After fighting for months to get sexually explicit books out of their kids’ school libraries, residents of one North Texas school district want greater transparency about the district’s ongoing library book review process.

Parents and community members in Keller Independent School District are planning to rally at tonight’s school board meeting.

According to Keller ISD’s status report on challenged books, a total of 10 books have been taken off library shelves. The removals were authorized by school officials using their discretion (under a policy common to all Texas districts) to remove books that are “pervasively vulgar” or educationally unsuitable.

Other books challenged by parents and community members have been sent to review committees.

None of those books have been removed, though a few have had access restricted.

“The one phrase they keep using against us is ‘book burners,’” said a Keller ISD parent involved in the book challenges:

There are books that we have brought to the district’s attention and the district and librarians themselves have removed the books without a committee.

 

We are not the “book burners” that many call us. We are bringing age-inappropriate content to light that shouldn’t be in a school library.

But parents want to know what’s happening once those books are sent to a challenge review committee.

Keller parents first found what they considered pornographic material in their local school libraries last October.

Since then, like parents across the state, they’ve been pressing district officials to address their concerns about multiple books identified as inappropriate for minor children to access at school without parental consent.

Yet Keller’s book review rollout has been rocky. For example, challenge committee members were originally required to sign non-disclosure agreements, but the district lifted the requirement when parents pushed back.

Tonight’s Keller ISD board meeting begins at 7 p.m. Details and a link to livestreaming video are available on the district’s website.

Erin Anderson

Erin Anderson is a Senior Journalist for Texas Scorecard, reporting on state and local issues, events, and government actions that impact people in communities throughout Texas and the DFW Metroplex. A native Texan, Erin grew up in the Houston area and now lives in Collin County.

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