Grand Forks School Board members discuss review process for challenged books

Aug. 19—GRAND FORKS — Following last week's decision to keep challenged books in school libraries, some members of the Grand Forks School Board believe the review mechanism in place should be amended.

Six books were reviewed by the board, including "Nineteen Minutes," "Beloved," "The Bluest Eye," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "Grl2grl" and "Dead Until Dark." All seven members of the board were assigned to read each book in its entirety, and provide their holistic interpretations prior to voting on whether to sustain them.

"Beloved," "Dead Until Dark" and "Grl2grl" were sustained unanimously. "The Bluest Eye" was sustained 6-1, with board member Josh Anderson dissenting. "Nineteen Minutes" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" were both sustained 5-2, with Anderson and Board member Bill Palmiscno dissenting.

School Board President Amber Flynn said a process exists for concerned citizens to file complaints regarding materials housed in school libraries.

"When the complaint is filed, all those books are removed from the shelves, and then the library book review committee reviews them and gives a recommendation to the School Board," she said. "The School Board subsequently has to do the same thing, and provide a recommendation that goes up for a vote."

In May 2022, a complaint was filed by a resident, prompting the district's review committee to pull the aforementioned books from shelves and conduct its review. Flynn said in this case, the complainant alleged the books contained "sexually explicit passages and child pornography."

The 10-member committee included Superintendent Terry Brenner, Chief Academic Officer Amy Bartsch, principals, educators and one parent.

According to the district, the cost of the committee's work was $10,828.32 — $665.82 to purchase additional copies of the books, and $10,162.50 to compensate members of the committee for their reading time. School Board members were not compensated for their reading time.

The committee reached a consensus that all six books should remain in their respective libraries, before passing the books on to the School Board for review.

Flynn said that in her tenure on the board, she does not recall any other instances of board members conducting a similar review.

Palmiscno said he voted against sustaining "Nineteen Minutes" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" due to the fact that he believes the subject matter in both books is not appropriate for middle-schoolers.

"I found those books to be appropriate for high-schoolers," he said. "They were just too intense for middle-schoolers. One, ('Nineteen Minutes') is about a school shooting. They haven't been checked out very much either — I think the grand total of all the six books was 41 times — and I think it's usually high school kids in AP classes."

Palmiscno said he believes the process for reviewing books' suitability for instruction should be left to a curriculum committee rather than the board itself.

"As a board member, I don't always know what classes they're being taught in," he said. "I think it would be easier to have a committee of administrators and teachers, and I would have confidence in teachers to make the right decision."

Flynn also said she feels the policy in place for resident complaints should align with the requirement that all board members read the six books in their entirety.

"There's a question on there asking whether the complainant reviewed the books in their entirety, and the complainant did not," she said. "He said that he did not read all the books — he just picked specific passages or pages. After this process, I think the policy committee is going to review that policy, and potentially suggest some changes. We think context is important, and by not having the context of a book in its entirety and just picking out certain pages, it's easy for someone to say 'this is inappropriate.'

"I think perspective matters."