LM_NET 03/31/00: No Subject

Sue Johnston, Librarian
CHS Library
Aberdeen,SD
sjohnston@aberdeen.k12.sd.us

The people from the
community in our district are chosen by the community president of the PTA
with the administration approval, I think.

We also include a community member at large and a school board member. On
the one and only time the committee has been convened, the superintendent
asked me to select members. The person making the challenge was invited to
attend but did not have a vote. In many districts I would guess the
superintendent would choose the committee, but I felt we made fair
selections and the School Board President was the board rep.

 While I suppose you could have more "liberal" people appointed, you could
also have more "conservative" ones. I've only had one instance of someone
wanting to remove books from my library, and that was a teacher! (Of course,
I had several teachers who removed books by checking them out and then never
bringing them back.)

Yes, your cmt should include media spec, teacher, parent, etc.  but we
also include 2 members of the community, selected completely by chance
by using a phone book, opening, and pointing.  The administration calls
these citizens and explains the situation.  Most agree to serve.  The
cmt is educated about the policy, the book, and the process.  And we
have never removed a book using this method.

The state laws in Washington mandate the process.  If a parent has a
complaint, they must first speak with the librarian.  If they are not
satisfied, they can get a form for filing a formal challenge with the
district.  At that point, it gets scheduled to go before a committee
designated by the district, generally a materials review/adoption committee.
This body takes testimony and discusses the item, then hands down a
decision.

A committee consisting primarily of professional educators is not "stacked"
towards any personal ideology -- only towards professional principles, such
as equal representation for all sectors of the community, selection of
materials appropriate to the broad scope of the curriculum and the school's
extracurricular activities, and the like.  Parents on school committees are
expected to treat issues personally, since each parent represents his own
child/family/social group.  But educators must consider any particular local
attitudes or trends in light of the US Constitution, state law, and
established sound practice.

The ALA's policy model (last I saw of it, it had a committee membership very
much like yours) and is just fine.  You may prefer one parent and one school
board member, however.

In Walla Walla School District, the Reconsideration Committee is a
DISTRICT committee made up of 1.  The Director of Technology and Library
Media Services (chair)
2.  An administrator ( rotates among all the levels)
3.  A library media specialist (also rotates among all of the levels)
4.  A classroom teacher from elementary
5. A classroom teacher from middle school
6. A classroom teacher from high school
7. A school board member (rotates among the board members)
8. A community member (invited by the superintendent)
    Each person serves for two years, but the positions are overlapping,
i.e., odd numbers replaced one year, even the next.  If the administrator is
secondary, it is usual for the LMS to be elementary.
Any formal challenge is brought to this committee - to be a formal
challenge, it must be submitted in writing.

 I don't care how a committee is "formed" there is always going to be some
one or some group that sees a "spook in the woodpile", especially if
decisions made by the committee do not suit that person or group.  I guess I
am only surprised that the Reconsideration Committee is formed at the
building level - seems like there should be Board Policy to address the
issue.

In my school district, the librarian from the "challenged" school is not on
the committee.
After living with a challenge last year, it isolated us from the
controversy, protecting us and not putting us in a position to have our
judgement called into question (directly, at least).  The control-freak in
me wanted to advocate
for my own materials, but politically and professionally, I think it is the
best way to go in order to protect us.  A fellow librarian and the district
library specialist served on the committee, and they knew what I thought.
They represented me well.

Our committee is appointed by the superintendent and has the following
members:
building principal
librarian
2 building teachers
3 parents
This is much like yours.

We just completed a Selection Policy(for the
whole school) in anticipation of our Re-Accreditation
Process for next year. Our Materials Review Committee
is composed of Headmaster, rep from the department
where materials were questioned, two representatives
from the Board of Trustees, Faculty representative to
the Board, Student representative and parent
representative.  We felt that we needed to get
representation from all areas of the school for such
an important decision.

we have a "Curriculum Council" whose duties include overseeing
curriculum adoptions, pilots and probably a bunch of other stuff.  The
curriculum council  includes elected teachers from each building (we have
only four buildings) and one librarian as well as the assistant
superintendent, and the members are elected for two or three year terms.  It
is this committee who serve as the reconsideration committee.  Since they
are not selected specifically for the review resulting from a challenge, the
issue is moot.

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