Willard school board bans book, suggests governor create rating system to restrict access

Bowing to pressure from parents, the Willard school board recently voted 6-0 to remove the book "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" from the high school library.

A parent, one of eight who spoke during the Jan. 19 meeting, vowed to soon file challenges to 23 additional books.

In response, board president Kip Baker urged parents to instead direct their energy at state-level changes by advocating that Gov. Mike Parson create a rating system for books, similar to the one used for movies.

"We need to be advocating that books have restrictions or have ... truly age-appropriate (levels) on them. I encourage all of you, get ahold of the governor," Baker said in the meeting.

"Somewhere it's got to start. I'd just as soon Missouri be the one that lay the law down and says let's do it, let's get some proper restrictions."

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," a 2012 book by Jesse Andrews, was one of three books challenges filed so far this school year — and the first one removed by a board vote.

More:Behind closed doors, Springfield school board rejected two book ban attempts in 2021

A committee set up to review the book opted to keep it on library shelves. That decision was appealed.

In November, the board voted to require parent permission for students to check out "How It All Blew Up," a 2020 book by Arvin Ahmadi.

A review committee decided to remove "Oryx and Crake," a 2003 book by Margaret Atwood.

All the books were challenged by parent Lizzie Nothum, who ran unsuccessfully for the board in 2022. She spoke at the Jan. 19 meeting about the danger of pornography and students' ability to access social media through district-issued devices.

"I am not about book banning. I am not about trying to villainize the librarians or the teachers," Nothum said, later adding: "The books, we need to provide educational, uplifting, wholesome things. I just want you guys to elevate your standards instead of giving into the way of the world."

Megan Patrick, a parent, said she has researched books available in the Willard High School library and presented Principal Kevin Morrison and the librarian a list of questionable titles.

"I know that you don't want to sit around reading books but unfortunately for you this will continue unless we set some standards," she told the board. "I, right now, have a list that I have provided to Dr. Morrison and the librarian at the high school of 23 more books that I will be submitting for removal."

Patrick said she knows the board has "better things to focus your time on" but will not stop until standards are set. "My hope is that together we can come up with some sort of a standard, a line if you will that we will not cross when it comes to our children."

"We're living in a bizarre time when parents, teachers and school administrators cannot agree that vulgar profanity, explicit depictions of sex, molestation, bestiality and more are deemed just fine for minors to read," she said.

'The truth is none of these books are pornographic'

In comments to the board, parent Janine Clark-Berry said she does not want another parent telling her child what they cannot read.

"When a book is banned, it is the same as someone imposing their values on my child and that is unacceptable in America," she said.

Clark-Berry said parents have to become engaged with what their children are reading and with their schools.

She is not opposed to a rating system that notifies the student, and the parent, about what content is going to be available in a specific book.

Courtney Sly, a parent, said there is a lot of inflammatory language being used to describe books. "The truth is none of these books are pornographic."

"While a picture of a naked woman might be obscene. A picture of the Venus de Milo is not obscene. If you have the mindset of 'fill-in-the-blank is always obscene' or 'any mention of sex is pornographic,' then we are going to have trouble seeing eye-to-eye on some things, which honestly is OK," Sly said. "The actual root of this problem is that by having different opinions, we can't trust one another."

Sly said parents who seek to ban books are saying that their way of parenting is the best or only way.

"Restricting books is literally creating an obstacle for students to access books and for what? What should happen if there is a book that you don't like, you stop reading it. You choose a different book," she said.

"If we can't trust high school students with that kind of responsibility then how do we trust them with anything — with jobs and cars and phones and hunting rifles but not with books? We profess to be making life-ready graduates capable of making decisions, seeking guidance and being prepared for the world, not just sheltered."

More:Nearly 300 books targeted, banned in MO schools since new state law took effect in August

'It is a slippery slope as far as I'm concerned'

Of the six board members present at the Jan. 19 meeting — Baker, Ron Crighton, Jason Dixon, Amanda Gooch, David Menditto and Matthew Young — none spoke in favor of keeping the book.

Dixon is one of six candidates, and the only incumbent, running for one of three open board seats in April. Crighton and Devon Jarvis, who was absent from the meeting, are not seeking re-election.

Menditto said students interested in the book can search for it elsewhere, just not at school. He called the removal "one step in the right direction."

"It is important that we set standards for our kids of what Willard, of what the community stands for," he said. "It is a dark time right now for our kids."

Gooch said she does not "see any value" in having the book in a school library. But, she noted the ability of a parent or school to protect a child only goes so far.

"There is going to be other things that face our kids that we're not going to be able to ban," she said.

Young, the board vice president, read the book and did not see "any educational value" in the story. He said going forward, the district needs to set standards for what is acceptable or not.

"That's where our efforts need to be as a board and a community and administration and that is in fairness to our staff members that have to be in the classrooms and the libraries day-to-day," he said. "It gives them guidance."

Young said setting standards for appropriate material will help take the pressure off. "We do know what is right. we wouldn't be here if we didn't."

Crighton said the "burden" of deciding what books a student can access ought to rest with parents, not the district. "We are asked to do more social work all the time, and everything, toward these children, and it's overwhelming."

He said his vote for removal was based on inappropriate dialogue found in the book. He said students would get in trouble for using the same "foul language" in school.

Crighton said the book should not be in a school library but also expressed reservations about the book challenges. "It is a slippery slope as far as I'm concerned. Where does it stop? After these books are done then what else are we going to go after?"

Parents in Willard, and many Missouri public school districts, have the option of restricting which library books their children can check out.

Patrick, the parent who plans to file more challenges, said not all parents have the time to go through the library to review what is available.

"It takes a village and I will not stand for protecting only my child because my child has a good parent — and I'm not saying you're a bad parent if you let your kid read different things — I'm just saying every kid doesn't have the same thing that mine does," she said.

Claudette Riley covers education for the news-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Willard school board bans book, braces for more book challenges