New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

Selection process of library books elaborated at New Kent School Board work session

By Andre Jones | October 25, 2021 9:09 pm

After a controversial book was pulled from the shelf of New Kent Middle School, parents and community member questioned how the literature was able to make its way into the media center in the first place. New Kent Public School staff and school board members addressed that issue at Monday night’s work session.

The opening presentation of the night centered around the process of how library books are chosen for their respective schools.

“We have very passionate library and media specialists,” said Ross Miller, Director of Innovation and Development. “Most of the information can be found in our policy manual.”

Among criteria that is used to assist media specialists include research, maintaining up-to-date interest of readers, instructional material, and reading requirements. Librarians also use a plethora of associations to assist them with the choices, including recommendations from the American Library Association (ALA), American Association of School Libraries, and Follett Titlewave, a company that is used to highlight books geared to specific ages.

“After the library specialist selects a book, they meet with a principal or designee,” Miller added. “They will also meet with an appointed teacher or other specialist if needed.”

Miller continued speaking about the process, saying that if it is ideal that the media specialist will read the book. But with hundreds of books coming in at one time, libraries often rely on a list of recommendations. According to Miller, the process isn’t perfect.

“We try to hit on a wide arrange of appropriate material,” the director continued. “We try to have an up-to-date list of current literature.

“When media specialists do these reviews, they are looking at categories that may need additional material, replacement books that are damage, and those books that students are interested in,” Miller added. “We also review for age appropriateness, but there are times where a book can be for a group and that age interacts with another group where it’s deemed inappropriate.”

Miller provided an example where the middle school has students ages 11-14 and a book could be recommended for ages 13 and up, similar to the one that was removed from New Kent Middle School’s Library.

“It’s a process that we are going to reconsider with learning material, but there is a policy that we have to get the book removed,” the director added, showing a slide with the steps. “There is a form at the school that is completed and given to the principal. Once the principal reviews it and makes a decision, if the submitter doesn’t like the decision, they can appeal it to the superintendent. If this doesn’t resolve the issue at the superintendent level, they can appeal it to the school board.”

Superintendent of schools Brian Nichols interjected, saying that the issue with the book in question didn’t follow the process, but was expedited to quickly address the concerns.

“This was a good learning step for us because it shows us that our process isn’t perfect,” said Nichols. “That’s why we try to get more people involved and that’s our goal.”

Ross also added that when dealing with young adult content in selecting books is when it gets edgy.

“The young adult group of ages 13-18 is something that we have had talks about with our media specialists,” Ross said.

For District 1 school board representative Wayne Meade, he was pleased that both the superintendent and the schools address the issue on the inappropriate book quickly but hopes an easier process can be put in place for parents to become more familiar.

“We definitely need to make it easier for parents to get access to this form,” he said. “The more knowledgeable they are about the things we have in place, the better it is for them. We need to make it accessible to all.

“I hope that even though we were able to get on top of this issue that parents become more involved in knowing what their kids are reading,” Meade added. “I hope this process gets parents more engaged.”

Among ideas floated around at the school level include parents having an opt-in option to allow their students to read young adult content. The process would notify parents if their child checks out a more mature level book for reading.

“We are currently working with all parties,” Ross said as he ended his presentation. “We are working with the media specialists, principals, parents, and staff to make a panel on this issue.”

In another school board matter, the first look at the FY2022-23 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) recommendations were presented.

Director of Finance Haynie Morgheim presented a $1.6 million in CIP recommendations for the upcoming year. Among top items listed included $599,718 for school buses and $405,000 to work on the high school roof. There is also a grant opportunity to address HVAC issues at New Kent Middle School, as well as control units at George Watkins Elementary School and New Kent High School. The grant is in the amount of $617,717 but require a local match of $205,932.