DV Journal

The issue of “pornographic” books in a school library has again arisen in a Delaware Valley school —this time in the Radnor School District.

Mike Lake, the father of two teenagers at Radnor High School, had successfully challenged some books he believes are inappropriate for kids, using the district’s process for parents to challenge books. But other people complained about books being removed for any reason, including students who held a protest over the “book ban.”

Lake spoke at the Radnor School Board curriculum committee meeting on Tuesday, saying he has issues with those who gloss over “sexually explicit images” in the challenged books.

“The right to read is not a right of minors to view pornography,” said Lake. “The images in the (superintendent’s) email from ‘Blankets,’ ‘Fun Home’ and ‘Gender Queer’ are gratuitous and fail the U.S. Supreme Court justices’ pervasive vulgarity test. Since 2021, concerned parents were repeatedly advised to refer to board Policy 144.1 to challenge and request reviews of books. In the challenge at issue, (Superintendent) Dr. Batchelor stated the policy was followed. The vote by Radnor Educators to remove ‘Blankets,’ ‘Fun Home’ and ‘Gender Queer’ was 5 to 1. Eighty-three percent of the committee members found the books (are) age inappropriate.

“Case closed,’ Lake said.

He later told DV Journal the high school librarian had given one of those books to his 14-year-old daughter.

“The librarian knew she was 14,” he said. “And my wife previously called the librarian to express our disgust with the presence of the books.”

Image from “Gender Queer”

“I filed the challenge at the direction of administrators, who repeatedly cited the board policy (that allows parents to challenge books),” said Lake. “When the results from Radnor Educators came back five to one to remove the books, the school board, in Radnor Raiders 2.0 fashion, pushed to remove the policy so that parents would have zero options to remove sexually explicit, grooming materials for their 14-year-old children.”

The Radnor teams were previously called “Raiders” until 2021, when the board voted to change the name.

At the meeting, Lake quoted state law that prohibits “any book, magazine, pamphlet, slide, photograph, film, videotape, computer depiction or other material depicting a child under the age of 18 years engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such acts commits an offense.”

“What are some prohibited sexual acts…found in the three titles? Masturbation, fellatio, cunnilingus,” Lake told the committee.

Malvern mom Fenicia Redman, who has been fighting against these books in the Great Valley School District for several years, brought posters with the graphic illustrations from the books to the meeting. Lake noted that Batchelor said a high percentage of new books in the school library are gender-affirming, “hopefully, without pervasive vulgarities.”

A Wayne mother who signed a petition to put the books back on the shelves immediately rather than waiting for a policy change, said she wasn’t shocked by “Fun Home’ and said it provided an “honest” description of young people’s anxiety, which other books don’t have.

“What if my child or another student needs this book and it isn’t there?” she asked.

Radnor High grad Abbe Longman spoke for a group of 15 to 20 alumni who signed a letter supporting the library keeping the books. She extolled the quality of the education she received at RHS. She said most students struggle with issues related to sexuality, identity, etc. That’s the reason the graduates are concerned about the books being removed from the library. She acknowledged the books continue images of graphic nudity, but “to call them pornographic is inaccurate and unfair,” she said.

Parent Emily Nelson also asked that the books be returned to the library and she said the policy of allowing parents to challenge the presence of books they believe are inappropriate should end.

“It’s incredibly important for young people to see themselves in literature,” said Nelson. “Young people these days are at mental and emotional struggles, LGBTQIA students in particular.”

Over the past few years, these books and others like them have sparked controversy in other Delaware Valley school districts, including West Chester Area School District and Great Valley School District. There’s also a website about problematic books for young people. Perhaps, the most “ink” has been spilled about the Central Bucks School District, where a Republican-controlled school board removed the offensive materials, only to lose an election in 2023. Progressive Democrats promptly reinstated the books, with then-school board President Karen Smith taking the oath of office on a pile of “banned” books.

Former Radnor Commissioner Matthew Marshall told DV Journal he’s disappointed in the leadership of the current board.

“As a former Radnor High School student, 1988 UPenn alum, and parent of two Radnor graduates, it astounds me what passes for critical thinking these days,” said Marshall.

“When I was a student at Radnor High School in the early 1980s, the administration, school board, and faculty embraced a high school student’s freedom of thought, expression, and communications for the greater good of the community,” Marshall said. “However, societal norms, including parental participation and input, always prevailed. By allowing RTSD to defer only to the high school librarians, curriculum committee, and the current students’ opinion to decide which books are appropriate to put on library shelves, they eliminate parental involvement and community norms in education.”

“Since when does the end of parents’ participation in their child’s learning begin and end with paying a tax bill?” Marshall added.

The school board is expected to discuss the issue at its April 22 meeting.

