Keller parents and school staffers are meeting behind closed doors to determine which books can remain on library shelves.
Anonymous committee members will argue the merits of work from authors like Toni Morrison as well as titles that have won national recognition. Such discussions nationwide are egged-on by Republican leaders who are targeting books about race and sexuality.
And these debates playing out across Texas are so heated that those on Keller ISD’s Book Challenge Committees were asked to sign confidentiality agreements.
The Dallas Morning News obtained reports from the district’s committees through a public records request, shedding some light on this process. The reports provide insight into how books are evaluated and what issues parents raise when they say works shouldn’t be available to kids.
The challenge committees’ work has already resulted in books being removed from shelves, as similar moves across the state have sparked condemnation from education and free speech advocates.
School libraries, they say, are often where kids turn to for free access to literature that both reflects their own experiences and expands their understanding of the world. In recent years, school librarians and educators have worked to expand their book selections to include the stories of people who are often underrepresented in the curriculum.
Many of the books being challenged across Texas — and nationwide — delve into the experiences of people of color and the LGBT community. At school board meetings, enraged parents have read out salacious excerpts from material they believe inappropriate.
Ashley Hope Pérez, an author and former Texas teacher, questioned whether book committees or school officials are making decisions to placate parents rather than based on what students need from literature. Her book, Out of Darkness, is a work of historical fiction that’s been challenged across the state because it contains some sexual content and violence.
“When school districts elevate the interests of this handful of parents who are coming — calling books ‘filth’ that have characters with these identities — they are basically endorsing the marginalization of those young people,” she said.
Keller ISD is under investigation by the Texas Education Agency because of the district’s book offerings. It appears to be the first to come under the microscope since Gov. Greg Abbott demanded a probe into whether public school libraries contain obscene materials. Advocates quickly lambasted Abbott for whipping up a moral panic by labeling books, particularly those about LGBT people, as pornographic.
Keller officials declined an interview request about its book challenge committees, citing the ongoing TEA investigation.
One of the books challenged in the district is All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Johnson. A parent complained about the book because of its “Language, LGBTQ Content, Sexual Content,” according to a committee report.
Johnson said during a recent panel on censorship that the book is “for people who are like me to feel seen and heard and for people who are unlike me to know that we actually exist in this world and that it was on them to change the circumstances of people who have been pushed to the margins historically in this country.”
Ultimately, Keller agreed Johnson’s goal was accomplished.
“The committee unanimously agreed that the book should remain in high school libraries and in classroom libraries at the high school level,” the report states.
Other books, though, met a different outcome.
The challenge process
Keller ISD maintains an evolving webpage, listing every book that’s challenged by parents or community members — along with the results of each committee’s deliberation.
The committees for each book include at least one educator with experience using the challenged book. They may also include district personnel, library staff and students. Keller invites at least two parents to each committee.
The Bluest Eye, Morrison’s debut novel: Outcome pending. Gender Queer, a graphic novel specifically called out by Abbott for its illustrations: No longer in district circulation. I am Jazz, a children’s book about a transgender girl: Scheduled for review on Jan. 10.
At the top of the list is Pérez’s book, Out of Darkness.
A Fort Worth woman challenged the book in October, writing in her complaint that it was “so sexually explicit, violent, and obscene that it is traumatizing to students and should be removed for their safety and emotional welfare.”
The book committee’s report first takes stock of the book’s purpose and whether it serves that well. Out of Darkness chronicles a doomed love story between a Mexican American girl and an African American boy, leading up to the 1937 New London school explosion.
“The book explores discrimination and racism against Latin individuals while highlighting a little-known tragedy in Texas,” the committee wrote.
Then they consider its content: Is the resource appropriate for the campus level? Are the illustrations appropriate for the subjects and age levels? Does the book give a dimension or direction that is new or different from others available for the subject?
The book’s sexual content is “not pervasive and is a small part scattered throughout a long and rich book,” a committee report notes.
That echoes the arguments of Pérez and other authors, who have pushed back on parent complaints. The authors say pieces of their work are being lifted out of context when evocative excerpts are shared during heated testimony at school board meetings .
Reading about sexual abuse, which is part of Out of Darkness’ plot, “allows for conversations to take place that might never happen otherwise,” the committee members noted.
“Young people may recognize behavior as wrong in a book before they see that same wrongness in the abuse they’ve been subjected to and seek help because of it,” they wrote.
Keller officials acknowledge that students’ First Amendment rights must be considered as they evaluate titles. The committees must determine if the book is “pervasively vulgar.”
Ultimately, the divided committee concluded that since high schoolers’ maturity levels vary, “not all students could handle the book.” Out of Darkness — which was honored with a national award for teen literature in 2016 — will not be available on the open shelves of Keller school libraries. Now it can be checked out only with parent consent.
Keller officials allow parents to restrict their children from checking out any book that’s been formally challenged this year. Other districts often have some process that allows families to have a say in accessing books.
Pérez said the committee’s process raises more questions. Who was included in the debate? Were student voices considered? And have they thought through what instituting a parental restriction actually does for teenagers’ access?
“There’s probably not a single book in that library that’s for all students,” she said. “I never intended to write a book that was for all students. But Out of Darkness is the book for a student or some students, and they deserve to be able to find it in their school library.”
Statewide controversy
Several of the books currently being challenged in Keller appeared on a list circulated by Rep. Matt Krause earlier this year.
The Fort Worth Republican sent some superintendents a letter listing more than 800 titles. The lawmaker — who is the chairman of the House’s investigations committee and briefly considered a run for attorney general — asked school officials to identify whether those books were located in schools, where they were located and how much money was spent on them.
Since then, Texas’ fight over books has intensified.
Abbott directed state education officials to investigate whether pornography is available in public schools and to notify law enforcement if such material is accessible. In Williamson County, commissioners debated withholding federal pandemic relief funds from districts because of such book controversies.
It remains unclear what will become of TEA’s investigation into Keller. State officials plan to probe whether the district failed to properly review and monitor library books, leading to students having access to inappropriate content.
The district continues to invite parents and community members to flag inappropriate books via a Google Form.
Among the titles that have drawn complaints: The Bible.
The parent — who wrote that the book contained “sexual content, violence including rape, murder, human sacrifice, misogyny, homophobia, discrimination, and other inappropriate content” — eventually withdrew the challenge.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
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