Lake Travis school board to discuss book challenges Wednesday night
The Lake Travis school board could consider removing two books from the high school’s library as soon as its regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday night, according to the board agenda.
The vote would be the second time this school year Lake Travis school board members directly weigh in on whether to ban books from district libraries.
During the Wednesday night meeting, school board members are scheduled to vote on whether to remove two books by Jesse Andrews — “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Haters,” both young adult coming of age novels — from the Lake Travis High School library.
The two books landed on the school board’s agenda after a parent raised concerns about their content and appealed a parent review committee’s decision to keep the two books in the school’s library.
Under the Lake Travis district’s book challenge policy, a parent must first raise their concerns to campus staff. If the parent doesn’t agree with the staff ’s decision, they can appeal to a committee composed of district parents and staff who are then tasked with reading and reviewing the book.
The parent who first brought the book challenge can appeal a decision by the committee to the school board, as is the case in the Wednesday meeting.
Jodie Dover, a Lake Travis parent of elementary students, asked the school board to reconsider the committee’s decision to keep the books on the shelf.
“It’s that sexually explicit that when you read it, you’re actually in shock,” Dover said of the books.
Dover has been submitting book challenges through the district’s review process for which she has heard concerns from other parents, she said.
Other parents, however, disagree with removing books from shelves for all children.
“The idea that somehow if we take those books off the shelf that kids are going to be somehow sheltered from drugs and sex is ridiculous.”
Julie Germann Mother of middle and high school Lake Travis students
Middle and high school students shouldn’t have ideas kept from them, said Julie Germann, the mother of middle and high school Lake Travis students.
“Some of the arguments about ‘The Haters,’ for instance, is there’s drug use in it and teenage sex,” Germann said. “The idea that somehow if we take those books off the shelf that kids are going to be somehow sheltered from drugs and sex is ridiculous.”
Wednesday’s discussion would mark the second time this school year that the board takes up discussions about removing specific books.
In November, the Lake Travis school board moved or removed three books in district schools. The board moved “Bodies Are Cool,” a picture book, from the elementary school collection to the teacher and staff collection. The board also moved “Speak,” about a teenage rape victim, from the middle to high school collections and removed “I Never,” a young adult romance, from the high school.
Book challenges have swept school districts across the nation since 2021. Those bringing the book challenges have said they’re concerned about inappropriate content in books in schools. Those who want the books to remain on school library shelves say removing materials marginalizes minority and underrepresented groups and robs students — especially those who come from low-income backgrounds — of access.
The school board has also been discussing how to revise its library book challenge policy.
The district has discussed creating a pool of parent and staff volunteers to pull from randomly when a book review committee needs to review a book, said Amanda Prehn, director of curriculum and instruction. The district is also interested in creating better guidelines for the committee and in issuing a report on the committee’s decision, she said.
Before 2021, Prehn hadn’t experienced a parent seeking to remove a book from a school in her 10-year tenure with the district, she said. It was common for parents to ask librarians to restrict access to a book for their child specifically. It’s also common for librarians to comb through collections and add or remove books, she said.
“That happens all the time naturally,” Prehn said. “That is the job of librarians.”
Parents generally feel the process should be changed. Melissa Mathews, mother of a child at Lake Travis, says the system lacks transparency.
“I haven’t seen a way that they are notifying families that these books are being challenged,” Mathews said. “It’s just suddenly you get wind of it at a board meeting.”
Dover feels like the challenge process doesn’t have clear guidelines.
“Right now, everything is extremely subjective,” Dover said. “It doesn’t have a lot of black and white to it.”
The school board is in the process of reviewing updates to guidelines the Texas State Board of Education and other state agencies have created to comply with the READER Act, or House Bill 900, Prehn said. The state board accepted the new guidelines in December to comply with the law, which is currently embroiled a legal battle.
HB 900 prohibits schools from purchasing books deemed “sexually explicit” and requires them to buy from sellers who rate their books according to the new state guidelines.
Parents concerned about library materials can always talk to their librarian and can restrict their own child’s access to books without issue, Prehn said.
“Librarians have always been here to help,” Prehn said. “They are passionate people who are well credentialed and want to do right by kids, and I think their good name has been drug through the mud a little bit.”