(This article first appeared in Broad + Liberty.)

The Perkiomen Valley School District board of directors voted unanimously Monday to enact Policy 109 that prohibits “depictions, representations, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse…. when they meet the criteria of harmful to minors.”

According to Superintendent Dr. Barbara Russell, Gender Queer — one of the most debated library books in the country — was removed from the district’s online catalog for not conforming to the new policy. Gender Queer is an autobiographical graphic novel about a young woman’s gender confusion that contains explicit drawings of sexual acts.

The removal of the book is directly counter to the campaign run by the Democratic candidates running as the slate “PV Forward,” who accused Republicans of being book banners.

Five Democrats and three Republicans contributed to the 8-0 vote.

The meeting was sparsely attended and only included two public comments, which contrasts sharply to several meetings last spring where the audience was packed and many residents waited to make comments.

The Mercury wrote about the debate on March 10, 2023. “A 4-4 vote at Monday’s Perkiomen Valley School Board workshop stopped an attempt by school board President Jason Saylor to circumvent regular board procedure and “shortcut” getting a policy restricting district library books and textbooks up for a vote as soon as next week.”

They published again on March 15, 2023, about the meeting. “At Monday’s meeting, dozens upon dozens of speakers offered comments ranging from accusations that Saylor’s proposed policy is targeting the LGBTQ community, to those who excoriated the school board and administration for bringing ‘porn’ into school libraries.”

The Inquirer wrote about the ensuring student walk out over the proposed policy.

Following the contentious spring meetings, the board continued discussions throughout the remainder of the year on the policy.

In November, the previously Republican majority board flipped to a 6-3 Democratic majority. All five Democratic candidates supported by the PV Forward slate won seats to the board. The proposed book policy was a hot topic of debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates.

The student newspaper, The Voice, reported the Democrats’ win and highlighted the book controversy. “The PV School Directors race was a highly contested election as major issues – threats of book banning, implementation of a sex-based bathroom policy and bomb threats jeopardizing school safety – hang in the balance.”

Despite the contentious debate last year, none of the local news outlets have reported on the new policy that passed on Monday. However, a private social media group posted about it, reminding readers of the Democrats’ stance on the book issue.

While the vote was unanimous to approve the policy, including the Republican board members, there was a spirited discussion on how the policy got to the approval point and how and when Gender Queer was removed from the online library collection.

Former President Jason Saylor, a Republican, asked the superintendent and current board President Laura White, a Democrat, why Gender Queer was removed from the library before the new policy was enacted. When the question was not immediately answered, he pressed to understand whether his email asking why the book was in the online library collection was the impetus for the removal.

The superintendent eventually responded that the book was ultimately removed because it did not meet the criteria in the new policy. She further acknowledged that even though the new policy was not yet approved, the librarians now have a “hyper awareness” of the situation and anticipated that the policy would be adopted. She added, “the librarian does not want that book in the collection.”

Saylor said that he was happy with the language in the new policy as he had been advocating for two years for such a policy.

Former board member and President, Kim Mares, was in the audience and publicly commented about the new policy that she had supported as a school director. Mares had been vocal about her views during the initial debates. “I totally agree that we should have a diverse library. I just can’t support at all sexually explicit materials, whether — it doesn’t matter what the interaction is, heterosexual or homosexual. It’s the sexually explicit part that is disturbing.”

During public comment, Mares said that she was “thrilled with the policy, but disgusted” with the board members who ran a campaign insisting that it was necessary to have graphic novels to support all students. She recounted having her name dragged through the mud for her stance on the issue.

After the policy was approved, several board members had additional comments on the topic. Saylor said that while he is glad that the policy was passed, he still has strong feelings about what happened over the nine months leading to the November election. He spoke about the mailers that were put out calling him a book burner and the way that he was treated by some board members and constituents, including people showing up at his house and calling him abhorrent things. Saylor said, “now everyone is quiet because they got elected.”

Democratic President White responded that she and her running mates also felt that they were treated badly during the election. Dr. Tammy Campli, a Democrat, commented that while she voted for the policy, she does not believe in book bans and is disappointed that certain books will not be in the library any longer. She commented that both sides had worked hard and she felt that she had to work towards a compromise and that was the reason that it may appear that she had voted in a way different from what she said six months ago.

After more than a year of contentious debate, student walk-outs, countless hours of public comments and board discussion, and a highly competitive election resulting in a new board majority, Policy 109 is now officially in place at Perkiomen Valley School District. It is not significantly different from the initial policy proposed by the Republican majority board, and while there is some room for subjective decision-making, the policy is more restrictive than many of the other local school districts. It is also a policy that does not support Gender Queer in the library collection.