Days after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law banning so-called book bans in California schools, the Escondido Union School District is questioning some of the reading material in its libraries.
A complaint about sexually explicit material in some books led to a two-week lcosure of district libraries so those books can be reviewed. Some parents say they wish they had more of a say, regardless of how they feel about the content.
"We are supposed to be encouraging our kids to be reading every day and now they have no access," Bear Valley Middle School parent Allison Talbott said.
Talbott said her kids are avid readers and take books with them everywhere they go. Her oldest daughter Cailyn found acceptance in Bear Valley’s library.
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"I would go to the library every day. Every single day. In the morning and during lunch. It was a really safe place for me to hang out and read," the high school sophomore said.
The family finds the two-week shutdown for a book audit over someone’s idea of inappropriate material Orwellian.
"[The decision] should be made with the community and the parents, and even students should be able to have their voices heard," Ed Talbott said. 'If that’s not what’s happening, I would be very concerned after the fact."
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The district put out a statement to parents Wednesday explaining that the libraries would be closed for the next two weeks but did not identify the title of the book that supposedly contains the explicit material, nor did they say what could happen to this book or any others.
In part of an emailed statement sent to NBC 7, Superintendent Luis Ibarra wrote:
"As an elementary district that serves students from PK to 8th grade, we are committed to not introducing inappropriate material to our students. The careful review of book collections is a routine practice that our library media techs do often in order to make room for newer collections.”
Coincidently, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1078, authored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson from Moreno Valley. It placed an immediate ban on school library book bans.
"We have school districts large and small banning books, banning free speech, criminalizing librarians and teachers. We want to do more than just push back rhetorically against that," Newsom said.
What impact the law might have on EUSD's decisions remains a mystery. There are other questions swirling around the library closures.
"Shouldn’t we have transparency? If books are being reviewed, what are the guidelines for the reviews? Are books going to be removed from our shelves?" Allison Talbott questioned.
She said she may not approve of her children reading the book at the center of the complaint, but she would like it to be a family decision.
Ibarra said library services will resume as soon as the audit is completed at all school sites, and that it will be no later than Oct. 6.
