As debate over books in schools continues, relatively few formal complaints have been filed in Hampton Roads

Despite the long-running debate nationwide and in Virginia over what books are appropriate for school libraries, only a few formal complaints have been issued in Hampton Roads.

The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the school systems of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News for complaints or requests for reconsideration of instructional materials between March and June. Six requests were submitted to two school divisions.

In that time, public debate has sometimes been intense. In Virginia Beach, for example, the debate moved to court with two books found in the school libraries being challenged. The division received five requests for reconsideration in that time period.

Chesapeake’s school board has heard similar complaints in its meetings. However, it has been on a smaller scale, and only one request was filed.

Portsmouth, Norfolk, Hampton and Newport News school divisions said no requests had been received. There has been little to no discussion in these school board meetings. However, several titles named in the requests also appeared in various school libraries within these divisions, according to their online catalogs.

These requests outline what is considered sexually explicit content and all ask that the books be removed from the division libraries.

The books up for reconsideration in Virginia Beach are “The Haters,” by Jesse Andrews, “Lucky,” by Alice Sebold, and Ellen Hopkins’ “Tricks,” “Tilt” and “Triangles.”

A complaint about “The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel” by Margaret Atwood was filed in Chesapeake.

“These images are not OK for children,” Jennifer Economy, who filed the request in Chesapeake, said in an interview. “It’s pornography.”

In her complaint, she wrote she had not read the original novel but viewed the images in the graphic novel, adding that it is “pushing a leftist, radical agenda, rather than an educational value.”

Becky Hay, a Virginia Beach parent who made three requests, described one of the books, “Triangles,” as having “highly descriptive sexual passages related to same-sex attraction, sadomasochism and extramarital affairs, which is highly inappropriate for many if not most teens. At a minimum, parental guidance is necessary.” Her other requests also noted sexually explicit content and violence.

Across Hampton Roads, the process for reconsideration of materials available in schools involves a community member putting a request in writing. A committee then reviews the titles to determine if the books will be removed. Parents also have the option of barring their children from accessing the materials, even if the committee decides not to take the books off the shelves.

In an interview, Hay called that process “backwards” and said there are too many books in a school library for a parent to go through and decide what their child should be allowed to check out.

“There are literally thousands of books, and unless I get a full list of all their books and go through each book, one at a time — I mean, very few parents are going to have the time to do that,” Hay said. “It’s kind of like putting the cart before the horse.”

Jennifer Clements, a library media specialist at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach said high school libraries purchase roughly 600 to 800 books each year. Although she and the other LMS do not read every book, there are resources for libraries to see reviews and summaries from professional librarians to guide decisions about any work. Style, format and suitability of the work also factor into those decisions, she said.

“Our job is to serve our entire school community, regardless of what they believe, what they look like, where they come from,” Clements said. “We want them to be able to see themselves and their families represented in the books in our collections.”

In the near two decades she has been with the school, Clements said she has had parents reach out to her about restricting their children’s access to specific books about three times. She described the recent attention on libraries and their collections as “a little trying,” as she believes students have the right to read and access information.

“In the end, we firmly honor a parent’s opinion and their ability to make decisions that affect their child and the information that the child is exposed to,” Clements said. “But we also firmly assert that different people have different opinions and value systems and ways that they raise their children.”

Economy, a candidate for Chesapeake’s school board, agreed with Hay that the process is flawed. She said her request to have “The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel” taken out of schools was denied, but she was not given a reason why. She said she plans to appeal the decision.

Students First VA, a Virginia Beach political action committee with which school board member Victoria Manning is connected, has shared several of the requests made in the school division on its Facebook page and described the various titles as “porn peddling.” The organization’s website shares a rating system Manning has recommended for the division, which would rate new books coming into Virginia Beach libraries. The system considers depictions of sexual activity, sexual or gender identity, nudity, profanity and more to rate books.

A similar ranking system is linked to Book Looks, a Florida-based website that rates books and includes a “summary of concerns.” Excerpts for dozens of books are included on this website, and Students First VA has linked to the titles when sharing the requests for reconsideration.

Groups on social media and more widespread news about books across the commonwealth and the country have helped alert parents such as Hay and Economy to these titles specifically, leading them to learn some are in their school division libraries.

Hay said she is using these online resources to help her determine what books might contain objectionable content, such as Common Sense Media, a website that provides reviews and advice regarding specific titles.

“I just do a little research on the book to find out what the problem areas might be, and what the issues might be to get an idea of maybe what the theme of the book is, what it’s trying to accomplish, all that kind of stuff,” Hay said. “And then I can make a determination on if I think the book should be pulled.”

Economy said she found “The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel“ in two Chesapeake high school libraries after discussions with other parents across the state through social media. She asked what value a book with “sexually graphic pictures” has in a school library, adding that librarians are in charge of the “careful selection of materials.”

“What is that careful selection based off of?” she asked. “Because if I talk to one librarian, who I know very well doesn’t feel that it’s appropriate, why would another librarian be allowed to have that sort of material in their school?”

The push to remove certain books from schools — or at least give parents more control over what is available to their students — moving forward could look at targeting more books, even as school boards begin reviewing their processes and policies. Economy said she is aware of ongoing work to identify inappropriate books in the libraries.

“There are a lot of books that we have found in the schools that a parent group is compiling a list of,” she said. “I personally will not be filing them, but they are working on the list. They are keeping track of it all.”

Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com