Beaufort County parents can restrict school library access more easily with new opt-out form
Next year, some Beaufort County students might not be able to check out school library books as easily — and some not at all.
The district introduced its new opt-out form Tuesday night, which allows parents more control over what their students are reading in schools. Previously the library opt-out form was book-by-book, but now parents can more easily and widely limit student access to school materials.
“It personalizes the library experience for the parent and the family,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said at a school board meeting. “(If) you want to review (a book), you can review it with whatever source you personally want to review it.”
Parents now have three opt-out options, which open July 1 along with school registration:
▪ Student isn’t allowed to check out any library books
▪ Student isn’t allowed to check out books without parent approval
▪ Student isn’t allowed to check out specific books titles, submitted by a parent
If the book is being taught in the classroom, parents can restrict their child from reading that book. Instead, the student will be provided with an alternative book that aligns with the standards being taught, according to spokesperson Candace Bruder. This doesn’t include textbooks that are state adopted.
“We’re trying to compromise as a community,” board member Victor Ney said. “What offends the least amount of people? How can we meet in the middle somewhere on this? And I think this is a definitely a good step in the direction.”
Some board members raised concerns over how much control parents have in public schools, whether the form will be used and what not interacting with challenging opinions teaches students. Others advocated for the new form, saying that the original form didn’t give parents enough authority.
School districts in Florida have enacted similar opt-out forms, and few parents use them. In Polk County, for example, data shows fewer than 1% of the roughly 100,000 enrolled students use the policy.
The school board directed Rodriguez to reevaluate the opt-out form in January. The 7-4 vote and resulting change in policy follows the district pulling nearly 100 books for potentially inappropriate content from school library shelves in October.
Seven months since the books were pulled, review committees are about half-way through reviewing the list of books, submitted by outspoken local GOP politician Mike Covert and parent Ivie Szalai. The committees have banned three books so far and limited access to others.
‘A dangerous path’
Parental rights are at the root of the debate over whether the new parent opt-out form is an parental overreach, too little control or just right.
Board member Ingrid Boatright said she believes the “personalized experience thing is opening the door to a lot of problems.”
“I think that it is a really dangerous path that we’re starting down,” Boatright said at the meeting.
Students should be exposed to challenging opinions to prepare them for life and the opt-out form prevents that, according to Boatright.
“We have a mental health crisis of kids, and they’re coming out of our public education system nationwide ill prepared for what’s facing them in college,” she said.
Other board members thought the original form allowed for too little parental oversight.
“The present opt-out for we have is problematic in that I don’t think it really allows parents to opt-out in an educated way,” board member Rachel Wisnefski said of the old opt-out form in a January board meeting. She said that it was unreasonable to expect parents to know the content of every title in the library they want to opt out of.
She advocated for an opt-out form that would allow parents to restrict library access by a rating system, which the district would have to create.
“I would like to see that our parental opt-out form is changed or perhaps that we lean into creating some type of rating system that gives more transparency to parents so that they understand the content that is provided in the books,” she said.
Book review process update
Book review committees voted Thursday night to return 10 more book to shelves in some capacity. They limited access to two, and kept eight the same.
The decisions handed up were:
- “The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta — returned to grades 6-12
“Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez — return to grades 6-12
“Water for Elephants” by Sarah Gruen — returned to grades 6-12
- “Burned” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12
- “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Melinda Lo — returned to grades 9-12, previously in grades 6-12
“Clockwork Princess” by Cassandra Clare — returned to grades 9-12
- “Rumble” by Ellen Hopkins —returned to grades 9-12
- “Smoke” by Ellen Hopkins — returned to grades 9-12
- “The Truth About Alice” by Jennifer Mathieu — returned to grades 9-12
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer — returned to grades 9-12
Out of the 46 books reviewed so far, committees banned “The Haters” by Jesse Andrews, “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult and “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover.
This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 12:44 PM.
