New Policy from Brainerd School Board on Book Challenges Still Up for Debate

There is a still a debate going among members of the Brainerd School Board on whether anyone challenging a book in the school library has to read it first.

Board members are still working on a new policy that outlines how school library materials are chosen and can be challenged. While some believe reading the book in question before challenging it is integral to the process, other board members have expressed strong opposition to the proposal.

“That was probably where we spent the majority of some of the discussion at our last board meeting, as a couple of board members felt like, no, they did not need to read the material to challenge that,” explained Brainerd Public Schools Superintendent Heidi Hahn. “And other board members came back and said, well, if a committee of 12 members are going to sit down to review that resource, they felt it was really important that the person challenging the resource have attested to reading the work because the challenges, and when you look at all the guidelines, you have to consider the material as a whole. I can’t just consider one paragraph or a certain section. I have to look at that that resource as a whole.”

The board did not approve the policy during last Monday’s meeting. It will be sent back to the Policy Committee for another rewrite before the board’s next meeting in February.