Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees approved policy revisions regarding books and other instructional materials during its Aug. 27 meeting.
The revisions apply to the accessibility and selection of instructional materials available to students in K-12 schools in the district. An updated process for reviewing requests to remove instructional materials from schools was also added to the policy.
In terms of accessibility, the revised policy requires the district to maintain a complete list of all books and materials available to students on its website. Teachers and media specialists are responsible for creating a separate list of the instructional materials available in their classroom or library to provide to a parent or guardian if requested.
The district policy was revised due to a recently enacted regulation by the South Carolina State Board of Education. Regulation 43-170 establishes definitions and criteria to determine if instructional materials are “age and developmentally appropriate and educationally suitable” for students.
According to the regulation, age and developmentally appropriate material is based on the age and grade level of the students in each school. Material containing sexually explicit content is automatically considered not age-appropriate and is required to be removed by the district.
Teaching materials policy revision process
The district formed an ad hoc committee to consider the policy revisions before they were brought before the Committee of the Whole on Aug. 13. The committee revised the proposed policy and voted to advance it to the full board.
The board voted 10-2 in favor of the revisions after a lengthy discussion on the inclusion of a school-level review panel in the updated complaint review process of instructional materials. If needed, the panel would help the principal review parent or guardian concerns about a certain material.
The school principal would select the seven-person panel consisting of a teacher, media specialist, administrator, Academics Department representative and three parents. The panel would help determine if the material is “educationally suitable” and recommend if it should be permitted, restricted or removed.
Some board trustees, including Jeff Cochran, questioned whether a school-level review panel was necessary for the review process. Cochran said the district had a similar committee that would review the instructional materials, but in recent situations the board voted against the committee’s recommendations.
Doug Webb, GCS general council, shared that the idea for the panel was discussed with the district’s principals, who were supportive of the local review opportunity. The school-level panels were included in the revised policy after an amendment failed to pass.
While the panel can make a recommendation, the superintendent or designee would have the final decision to remove or restrict the book throughout the school district. If the complainant is unsatisfied with the decision, they can file a formal complaint to the district’s board of trustees which would also be submitted to the State Board of Education.
Pausing book fairs
During the Aug. 27 meeting, several community members pushed back on the district’s decision to pause in-school book fairs for the current school year.
According to Greenville County Schools, the school-sponsored book fairs were paused due to SC Regulation 43-170 which includes requirements on how instructional materials are “made available to students” which includes book fairs.
Read more on the book fair pause
Sarah Frick, a GCS parent and professor at Furman University, said taking away the book fairs is the wrong way to go.
“I understand you are trying to protect yourself from really horrible, horrible legislation,” Frick said. “What are you trying to protect children from here – literacy?”
Superintendent Burke Royster said the regulation includes penalties for district employees who violate the requirements of the regulation. This could potentially include suspending or revoking an individual’s teaching certificate.
“We have paused those book fairs to provide time for us to have discussions with the 12 to 15 vendors that conduct them,” Royster said. “For one, they cannot currently assure us of the titles of the books they will send. So any employee involved in that process may place themselves in jeopardy by putting out book titles that they’ve had no opportunity to vet.”
According to an information sheet provided to meeting attendees, the district has informed principals that the school’s Parent Teacher Association could sponsor book fairs off campus. School employees, however, should not be involved in the event.
The district also shared they are directing concerns to the State Board of Education and the General Assembly who could potentially amend the regulation.
GCS Board Trustee Charles Saylors announced the advocacy committee will meet on Sept. 17 to discuss a resolution to send to the General Assembly asking that book fairs be set aside as a “carve out” in the regulation. This would essentially exempt or exclude book fairs from the regulation.
“Now that is not a quick fix but it is the first step to getting there,” Saylors said.
The post Greenville school board OKs changes to teaching materials policy: Board of Trustees notes appeared first on GREENVILLE JOURNAL.