LANDER — A banned book display at Lander Valley High School that included titles such as “The Great Gatsby,” “Slaughterhouse 5,” and “Two Boys Kissing” sparked controversy last week, with Fremont County School District #1 Board Chair Jared Kail calling some of the selections “for lack of a better term — the woke left.”
The school board discussion came amid district leaders considering changes to the policy that outlines the way parents and community members can object to school materials, including library books. Kail said he’d received several complaints about the display via email, and administrators investigated it.
The banned books showcased at the library were part of a student assignment.
“I meant to get people talking and thinking with the display, not to stir up controversy,” explained Lander Valley High School senior Theresa Bautz, who created the project highlighting banned books as part of a classroom assignment.
One of the books in particular — “Two Boys Kissing” — seemed to draw the greatest attention, and was stolen or otherwise hidden twice since the display was set up several weeks ago.
Bautz and LVHS Librarian Nathan Shoutis said they felt that the scrutiny from district leaders over the display is part of a pattern of sidelining the concerns of LGBTQ+ students and their allies.
School board members raised concern about the display during the board meeting last week.
The district currently has a policy regarding the way parents and community members may object to library and other school materials, which the board has been re-examining in recent months.
Typically, people who take issue with a book or other school material first approach the librarian or teacher, and if the issue couldn’t be resolved, they move on to the building principal. The board would normally be the “last resort” in terms of where a person should lodge a materials complaint, noted board member Taylor Jacobs.
In this instance, since it was a student project, the chain of command was a bit less clear, said Lander Superintendent Dr. Dave Barker.
Board member Scott Jensen, who had requested the school materials objection policy be retooled late last year, said he was concerned it took an “investigation” to determine the banned books display was a student project.
It’s located, he explained, in a location that’s typically controlled by staff members, adding, “I would consider it a controversial political speech” in violation of the district’s policy outlining such speech.
For a student to be given that platform, in a location typically used for staff displays, “They appear to be the ideas of the district,” added board member Mike McConnell.
If we say we won’t have any books that could potentially offend someone, noted Barker, eventually we won’t have many books.
Kail said the display includes neutral books and those that lean heavily to the left, with nothing representing the other political side.
McConnell asked Barker to determine whether the display project was part of a certain curriculum stemming from a specific area of standards.
For examples of the ways in which they feel that the school district has not responded to the concerns of LGBTQ+ people and allies about harassment in Lander schools, both Shoutis and Bautz pointed to the events surrounding the school board’s removal of five protected classes from the school district’s non-discrimination policy last spring.
These events included students, parents, and community members speaking at the relevant school board meeting, as well as student-led protests and a walk-out at the high school.
Bautz and Shoutis both said they didn’t feel district leaders had responded to student concerns about feeling unsafe, including the rumor of a threat of gun violence during the student walk-out over the policy change.
“There has been to my knowledge no follow-up whatsoever to students … who said they were afraid,” said Shoutis. “It was never addressed in any meaningful way from the powers-that-be in this school district.”
As for “Two Boys Kissing,” Shoutis said he’s got another copy ordered to add back into Bautz’s display.
He said the idea that Bautz would have to take down her display was “an infringement” on her rights as a student; he’s submitted his resignation letter for his library leadership job.
Bautz does not intend to let this controversy deter her passion for books. She said that she has enjoyed her time volunteering at the Lander Library as well as her time spent in the LVHS library, and she plans to continue working with books in the future.
“I’m grateful that you were the librarian for my high school career,” she told Shoutis.
Bautz decided to make a banned books display for her project for this class because she felt that it was a topical and important theme that she wanted to bring to the attention of her fellow students.
“We’re at a point in the nation where bills are being passed … books are being blanket-banned in schools,” she remarked, explaining that she carefully selected a range of books based on lists of banned books in the United States, trying to be as objective and informative as possible.
As part of her display, Bautz made small cards with quotes about why each book was banned from one of the bodies that had banned it; featured books included “Of Mice and Men,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Maus” and “The Hate U Give,” as well as “Two Boys Kissing.”
Past displays created by students in the class have included topics as varied as Black History Month and favorite authors.
It is clear to Bautz that the reaction to her display has to do with “Two Boys Kissing” specifically, as there have been many book displays made for this class in the past and yet “none have ever had the same reaction as this single book.”
The display went up part way through the school day on April 7; by the following Monday, Shoutis had already observed two different groups of students openly laughing about and reacting negatively to the title of “Two Boys Kissing,” one group doing so directly in front of a student who Shoutis knows to be LGBTQ+.
“The controversy started almost immediately,” he said.
Shoutis caught students trying to remove and hide the book on Tuesday, April 11, the same day he was asked to speak with Principal Brad Neundorf about the display. By Wednesday, “Two Boys Kissing” was missing from the LVHS library, presumably stolen.
Bautz was called into Neuendorf’s office on the morning of Wednesday, April 12, and said that he told her in that meeting that the school board felt her display was biased. She was taken aback by this, as Bautz felt that she had been careful not to editorialize when she created the display, instead just presenting books that have been banned with quotes about why they were banned.
She further thought that it is noteworthy that many of the books in her display are actually books that are common parts of high school English class curriculums, including books read in classes at LVHS.
“This is a national point of education and what we as a society have deemed important,” Bautz continued, pointing out that many of the books that are read in high school classes also feature adult themes.
Both Bautz and Shoutis described these events as part of a larger pattern.
“There’s a much bigger story here … about bigotry against LGBTQ+ people,” Shoutis explained.
The policy outlining how complaints about materials will be handled was first broached late last year, when Jensen said he had heard that some library leaders had felt targeted for criticism stemming from national debate about what’s appropriate for children in schools.
“The ill will, I think some of that rubs off on us,” he said of distrust between parents and school leaders on a national level.
He said he wanted to push back on that trend, adding, “When I hear the term ‘book banning,’ that’s certainly not what we’re doing here.”
Several proposed revisions to the policy have been aired, including who will be part of a panel to review materials that have been challenged and not resolved at the teacher/librarian or principal level, as well as the timeline for that review process. At its March meeting, board members elected to table a first reading of a new draft, noting that they’d like more time to discuss the policy before taking a vote.
Source: Gillette News Record