CHEYENNE, Wyo. — After months of anticipation, the Laramie County School District 1 Board of Trustees approved its proposed library services changes in a 4–2 vote. The change came on the heels of controversial policies that have passed in other counties throughout Wyoming.
The library policy, which has garnered significant concern and support from families and school staff across the community, received more than 1,500 comments from community members during a public comment period earlier this fall. The policy adds additional options so parents can opt out of certain books and authors in school libraries.
Furthermore, the new system adds a definition of “sexually explicit content.” Books that the board sees as “sexually explicit” will be removed from elementary schools and placed in junior high schools under a section called “Library Materials Containing Sexually Explicit Library Content.”
Following heated public comment at Monday night’s meeting, board members voted to approve the controversial policy. Six of the trustees addressed the public, commenting on why they chose to vote the way they did.
Here is what board members said.
Board members against the policy
The first two board members who provided statements on the library services amendment, Brittany Ashby and Rene Hinkle, were the only members opposed to the changes.
Ashby said the regulations introduce a process that is concerning from a governance standpoint. The treasurer suggested using some of the language in the amended policy to refine the current library regulations and to continue to have crowdsourced documents of library materials for parents to opt out of.
Hinkle, on the other hand, expressed disapproval of the amendment, asserting that it is poor regulation that doesn’t address an actual issue. Overall, she said the amendment’s actual purpose is to promote ideology which stems from a conservative religious movement. Furthermore, she said that the definitions for “sexually explicit content” will be difficult to apply to language in grade school books.
“This is bad policy because it undermines the training and education of librarians and teachers,” Hinkle said. “This policy tells our teachers and our librarians that this board and some people in our community do not trust them.”
Hinkle added that the new regulations threaten the First Amendment rights of students and parents who disagree with the Board of Trustees. She added that a group of attorneys and judges have reviewed the policies and say they could pose legal challenges.
The trustee also pushed back on the claim that the policy empowers parents’ rights. She said it does the opposite. Age-appropriate books will mention sex and sexuality because that is the biological nature of puberty, Hinkle said.
“Some parents may want their children to be educated and to not ignore this reality,” Hinkle said. “These parents should be allowed to use books in their child’s library to help educate them.”
In conclusion, Hinkle gave a clarifying statement that received audible scoffs and mumbles from the audience: Pornography does not exist in school libraries.
“There may be books that discuss sexual topics, and that may make some people uncomfortable,” Hinkle said, “but that does not make them pornography. Learning about sex and sexuality in an age-appropriate manner is not pornography. Villainizing the work of our librarians and staff and injecting this topic with the rhetoric of pornography is disingenuous and inaccurate.”
Board members who support the policy
School district board members Brooke Humphrey, Susan Edgerton, Christy Klaasen and Alicia Smith all voted “yes” to the new library policy. Each member provided their own thoughts and beliefs on why they voted in support of the new regulations.
A consensus between these four board members is that they believe the new policy empowers parents’ rights and that they have the ultimate say on what their children should read from the school library. Humphrey was the first member to vocalize support for parents’ rights. She made it clear to the public that although she is voting to pass the amendment, her intention is not to undermine teachers and librarians.
Edgerton followed up on Humphrey’s comments, citing Wyoming’s Constitution and its statute protecting parents’ rights to care and control their child as a document that supports implementation of the library policy. Elaborating on other points, the assistant treasurer stated the current opt-out policy is insufficient for people who want to use it. She added that looking up online lists of materials not age appropriate to kids is time consuming and lacks accessibility to certain parents. The new policy will provide a system that’s transparent and easier to navigate.
Furthermore, parents who say the policy limits their child’s right to library materials can choose the open-access option, she said.
On the topic of book banning, Edgerton pushed back on the notion that the new policy would result in books being taken off shelves. In a compromise, she revised the policy’s language so that books meeting the definition of “sexually explicit content” would only be taken from elementary school libraries and not junior high schools.
“Overwhelmingly, we heard that we were banning, but I don’t see how having a definition of what is and what isn’t sexually explicit content, and providing a way for parents to nominate books, is either banning or censoring.”
Klaasen agreed with Edgerton’s statements, saying the new policy is intended to make options easier for parents, that it doesn’t question the professionalism of district staff, and it isn’t opening an opportunity for books to be banned.
“I really do believe that there’s a lot of confusion about what we’re doing,” Klaasen said. “There’s nothing in this policy, as it goes for a final vote, that will remove any books or prevent students from reading anything in our secondary libraries that their parent approves. And books that would be captured by this policy would almost certainly not be intended for elementary students, so the idea that this is a book ban is unfair.”
Klaasen said library staff created the definition for “sexually explicit content” in the amendment. She said the definition is transparent for identifying materials of concern for parents. This idea received backlash during the meeting’s public comment section, where individuals speaking against the amendment claimed the definition was too ambiguous.
Smith argued in favor of the new policy, citing several reasons outlined by previous members, including that the new policy isn’t a book ban, it makes library services options simpler for parents and it better empowers parents to raise their children how they see fit.
