THE FIGHT OVER FORT BEND ISD LIBRARY BOOKS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MONTHS
Libraries are a place where you can get lost in a book and learn about something new. They also tend to be on the quiet side.
But what's on Fort Bend ISD library shelves is making a lot of noise. At a board meeting earlier this year, a number of people took to the podium.
"I hope you don't sin, and start getting this junk out of our schools," one person said.
"If you keep it in here, you're complicit in the sexualization of children," another person said. "It's got to stop!"
This summer, the school board plans to revisit the district's policy to remove books. Before it does, the district has had more than 30 books challenged this year - novels that will be read by a committee.
DOCUMENTS REVEAL ONLY ONE PERSON IS RAISING CONCERNS ABOUT THE BOOKS
13 Investigates requested the documents to see who's challenged the books. We discovered it was only one person.
"Without knowing firsthand, my guess would be people on the extreme of one side or the other," Fort Bend ISD taxpayer Paul Cooper said.
It's a person who said in the documents they only read excerpts.
"If you want to exclude it, then certainly you ought to know everything about it," Fort Bend ISD taxpayer Fedell Price said. "If you want to exclude it, you have a more credible voice if you have read it."
The person who's challenging books is Fort Bend ISD board member David Hamilton.
"I found content that discusses sex with Jesus and oral sex with Jesus," Hamilton explained. "There's school library content about child porn and child rape."
Hamilton said he learned about the books in January. He started to challenge them months later.
"I've tried to get other people to submit forms, and I think it's just the political reality right now that people are afraid to be called a book banner," Hamilton said.
Hamilton said he's not a banner but a concerned parent. If he's worried, we asked why not read the whole book.
"I think it's fair for somebody to ask that question, and if you're going to have that criticism of me, then you should have that criticism for a lot of these books getting into the campus libraries," Hamilton said.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS AFTER A FORT BEND ISD BOOK IS CHALLENGED
After someone challenges a book, a five-person committee reads the literature. It can be removed, retained, or restricted.
The district created a website where you can see the books that are being reviewed by the committee. So far, eight of the books Hamilton wants gone have been removed.
Seven were kept. One of the books allowed to remain on high school shelves is "People Kill People." One committee wrote the book is beneficial to high school students, but Hamilton disagrees.
"The book's got a handgun on the cover, and the title is literally 'People Kill People'," Hamilton said.
It's a controversial cover, but committee members say the book allows students to see themselves and not feel alone.
CHANGES COULD BE COMING TO HOW BOOKS ARE REVIEWED
The documents reveal that committee members fear the rubric isn't fair. They add that kids are more open-minded than adults.
A challenge could soon be less involved. Hamilton wants either a librarian or administrator to decide the fate of certain books.
"We should trust them to be educational experts when it comes to deciding which books to remove," Hamilton said.
It's a path education experts warn may not be inclusive.
"The reason you have a diverse group that should be reviewing when instructional material is challenged is because we all have very different perspectives," University of Houston assistant clinical professor Duncan Klussmann explained.
Klussmann is a former superintendent who now teaches at UH. He said book challenges aren't new.
When he was a district leader 10 years ago, books were challenged. He said these concerns were brought on by parents, never a school board member.
But he said the pandemic has caused some elected leaders to focus on libraries - an attention he said may not be a bad thing because the process of how districts buy books has changed.
"Once it became more online ordering and librarians could order directly, I feel like what happened in many cases, librarians used just the rating system," Klussmann said. "It's like you going on Amazon and saying, 'Oh, this book gets a good rating.' And there probably wasn't as strong of a review over the last 10 years of what those instruction materials or library books should be."
HAMILTON FEARS IF THE BOOKS AREN'T REMOVED, HE COULD BE CRIMINALLY CHARGED
It's not just school board members focused on this. State lawmakers are, too.
Last session, HB 900 passed that requires vendors to let districts know about graphic material.
The bill has been challenged in court. It's a 10-page bill Hamilton is aware of, although, like the books, he's only read some of it.
"I've read most of it," Hamilton said. "I haven't read word for word the entire thing."
An attorney who reviewed the bill told ABC13 there's nothing that references jail time. Hamilton said the district's attorney says it's unclear because the bill mentions a penal code where someone could be charged with a misdemeanor or felony.
More board members are set to weigh in soon. On Wednesday, there will be a special board workshop on the book challenge policy.
It'll then head back to a committee before it's expected to go to the full board for a vote later this summer.
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