Pittsburgh-area school district parents challenge 12 school library books
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Parents in the Pine-Richland School District filed challenges to remove 12 books from school libraries.
They voiced their opinions at a school board meeting, calling several of the books "pornographic." Those parents want school leaders to pull those 12 books from the library, even threatening to vote out the board members who disagree.
Cynthia Vogel is one of the community members not mincing words and asking the school to remove books they considers sexually explicit.
"It will wound and break the soul of a child," Vogel said. "It will expose and awaken things in a child that shouldn't awaken. A child doesn't have the maturity to process these types of sexual content"
A community member even stood up and read a passage from "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson. It is a young adult memoir about growing up Black and queer that's become one of the most banned books in the U.S.
"To the men on the board, what if someone sent this book to your son or daughter," one community member said. "Would you embrace it and accept it for Christmas or would you find the nearest trash can?"
Other books currently available to students that they object to include "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Push" by Sapphire. A school board member said there's an existing policy that allows for people to challenge the available books. Parents are challenging approximately 12 out of some 20,000 books available.
"That provision and this policy has been in place for a little over a decade now," one school board member said. "These are the first 12 or 13 requests we've ever received."
District leaders told concerned parents and community members that they'll follow policy and look into this request and the books in question. Meanwhile, parents reminded the board they think they get the final say.
"Our children when they enter the school building and become your students are still our children. And as such, we are the parents and we have the rights, responsibilities, and authority to make sure that what goes on in our school is consistent with the way we raise our kids," community member Eli Santiago said.
KDKA-TV reached out to Pine-Richland for comment and learned a committee will be formed to conduct the process outlined by the policy that deals with the books in the library.