Staff at a Texas school told to remove the Bible and the adaptation of Anne Frank from libraries

DALLAS—The day before students return to classes, Keller Independent School District officials have ordered campuses to remove any books that have been questioned in the past year from library shelves.

This includes those that were flagged but later approved by a committee to remain in libraries and classrooms.

Among the titles recently questioned by parents and members of the community: Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”, “The Diary of Anne Frank (graphic adaptation)” and the Bible.

Jennifer Price, the district’s curriculum director, emailed principals a set of instructions Tuesday morning, along with a spreadsheet of each challenged title.

“By the end of today, I need all the books out of the library and classrooms,” she wrote. “More information about the action for these books will be sent. …Once this is complete, send me a confirmation email. We need to make sure this action is taken by the end of today.”

District spokesman Bryce Nieman said Keller school board members recently approved a new policy requiring all previously questioned books to be reconsidered.

He said he is not sure of the timetable for when the review process will be completed.

The Texas Education Agency opened an investigation into Keller ISD last year due to concerns that it had sexually explicit books available for children.

The district has been inundated with complaints about inappropriate books, part of a national fight fueled by conservative Republican leaders targeting titles about race, gender and sexuality.

So, for months, parents, community members and Keller staff met behind closed doors to review the questioned books and determine whether they should remain in classrooms or libraries. The debate is so heated that members of the district’s Book Challenge Committees have been asked to sign confidentiality agreements.

Keller officials argued that the district kept the book challenge committee’s deliberations secret in part out of fear of retaliation from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

The district maintains an evolving web page that lists all books challenged by parents or community members, along with the results of each committee’s deliberation. At this point, those decisions seem moot.

The committee decided that “The Bluest Eye” and the Bible would remain in their current locations.

Many of the challenged books focus on gay or transgender characters.

These include “I Am Jazz” (a majority of the committee voted to leave the book in the campus library) and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” (the committee agreed that the book should remain in high schools).

Several of the books questioned at Keller appeared on a list distributed by Rep. Matt Krause last year.

The Fort Worth Republican sent superintendents a letter listing more than 800 titles asking officials to identify whether those books were in schools, where they were located and how much money was spent on them.

His request added fuel to the fight for books in Texas, which has continued to escalate.

The Keller School District is in Tarrant County, outside of Fort Worth. It was one of the North Texas districts where conservative PACS poured a lot of money into the local school board elections in May.

———

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Conversations are the opinions of our readers and are subject to the Code of conduct. The Star does not endorse these views.


Leave a Comment