‘They were foul enough then, they are foul enough now.’ Critic to appeal book decisions
Last week, book review committees assembled by the Beaufort County School District decided to return four debated books to school library shelves, but the process doesn’t end there.
One of the original complainants said Friday he will appeal the book review committees’ decisions, placing the final say in the hands of the Board of Education.
“They were foul enough then, they are foul enough now,” said Mike Covert, an outspoken local GOP politician who was the first to submit the list of 97 books that were removed in October and will be reviewed.
Covert has seven days to appeal from when the district emailed him Thursday, notifying him of the committees’ decisions. Then, the board must make a decision within 15 business days.
“My opinions haven’t changed at all,” he said.
Covert’s list was essentially a list compiled local Moms for Liberty member Ivie Szalai’s list with the addition of one book — “Stamped,” which examines race in today’s culture and has been compared by some to critical race theory.
All that is needed to appeal is “something in writing” to the district, like an email, according to district spokesperson Candace Bruder.
While Bruder formerly said that only Covert could appeal the decisions, the district has amended its decision to include Szalai except for the book “Stamped,” which wasn’t on her list. Szalai said she doesn’t know whether she’ll appeal the first four books yet. However, only one complaint’s appeal is needed.
Szalai said “it’s right” that she’s included as an original complainant because she submitted a reconsideration form for 96 of the books just hours after Covert.
Covert and Szalai will be notified by email each time a review committee makes a decision.
The district waited seven days after the decisions for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Speak,” “Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “The Kite Runner” to notify Covert and Szalai personally, although the decisions were made public through a press release and were reported by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. For future decisions, they can expect an email after 24 hours, according to Bruder.
“Nobody from the school district ever called me, wrote me, emailed me, came by to see me, or send a carrier pigeon,” Covert said. “I think it took a whole week for them to do that.”
The books are already back in school libraries, with “The Kite Runner” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” available only in high school libraries.
Cover said he will likely appeal most of the decisions, but it will depend on whether the committees restrict the books to certain grade levels and the content of the books.
“If it just goes right back into the library system that anybody can check out, I’m probably gonna appeal that,” he said.
Szalai said she will “take it book by book.”
“I’ll probably take it as it goes on the scale of severity of the book,” Szalai said, referencing the BookLooks.org rating system she used to make her list.
What board members are saying
Now, the board will review the book review committees’ reports and vote on whether their decision will stand. A majority vote was needed for a decision on each book.
Board members won’t be required to read the appealed books before they vote.
“During deliberations we would ask for a synopsis of what was the objectionable parts that you are appealing. You may even want to have the specific parts read to us,” Board member Richard Geier said. “I think we will do proper due diligence on it. And we’ll listen to the committee members that voted for the book, and why did you pick that? Or, what was the reason?”
Some board members say they won’t go against what the committees voted.
“I will be deferring to the committee philosophically. I would not override a community committee,” Board member Ingrid Boatwright said. “[Unless] there was some evidence of wrongdoing.”
Covert said part of the reason he will appeal the decision is because of the committees’ make-up.
“It’s completely hearsay, but I was told that it was made up of one community member, three teachers and a librarian,” he said. “If that’s true, that’s a biased committee.”
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez appointed the review committees, which consisted of seven members: a community member, a district-level administrator, a parent, a school administrator, a member of a School Improvement Council within the district/school, a school librarian and a teacher.
However, every committee was missing at least one member when it voted.
“That is the whole point, is that the community gets to weigh in and decide whether or not these books are appropriate,” Boatwright said. “I can’t imagine a scenario, but it may exist where I would overrule that.”
Geier also said he would weigh the committees decision heavily.
“For my personal view, I would weigh that very heavily, because they are the experts,” he said. “We’ve got teachers and administrators and librarians and so on and so I’m certainly going to listen to them. They know more about the subject than I do.”
Bruder said the next four book review committees will be for:
- “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur
- “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them” by Erin Gruwell
- “Looking for Alaska” by John Green
- “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover
The committees will meet Jan. 19 to review the procedure and receive copies of the books.
The committees for “The Lovely Bones” and “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” will meet Dec. 14 to discuss their findings and vote on whether the books should remain on shelves.
This story was originally published December 9, 2022 at 3:42 PM with the headline "‘They were foul enough then, they are foul enough now.’ Critic to appeal book decisions."
