Pine-Richland school board meeting on book policy turns contentious
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — Parents in Pine-Richland School District sounded off against a book ban-style policy under consideration during a contentious school board meeting on Thursday evening.
They were joined in their frustration by a minority of school board members and at times the district's superintendent.
The policy change under consideration would shift the authority to ban certain books in district schools from the superintendent to the school board.
Public comment for the one-topic meeting that started at 6 p.m. did not begin by 11:30 p.m., but that didn't stop a vocal crowd from repeatedly voicing their displeasure with board members who support the changes.
They called on board members to be transparent about why they wanted the changes, along with other questions.
"It is disturbing for our whole community, and I see you have supporters who you have asked to be here tonight. And I hope they see what cowards you are, that you can't talk about these things. If you feel that strongly about it, open your mouths and tell us why it is so important," board member Amy Terchick said amid a discussion on tweaking the policy.
The board members who favor the change didn't provide much of a response, focusing instead on making small changes to the text of the policy itself.
"If you could hold off on the name calling, let us get through the policy and make some of these changes," board member Lisa Hillman said.
The board, at times, struggled to make progress.
"The community has the opportunity to bring forward books they find objectionable. And at that point, this board will have to do its job, and it'll be on a case-by-case basis," said board member Michael Wiethorn.
The comment was met with backlash from members of the audience, and Wiethorn ended up threatening to move the meeting online.
At multiple points during the meeting, board members who are against the policy change asked to allow students who wanted to speak to do so early, as public comment was not until the end of the meeting and students are amid their midterms. On multiple occasions, the board voted to make the students wait. Only at about 10:45 pm. were the students allowed to speak.
"With great sadness and disbelief I'm admitting with great sadness that our school board has set us back," said Elise Duckworth. "This board has now officially gone against everything we claim to believe as a country."
No final vote was taken on Thursday
