Houston County schools take proactive approach to ‘controversial’ library content

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WTVY) – Earlier this school year, after noticing some online reading materials that all students could access, a Houston County teacher expressed concern to school officials.

Teachingbooks.net is a resource provided by the Alabama Virtual Library.

“When we started looking at this we had to change some things and we had to block some of the access and allow our teachers to just give our students some access to the books to try and stop them seeing some controversial material that was available,” says Houston County Schools Superintendent Brandy White.

Specifically, books related to gender and sexual identity.

White continues, “We found quite a bit of material related to transgender, LGBTQ, and some of it was at very low levels and it was just inappropriate for our students, in our view.”

He says that as a school district, they want to be proactive.

“I feel like our parents wouldn’t want their kids to have access to this, however, with online access as it is now, those kids have access to it at home, and so I think our parents must also be very careful. at home,” says White.

For books in school libraries, they go through a selection process before placement.

“When I order a book at the beginning of the year, it takes me a long time to go through everything,” says Elizabeth Terry, media specialist at Rehobeth Elementary School. “I’m very selective with everything I buy for the library. I want to make sure I’ve watched almost everything that’s on.

Terry explains that sometimes literature can be controversial depending on the age group reading it, and that’s why they’re extremely careful.

“You may have a child who reads at a high level, above their grade level, and we have to make sure that we kind of guide them when they choose material that doesn’t have more mature content than what he can understand at their age,” finished Terry.

Ensure the top priority is educating students in a safe space with appropriate resources.

Houston County Schools has a policy in place that parents can challenge the material.

If brought to the attention of the school board and deemed inappropriate, student access will be removed.

Subscribe to our Newsletter News 4 and get the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning. Get instant notifications on top News 4 stories by downloading our mobile app.