined seven concerns it considered during a discussion of the potential negative impact of allowing students access to the book. Those concerns were:

• The book includes passages depicting mature content addressed in the complaint forms, including themes such as sodomy, abuse, graphic sexual content, rape, bestiality, nudity and sexual excitement.

• In district libraries, there might not always be a “safe” person or staff member available to help process the mature content and what might trigger students through their own lived experiences.

• The book raised memories of discomfort similar to learning about other gruesome historical events such as Hiroshima or the Holocaust prison camps, making it difficult to read because of the heavy content and leaving an enduring impression.

• When thinking through a middle- school lens, particularly for sixth- and seventh-grade students, it might be difficult to articulate and understand the literary value. However, some middle school students may have the capacity to understand what they are reading and how it correlates to what they are learning at school, including slavery and the Reconstruction Era. It may require some support to explain the value this book contributes to our society, especially for that age group. Eighth- graders may benefit from this book with guidance.

• Parents of younger students should be notified to have the chance to take part in the discussion of the mature themes because everyone is unique and understands things differently.

• As a high-level piece of literature, it may be very difficult to read and understand for young people. If read out of context or without some kind of support, it might be confusing and some students might miss the underlying meaning. A number of young people might give up because they do not follow what is happening. For example, it can take reading a few chapters to get into the rhythm of reading the book because Morrison switches her writing style throughout the novel. The use of a summary was necessary for the first few chapters to help think through and understand what is being conveyed through the story.

• Regarding age-appropriateness in middle schools, there are some students who may be able to follow along and understand the context, but in a K- 8 school library, students in grades K- 5 also would have access to the book. There should be a process in place to restrict their access.

The committee said it considered feedback and concerns on the book, including the review of the 175 complaint forms. Complainants and other community members were given an opportunity to sign up and speak to the committee or to submit written comments two weeks before the first meeting Jan. 31.

No one signed up to speak, according to the recommendation. The committee received written comments to support the inclusion of the book in district libraries.