HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The Hanover County School Board held a meeting this week to discuss proposed draft changes to its policy on books in school libraries and media centers – but things took a turn and the school district is now headed back to the drawing board.
On Tuesday, Jan 17, staff presented two main proposed changes to a policy approved last June which resulted in 75 books being removed from the school district’s libraries and classrooms.
The current policy says elementary school teachers have to scan or create a list of the books in their classrooms – but the first draft change announced last night would require them to inventory all books.
“I do think that we’re taking more of a common sense approach to this policy, but I do think it still needs more work,” said school board member Whitney Walsh.
The second draft change says that, if a high school teacher or librarian at the school wants to use a book that has been determined to be sexually explicit, they have to fill out a form for their principal to approve – meaning some previously banned books could return to classroom and library shelves in Hanover.
“I don’t agree at all with this document. I think it’s got all kinds of holes in it. It’s got inconsistencies, confusing, confusing material,” said school board member John Redd. “I’ve got a lot of experience with this kind of thing, and I think this thing is sorry, quite frankly. It doesn’t, it doesn’t flow well.
The proposed draft changes didn’t sit well with some residents, who voiced their opinions on it during public comment and urged the board to keep the policy the way it was written in June.
“We request our school board to understand and recognize that sexually explicit materials as defined and 2.2.28.727 And age-inappropriate materials and the teaching thereof are not acceptable within our schools,” said a resident.
At the end of the discussion, the board decided to keep working on the policy.
“We could do a work session now and the seven of us work on it together and then come back with a new document that we can all agree on,” said board member Robert Hundley. “And we got to really decide what it is we are trying to accomplish.”
The Hanover School Board planned to discuss the matter further in a closed session at the end of February.
