Lee’s Summit district spent $19k reviewing 52 challenged books. That’s only half of them
The Lee’s Summit school district has spent nearly $19,000 reviewing the first half of the 90 books challenged this year by a small group looking to ban library materials. The district has decided to retain all 52 books reviewed so far.
Five community members and one parent in January submitted more than 180 challenges to 90 book titles. In response, the district formed 28 committees to read and review the books and determine whether they should be pulled.
Over the past few months, 142 teachers, staff members, parents and students have reviewed more than half of the books. Volunteer committee members have spent nearly 2,000 hours and district staff have worked 400 hours serving on the committees. In total, the process has cost $18,865 so far, district spokeswoman Katy Bergen told The Star.
At Thursday’s school board meeting, parent Erin Gregory called the review process “cumbersome for teachers and staff and a misuse of already limited resources.”
The committees decided to keep all 52 books on library shelves, which Superintendent David Buck approved. District committees are now reviewing the second batch of titles. The six complainants could choose to appeal the decision to retain the books, which would send the issue to the school board for a vote.
The retained books include classics such as Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” a science fiction novel exploring the horrors of war, and Margaret Atwood’s bestselling “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a story of a dystopian, totalitarian society where fertile women are forced into sexual servitude.
Some of the books deal with racial and LGBTQ themes, including Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” about an 11-year-old Black girl who yearns to fit white American beauty standards; Andre Aciman’s “Call Me by Your Name,” about a blossoming romance between an adolescent boy and a male guest at his parents’ Italian villa; and “Flamer” by Mike Curato, about the author’s childhood experiences growing up, dealing with bullies and accepting that he is gay.
Other popular books include Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Alice Sebold’s “The Lovely Bones,” “The Freedom Writers Diary” by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell, as well as “The Kite Runner,” the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini.
The conflict is playing out amid a larger fight across the country as GOP lawmakers and conservative parent groups spearhead challenges to diversity initiatives, school curriculum on the history of race in America and library books — most of which have LGBTQ characters or racial themes. That has led to several lawsuits, Missouri lawmakers threatening to cut state aid to public libraries and bar diversity programs, as well as teachers and librarians raising concerns over harassment.
Three conservative school board candidates this spring supported the push to remove library materials, but only one — Regina Garrett — was elected to the board on April 4. Two progressive, pro-equity candidates Kamile Johnson and Erica Miller, who said they trust librarians’ process for selecting school book collections, also won seats on the board. The races are technically nonpartisan.
Those who submitted the challenges have argued the books include sexual content that amounts to pornography, as well as depictions of violence and drugs inappropriate for high school students — echoing the points made by conservatives trying to ban books across the Kansas City metro and country.
“Some may think these efforts to review books in our school libraries are an attempt to silence voices. That is not true. I’m an author myself, and would hate for my voice to be censored so I refuse to censor others,” parent Kristin Grubbs, who is challenging books, previously told the school board. She declined The Star’s request for comment.
Grubbs self-published her book, “Deep End of Public Education,” which “reveals how equity efforts have led to a rash of questionable choices” in the Lee’s Summit district, according to the promotional blurb. Like elsewhere, conservatives in the Lee’s Summit district have argued against its diversity and equity initiatives, which officials view as critical to closing achievement gaps and better supporting all students.
She told the board “a small fraction of the books under review that are simply inappropriate,” while the majority “fit Missouri’s legal definition of pornography for minors.”
District staff and committees determined that claim was false.
As the book challenges were getting started in January, Chuck Quesenberry, of the conservative group We the People of Jackson County, spoke at the school board meeting and read from the book “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a LGBTQ-themed collection of coming-of-age essays by George M. Johnson. Officials warned him not to use profanity, a violation of board policy, as he read a passage referencing the male anatomy.
When he refused to stop, a Lee’s Summit Police officer removed him from the building.
Several parents, librarians and staff members have accused the small group of advocating for the censorship of diverse viewpoints and violation of students’ First Amendment rights. They argue parents should trust library professionals, who review and vet books based on a code of ethics, content and age appropriateness.
“Due process and due diligence have been served with a long list of books having been read, reviewed and ultimately recommended to be retained,” Gregory said at last week’s board meeting. “Student choice, staff expertise and critical thinking prevail.”
While 52 books have been retained, another four were weeded out of the library collection prior to the review process. District librarians decided those four books would have already been removed, due to their age and low circulation rate, as part of a routine process to update collections.
The district has started the process to review the next round of 34 titles.
The review process is happening while GOP lawmakers, political action committees and conservative parent groups in the Kansas City metro and across the country work to remove school library books, mostly featuring racially diverse or LGBTQ characters.
In the Gardner Edgerton school district, administrators have so far removed seven books after one parent has submitted challenges. The school board has voted to keep two other books.
A couple of books retained in Lee’s Summit were removed in Gardner Edgerton: “A Court of Mist and Fury” and Empire of Storms,” both in the bestselling fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas.
Missouri House Republicans last month agreed to cut the entire $4.5 million in state aid that public libraries were slated to get next year in retaliation for a lawsuit on behalf of two library groups challenging a new state law. The plan also included amendments to every state agency’s budget that prevent state money from paying for staff, vendors, consultants and programs “associated with diversity, equity (and) inclusion.”
The state’s spending plan will still need to be approved by the Missouri Senate before it heads to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.
Missouri librarians are suing over the law that bans sexually explicit material from schools, leading to districts removing hundreds of books — including classic novels, human anatomy texts and Holocaust history books.
In addition, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has sued the Independence school district over its book removal policy, after the school board banned the children’s book “Cats vs. Robots #1: This Is War” from elementary school libraries because it features a nonbinary character.
This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
