GREEN RIVER – Guidelines released by the Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder are being called the start of good conversation about appropriate content in school libraries.
Degenfelder’s office released guidelines Wednesday and are related to establishing or modifying library material policy, aiming to help keep materials with inappropriate content out of school libraries. The guidelines were developed with statewide input from librarians, teachers, parents, schoolboard members and business leaders.
“When I campaigned across the state of Wyoming for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, there were few issues that I heard about more from citizens than concerns about inappropriate materials and books in schools,” Degenfelder said. “There is absolutely no room in the classroom for inappropriate materials or influences. We must protect our children and we must protect public education.”
The guidelines are not firm rules dictating what should and shouldn’t be in a school library and are designed to help districts create their own policies.
“Please know that no part of this guidance is required by law or to be taken as legal advice,” Degenfelder writes in the cover letter.
Degenfelder believes several points should be considered when drafting a material’s policy, which include affirming the parent’s right to restrict access to materials they believe are inappropriate for their children, promoting “maximum transparency” of material, books and curriculum taught in a district, a policy should be uniform across all genders and should not be used as a tool to discriminate, and affirming the idea that all education, including library books and materials, is a collaborative process between parents and the school and district staff.
The guidelines themselves including pointers on creating a stakeholder committee, as well as recommending a means of allowing parents to opt in or out of allowing their child to use library resources, as well as build a material selection process and a prohibited content provision within the policy.
“(The guidelines) are the start of good guidance in times when schools are getting hit from all sides,” Craig Barringer, superintendent of Sweetwater County School District No. 2 said.
Barringer said he hadn’t had a chance to review the guidelines in detail but agrees with the goal Degenfelder has.
“There should not be sexually explicit materials in K-12,” he said.
Barringer said the district has a policy on its books focused on what materials are appropriate for school libraries. He said each school has its own library and the district shies away from shelving books with explicit subject matter or themes not appropriate for the age groups within a building. Barringer said the district’s view on materials with more adult themes is parents who are permissive about their children reading books with those themes can find them at the county library system or through online bookstores.
Barringer said the district is working with Degenfelder’s office to build transparency with families and sees the guidelines and a great point to start conversations about materials within school libraries.
A call to Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Superintendent Kelly McGovern was not returned as of publication time.