The board’s clerk compared the new regulations to television programs, movies and video games, all of which receive ratings that caution consumers on whether certain programs or products contain age-inappropriate content.
“This policy does not even rate the books like those rating systems,” Smith said. “It simply allows for a process that will give families a choice in the content that their own children can access. … Everyone gets what they want for their children, and we all have an equal say in what our kids are allowed to read.”
Revisions to amended library policy
The Board of Trustees passed several revisions to the language in its amended library policy, which is available online as of Dec. 4. Here are what sections were changed and why board members decided to alter the language:
- Sections on pages 6 and 7 were changed so that junior high schools were no longer paired with elementary schools. In the new document, junior high schools are categorized with high schools, which means that any books identified as having “sexually explicit content” will no longer be removed from junior high schools but instead be put on the list called “Library Materials Containing Sexually Explicit Library Content.” Edgerton said this change was intended to be a compromise with parents and library staff who opposed the new policy.
- A section on page 6 includes more description to read as the following: “Following formal review and identification, any existing library materials that contain Sexually Explicit Content will be put on the list called Library Materials Containing Sexually Explicit Library Content and will be removed from all elementary library/media centers due to the content’s inappropriateness for the age, emotional development, ability level, and social development of elementary students and may be moved to a junior high school library/media center.” All words that come after “library/media centers due to…” and before “high school library…” were added to provide an explanation as to why any given material is removed.
- A sentence on page 5 was rewritten as the following: “Historical materials or materials used in district approved curriculum or materials used in district approved curriculum shall not be designated as containing Sexually Explicit Content.” The new sentence swaps in the more general term “historical materials” to replace the original document’s phrasing of “materials that are widely held to have serious artistic significance, or works of anthropological significance.” Smith, who recommended the change, said her intention with tightening the sentence was to remove any ambiguity.
- A sentence on page 2 was altered to read as follows: “The Superintendent will develop a process to ensure any limitations are communicated to the classroom teacher(s) and honored to the best of the teacher(s)’ ability when accessing a classroom library.” The language adds the phrasing “to the best of the teacher(s)’ ability.” Humphrey said the reason for the change was to better protect the school from potential lawsuits.
- A sentence on page 6 was changed to read as the following: “Parents and guardians will be notified annually about the existence and location of materials that have been identified as containing Sexually Explicit Content, and the ability to opt their child out of those library materials.” The words “both nominated materials” in the original document were removed.
The full policy can be reviewed below.
Library policies throughout Wyoming
The topic of restricting certain materials in libraries is not unique to Cheyenne, and organizations outside of school districts and county library systems have spoken up about the issue.
The ACLU of Wyoming has been a vocal advocate against limiting access to library materials and has stated that efforts to do so threaten First Amendment rights.
“Your local elected officials should be defending free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, not stifling them,” the ACLU states on its website. “The freedom to choose what ideas we engage with is one of the cornerstones of our democracy.”
Other Wyoming groups and public figures aim to restrict access to books they deem not age appropriate, however. In early November, Wyoming Department of Education Superintendent Megan Degenfelder released recommended guidelines for school library systems to follow concerning how they should implement and enforce new policies.
Like many parents and the majority of board members with LCSD1, Degenfelder opposes sexually explicit content from appearing in K–12 schools.
“There is absolutely no room in the classroom for inappropriate materials or influences,” Degenfelder stated in a November news release. “We must protect our children and we must protect public education.”
The state agency’s guidelines recommend the following:
- Sexually explicit materials should not be available in K–12 schools.
- A parent has an absolute right to restrict access to any material they find inappropriate for their child.
- Maximum transparency of materials, books and curriculum is critical.
- A clear policy, created in a transparent manner with the community and applied uniformly, is best.
- Policy should be uniformly applied to all sexual orientations and not used as a tool to discriminate.
- All education, including library books, is a collaborative process between parents and district/school staff. Parents should start communicating a concern at the point closest to the material of concern — for example, speaking with the teacher, school librarian, or principal. When necessary to escalate the conversation to the school board, attempt to begin voicing your concerns in a one-on-one meeting with a trustee and, if necessary, eventually to the entire board.
The document exists only as a recommendation and not a mandate on what policies school systems should and should not integrate into their districts. Still, this hasn’t stopped other counties from taking action.
In August, the Natrona County School District introduced more options into its library’s opt-in/opt-out policy so parents can choose to have their child opt out of certain books by author or title. Additionally, NCSD schools cannot purchase library material that contains “sexually explicit images” as defined by Board Policy 6233.
Elsewhere, the Campbell County Library System in Gillette has asked the public for comment on changing its library policy. A key change would be to define “sex act” and “sexual activity” in the board’s policy. The board is set to vote on its policy changes at its Dec. 18 meeting. Earlier in June, the library system implemented a policy it calls the “Policy for Protecting Children from Harmful, Sexually Explicit Material in Areas Designated for Minors.”
According to County 17, the library system has proposed revisions taken from a Florida-based organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group.
