Williamson County approves extra notification to parents when a school library book is challenged

Williamson County Schools Board of Education voted to give parents two notifications when there’s a request to remove a book from a school library.Last April, the board passed the first reading of a library materials policy that notifies parents after the board votes on  a challenged book.At last week’s meeting, board member Sheila Cleveland proposed updating the proposed policy to provide parents with an earlier notification.  Under Cleveland’s proposal, the district would provide parents an initial notification when the review committee makes its recommendation on challenged books.“The bottom line of this is full transparency of what’s going on in our system so all parents know. And it will also put the responsibility in the parents’ lap of being able to choose what their child reads and what they don’t because we do have the system to be able to opt out, and therefore the freedom of choice for the parents,” said Cleveland.The policy is intended to provide additional clarity to the process and notify the parents of what books are being challenged, the recommendation, the option to talk to the school librarian or principal, and explicit instructions on how to opt out.A written notification would be provided to parents within seven days immediately after the review committee presents its written recommendation to the principal and superintendent.Under the proposed policy, a challenged book would remain on the shelves until the school board decides the challenge.The change saw support from board members who want to give parents more transparency, but others questioned whether the additional notification is truly needed.“I don’t worry about pressure on the committee, that’s part of doing their job, but I think our parents are smart enough and need to know at the time that there is a group of books that are being considered,” said board member Eliot Mitchell. “So I’ll support this because I don’t think there’s harm in notifying our parents, but I’ll make the point that I don’t think there’s harm in notifying our parents at the beginning of the committee formation either.”The board voted 8 to 3 to include Cleveland’s amendment.The library materials policy still needs a third vote for final approval.