KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
Lee’s Summit R-7 libraries roll out unique program that balances censorship concerns amid book challenges
In trying to strike a balance between the rights of parents and censorship, the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District has come up with a unique solution — one that provides a new option for parents who want control over what their kids check out but without removing books altogether.
“With any kind of issue like this, there's going to be two sides,” Amy Taylor, the Lee’s Summit district’s coordinator of library and media services, said.
Taylor has worked in the district for 31 years, including the last three in her current role. She’s also been a teacher and school librarian with a passion for the power and importance of reading.
“We want to build readers,” Taylor said. “We want to build people who love reading and we also want to build people who are critical thinkers and that are prepared to succeed. “
But the district hasn’t been immune from nationwide culture wars targeting library materials. Two years ago, a group challenged eighty-nine books, which helped prompt the district to find a middle ground that stops short of banning books.
“Parents have always been able to call and ask that we or and talk with the librarians about if they want certain books to be restricted from their students,” Taylor said. “... What we've done now is we've formalized the process.”
Even though the number of challenged books dropped to zero last school year, the Lee’s Summit school board discussed the issue at a work session in November and found a way to adjust its checkout process.
Thanks to some retrofitted software, parents are able to opt into a system that allows them to place up to 20 books on a restricted list.
“Basically, when they (the student) go to the self checkout, they can't self checkout any longer,” Taylor said. “They'll have to go to the library desk and ask either the library clerk or the librarian to check out for them.”
Parents also will receive an email when books are checked out.
Taylor doesn’t mind when parents take an interest in what their children read. In fact, it’s kind of ideal.
“We have always encouraged parents to have conversations with their students about what it is they're reading,” she said. “When their little ones come home with a book from the library, we really want them to dig into their backpack and pull out the book and read it with them. When their teens and their young adults come home, we would love for them to read the book alongside them and have conversations about what it is that they're reading. So, it's always been a push that parents are involved. I think it's part of the growth of a reader.”
But for parents who have concerns, the process to limit the books their kids can access starts with a call to the school’s library
“We want to make sure parents are aware of exactly how that system works and make sure they're aware of exactly what they're asking for, so we ask that parents call their librarian,” Taylor said. “We've had a couple of phone calls, but, as of Friday, we didn't have anybody that had moved their child to restricted status.”
Still, it’s a compromise the district is happy to offer — and one that’s believed to be unique to the Kansas City area.
—
