CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Years of policy drafting and public input have finally paid off as the LCSD1 Board of Trustees passed its long-delayed library book policy.
On Monday night, board trustees voted 4–2 to pass a contentious “procurement policy,” which tasks librarians with purchasing library material that “does not contain Sexually Explicit content.”
The vote concludes years of back-and-forth between trustees and members of the public, many members of which have disapproved of the board’s decision to implement the regulations into district standards.
The district held two 45-day public comment periods for the procurement policy. The first took place in April and May, while the second was from June to August. In total, the district received close to 300 comments. The full list of comments can be viewed below.
The procurement policy — which amends the Library Media Services section of district policy — comes on the heels of the board’s controversial policy changes in December, colloquially known as the “opt-in policy.” The changes from last year added a definition for “Sexually Explicit Content” to district code and established a procedure for parents and guardians to nominate books that may contain objectionable content. In addition, parents now have four library access levels to enroll their students in: Open Access, No Access to Materials Containing Sexually Explicit Content, Parent/Guardian Limited Access, and No Access.
According to statistics provided by the district in early August, the following percentages students are enrolled in each access option:
- Open Access: 7,802 (61.9%)
- No Access to Materials Containing Sexually Explicit Content: 4,381 (34.8%)
- Parent/Guardian Limited Access: 371 (2.9%)
- No Access: 34 (0.27%)
Breaking down the policy
The district’s newly adopted amendment to Library Media Services tasks librarians with identifying books that contain “sexually explicit content,” a definition created by the district, prior to purchasing the titles.
“When considering procurement of library materials at the junior high and high school levels, librarians will endeavor to select materials, whether free or purchased, that do not contain sexually explicit content,” the district’s policy states. “Materials that meet state and/or Federal legal definitions for pornography or obscenity will not be included in District library collections.”
On top of this task, librarians will now have to post an ongoing list of books to be procured on the district’s website. Parents and guardians may review these titles and provide feedback on them before the district orders them.
A copy of the district’s Library Media Services regulations can be viewed below. The portion on procurement is included at the bottom of the document.
Comments from board trustees
All but two of the trustees — Rene Hinkle and Brittany Ashby — voted in favor of the policy on Monday night. Chair Tim Bolin did not cast a vote, as the chair must do so only if a tie occurs.
The trustees explained their rationales for voting one way or another. Hinkle, who has repeatedly alleged the board’s library policies are a form of book banning, said that the procurement policy doesn’t achieve any goal that the opt-in policy hasn’t already addressed.
At various public meetings, several people in the community — including Wyoming State Representative Ben Hornok and LCSD1 Board of Trustees candidate Sheila Kistler — have claimed that the district’s libraries contain obscene material and that individuals found in possession of such books are committing a crime. Hinkle addressed these statements.
“There is no pornographic material and never has been pornographic material in any of our libraries,” Hinkle said. “Saying that, you know … as a teacher, you’re worried about being prosecuted over pornographic material, there isn’t [obscene material] there.”
Hinkle added that books at the junior high and high school level may have content discussing or exploring sex, but clarified that those titles are assessed and reviewed by national groups that librarians rely upon when procuring age-appropriate titles.
Vice chair Christy Klaassen has shown strong support for the board’s library policies over the past year. She said the new policy isn’t about taking away choice for parents but about managing district resources.
“With the procurement policy … we make choices all the time about what’s going to be made available to our students in our district. And right now, we have national organizations that are dictating that this content come into our district. And I believe our community is saying, we’d rather spend that money — those precious resources that we have — on other content. … So, from my perspective, it’s not opposing your point of view or trying to prevent or create a ban. It’s about how do we use our resources the best that represents our community’s points of view and our values?”
Returning to the policy’s public comment period, the district received around 300 statements from the public. According to trustee Alicia Smith, though, several comments were unrelated to the library policy and others were duplicates. This resulted in around 200 individuals submitting original opinions to the district. She said the public comments are “not enough to be statistically significant when you look at comments received and how our community feels about this policy.”
“That public comment, when we receive it … it is not a vote for a policy,” Smith said. “There’s different types of representation in our government. Everybody on this board is here as a trustee. Trustee representation means that an elected official ultimately relies on their own judgment when they make decisions. We’ve been elected by the members of this community who trust our judgment to make the right decision and advance interests of our school district. We were not elected as representatives to simply cast the votes of the loudest majority in our community.”
Trustee Brooke Humphrey said she has felt conflicted on the procurement policy and was unsure on what side she would vote on. However, she ultimately decided that the policy is about protecting kids and getting back to the basics of education.
“My vote tonight is something I wrestled with, because I have a community to please,” Humphrey said. “But I have to take a step back and remind myself that more than I have a community to please, I have a district to serve. I have to trust my gut, because those who voted for me are trusting me to do just that.”
Humphrey spoke about an argument community members have brought up: that kids need to see themselves through books. Regarding sexual assault, Humphrey, who was speaking from the point of view of a victim herself, said reading a book about such a topic would not be healing but, in fact, reopened that wound.
“The argument of, with the whole sexual abuse — saying, ‘Oh, it was helpful to read about rape’ — maybe for some people, but to have that as an argument, to have those books in our school, I completely disagree,” Humphrey added. “And those that I know that have also experienced that kind of trauma, even after you’ve healed from that kind of trauma, that’s not enjoyable to read. That’s not healing to read.”
Susan Edgerton concurred with Klaassen’s argument and stated that as a board, trustees regularly make decisions on how to spend district dollars.
“There’s a lot of things that we make choices on as trustees, curriculum being one of them. We’ve had a lot of votes on that, and I think that this falls right ahead with that. … Every school district makes a choice with their dollars as to what they want to support and not. And so I’m going to be a ‘yes’ vote on the procurement policy. … Librarians, please do your best. And if a book gets through, it’s going to go on the [nominated] list.”
The last trustee to speak was Brittany Ashby, who voted down on the policy alongside Hinkle. Ashby said she has concerns about the policy and believes it allows the district to resort to making decisions based on “opinions and feelings” rather than “knowledge, expertise and best practices in education.” Ashby also touched upon Smith’s comment on the public comments.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the policy that, originally, the majority of the community wanted it,” Ashby said. “And then half of the community wants it. And while, no, 200 people is not statistically valid for the whole community, all of the information we have says that it’s not 50–50 and it’s not majority — from the feedback we got last fall to the enrollment data to the feedback again for this round. It’s not a vote, but it is pieces of information. And so it says to me the majority of the community doesn’t want it.”
Ashby referred to the public comment period held for the opt-in policy in fall, where more than 1,500 comments were submitted to the district. According to community analysis, as well as from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, around 77% of comments did not approve of the opt-in policy. In addition, Cap City News found that around 68% of the nearly 200 comments of the first public comment period disapproved of the procurement policy.
