CB Students, Teachers Speak Against Advocacy For Library Censorship, Book Removal

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Advocacy for removing "sexually explicit" books from libraries — and pushback from students, teachers, and community members — dominated public comment at last week's meeting of the Central Bucks Board of School Directors.

At least seven community members read passages aloud describing sexual activity, including rape and incest, at the board meeting. The excerpts were lifted from books offered in various Central Bucks middle and high school libraries.

Speakers in public comment read scenes from Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," Maia Kobabe's "Gender Queer," George Matthew Johnson's "All Boys Aren't Blue," and Susan Kuklin's "Beyond Magenta," among others.

Many of the books in question were written by authors of color, and many reckon with LGBTQ+ identity — though several readers insisted that the only goal was to purge "child pornography" and sexually explicit material from school libraries.

"I’m trying to raise morally sound children," Jeanine Cubernot of Doylestown said. "I’m trying to teach my daughter not to go out and have sex with all these different boys. My son as well. So how do you raise morally sound children when they’re able to get books like this out of the library?"

Another speaker, Tanya Kovacs of Buckingham, said she felt Central Bucks' criteria for selecting books was "fundamentally failing."

She invoked the three-prong obscenity test, issued in the ruling of Miller vs. California, which includes the following criteria:

1) Whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ appeals to ‘prurient interest’; 2) Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law 3) Whether the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."

Others used this same criteria as justification for the books' inclusion, given that many of these books are award-winning works seen to have educational and artistic merit for people of various ages.

"There’s a reason that students in Central Bucks receive education regarding the Holocaust, arguably the greatest act of evil in human history," said William Berriman, a senior at Central Bucks High School West. "Although the subject matter is gruesome and the perpetrators vile, our curriculum acknowledges there are valuable lessons to be learned from tragedy."

Some community members also argued that many students have experienced similar hardships to those the parents found objectionable in the books. For many, they explained, literature can be a refuge and an important resource.

"Books did not invite a teacher into my school to assault our students, nor did they force people to yell slurs at peers, or encourage people to make shooting and bomb threats," said Alexandra Coffey, a sophomore at Central Bucks West. "These books promote healing, allowing the students who have been through such atrocities to relate to a person who also has."

A former West teacher of 25 years, Katherine Semisch, also weighed in, saying, "The books are the safest place."

"No kid is ever required to read any of the books that have been mentioned tonight or any other book in the library," she said, adding, "How is this not overreach? If you already have the means to say, ‘My kid will never read that book,’ why do you have the right to decide for somebody else’s kid, ‘You will never read that book’?"

Parents do have the option to request a note be added to their child’s record restricting access to certain content or material, as K-12 library coordinator Melissa Burgess recently detailed in a presentation to Central Bucks' policy committee.

Library policy also states that a thorough weeding of materials also occurs at least once every five years, and that the inclusion of a book can be reassessed based on poor physical condition, outdated content, lack of accuracy, and lack of circulation.

A "Request For Reconsideration" form is available for those who have read a book in its entirety to fill out, if they believe it violates school collections policy and should not be included on Central Bucks shelves. Then, the Reconsideration Committee shall read a book in its entirety, consult professional reviews, examine and evaluate the material relative to the policy, and prepare and present a findings report within 60 days.

Should a complainant still have concerns after reading the committee's findings, they may appeal to the superintendent who will then enact a similar process. If the superintendent's findings are not satisfactory to them, they can formally appeal to the board.

These processes are thorough for a reason: book banning is a centuries-old issue, often deployed to censor material dealing with difficult subjects or presenting marginalized narratives. The U.S. even has a nationally designated Banned Books Week in the fall, which many schools commemorate through reflection on, and reading of, oft-censored texts.

Classics like "Catcher in the Rye" and "Fahrenheit 451" are some of the most commonly challenged books — but the list is extensive and ever-growing.

At the policy meeting, board members Sharon Collopy and Leigh Vlasblom suggested that the library should consider "controversy" and "common sense" when reviewing books. Burgess responded that the district would be constantly censoring if controversial material became criteria for exclusion.

In her comments, Doylestown resident Lela Casey pointed out the repetitive nature of these conversations. (Book banning efforts have swept the nation again recently, from New Jersey to Virginia).

"[This is] a coordinated attack by the right wing which is happening across the board," Casey said Tuesday. "If I want to know what’s happening in our school board meeting tonight, I look at what happened last week in Florida. You’re all following the same playbook.”

One such playbook appears to be laid out on the website Woke Pennsylvania, which presents sections dedicated to Bucks and Montgomery County and an entire section dedicated to books in the Central Bucks School District.

"Woke Pennsylvania is a grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas," the website reads. "Through network and coalition building, investigative reporting, litigation, and engagement on local, and state policies, we are fighting indoctrination in the classroom — and for the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids."

Some excerpts read aloud Tuesday appear to have been lifted directly from those included on the website. A line item on the Central Bucks School District section of the Woke PA website also now includes a recording of public comment at Tuesday's meeting, entitled "Parents Fight Sexually Explicit Books."

One community member, Doreen Stratton, read a different passage from "The Bluest Eye" at the meeting. Taken from the beginning of the book, it included these words: "Adults do not talk to us—they give us directions. They issue orders without providing information."

New library policies have not come before the board for discussion or vote.

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