CARROLL SCHOOL BOARD | Candidates shared their opinions on the book ban

Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories asking candidates for the Carroll County Board of Education to discuss issues important to county residents. Muri Dueppen, Amanda Jozkowski, Greg Malveaux and Kristen Zihmer are on the ballot for two open seats on Carroll’s nonpartisan school board. Their answers are in their own words and have not been edited.

Carroll’s public school system 21 books removed From school libraries starting in August. Starting last September, 61 books were challenged; Most of them came from the Carroll County chapter of the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

Of the books reviewed, 11 have been retained and will be available to students, and 13 books will now require parental permission for a student to borrow from school libraries. Two books, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” and John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” will be kept in high schools but will be removed from middle school shelves. “Juliet Takes a Breath: The Comic Book Version” by Gabby Rivera was also challenged, but is not in school system libraries and has not been reviewed.

The Carroll County Board of Education also voted unanimously. Voted on January 10 to update the IIAA Policy and ban all library books and educational materials containing “explicit” content from public schools. The updated policy defines sexually explicit content as “explicitly describing, depicting, depicting, or writing about sex or sexual acts in a graphic or graphic manner.”

Maryland State Board of Education on July 23 a parent’s appeal to Policy IIAA is deniedbut expressed concerns about how the policy could be used to violate students’ First Amendment rights, according to the state’s appeal documents.

Superintendent Cynthia McCabe last September ordered the challenged books to be removed from Carroll County school library shelves until they could be inspected. re-evaluation process.

The System Reevaluation Committee is responsible for making book removal decisions. This group includes a non-voting president, two school media specialists, two school administrators, one teacher and three parents. Three high school students are also included as the committee reviews books previously deemed appropriate for high school students. All members are appointed by the superintendent.

The system did not share a timeline for completion of the evaluation, and public schools communications coordinator Brenda Bowers said that in the past, about two books a year have been referred to the Reevaluation Committee for review.

According to CCPS policy, books banned or retained by the Carroll County reconsideration process may not be reconsidered for school use for three years after the initial reconsideration request. Any decision to remove a book is final, but a decision to retain a book may be appealed to the superior within 10 days of the decision being made.

Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Nicholas Shockney Serves as McCabe’s attorney while reviewing books on appeal to the Inspector. Shockney said he read each of these books and made his decisions in accordance with the school system’s Policy IIAA, which governs the selection, evaluation and adoption of instructional materials, including supplemental instructional materials such as library books.

As requests are made to re-evaluate the books in the school library, parents and librarians attend school board meetings. stand up to them.

What should be the role of the school board in restricting library books available to students?

: The Board of Education must be as careful about allowing attacks on student freedoms as it is about restricting the speech of community members during the Public Participation portion of Board meetings. There is a policy that needs to be implemented so that it is extremely rare for books to be removed or banned. Media professionals are trained to create age- and developmentally appropriate collections. They should not be slandered or burdened with impossible bureaucracy.

I support mechanisms that support parents who seek to control or restrict their own children’s choices, but who categorically reject the ability of organized activists to take away other parents’ choices, undermine educational freedom, and demonize and demoralize dedicated professionals who promote literacy and love. from reading.

– Jozkowski: Carroll County Public Schools already has a clear process for reevaluating library materials, and the Board of Education’s role should be to support that process in a fair and consistent manner. Every parent has the right to decide what their child will study, but no parent should have the right to impose these restrictions on other families. The mass book reviews we have seen recently have drained resources and damaged trust in our schools. Rather than focusing on censorship in our libraries, we should encourage broad perspectives and focus on academic success, not division. Age and developmental appropriateness are important, but outright bans only limit students’ access to learning tools that encourage critical thinking and empathy. We must trust our educators and librarians to make informed and responsible decisions about what is appropriate for students in schools.

Malveaux: I will not waste taxpayers’ money on age-inappropriate books. I don’t believe in censorship, but I do believe in making sure that what’s in our system is age appropriate.

The Board should support the Carroll County Education Association’s stance of not condoning material that is sexually gratuitous in nature, and I support the removal of such books from school libraries. It is critical that the board comply with federal, state, and local laws restricting student access to age-inappropriate materials. I appreciate the service and experience of librarians and staff who enable us to provide students with ideal learning resources that increase rigor and challenge critical thinking.

– Zihmer: I fully support students’ ability to access books and other supplementary materials that represent many and diverse perspectives, as well as their right to learn about academic subjects from different perspectives. I often default to parental consent when approved materials are controversial or controversial.

Regarding books that are sexually suggestive in nature, I want to be clear that I do not condone sexually gratuitous or excessively sexual content, including graphic depictions of sex and/or rape, in our school libraries.

When it comes to literary classics and other traditional classroom materials, I do not support the exclusion or restriction of such works.

vote

All four candidates advanced in the primary On May 14. Although the school board is considered non-partisan, Jozkowski and Dueppen received funding from Democrats and left-leaning organizations, while Malveaux and Zihmer received funding from Republicans and right-leaning organizations.

Dueppen, of Mount Airy, and Jozkowski, of Eldersburg, are working together and have formed a joint campaign finance committee called Student Achievement List, according to a news release.

Both Malveaux, of Hampstead, and Zihmer, of Westminster, were endorsed by the Carroll County Mothers for Liberty.

Jozkowski finished fifth out of six candidates for three school board seats in the 2022 race. He received 28,216 votes (15.68%) in that election. Dueppen ran for a Board of Education seat in 2018 and received 4,523 votes in the primary, the eighth-highest number of votes out of 11 candidates. Only the top six candidates in this race qualified for the general election. Neither Malveaux nor Zihmer has run for the Carroll County Board of Education in the past.

Early voting in Carroll County began Thursday and will end Oct. 31. Voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Westminster Senior Center, South Carroll Senior Center in Sykesville and the Coppermine Pantherplex in Hampstead. Information about polling places is also available at: voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/PollingPlaceSearch. For information about submitting a mail-in ballot, visit: elections.carrollcountymd.gov/GetMailBallot.aspx. Election day is Tuesday, November 5.

Have a news tip? Contact Thomas Goodwin Smith at [email protected].