Belton ISD book protests continue

A pair of Belton ISD stakeholders, equipped with signs, kicked off their Monday by protesting outside of the administration building for nearly two hours.

Temple resident David Jones, whose granddaughter attends a Belton ISD school, led the charge and voiced his disdain for several books that can be found in campus libraries. He was joined by Shawn Clutter.

“I’m just a concerned grandparent and these books are extremely graphic,” he told the Telegram. “They aren’t borderline porn. They are porn. Some of them have been published in a comic book format so that the young person checking it out would have to pretty much read through the whole thing to get the plot. By that time they already hit and see scenarios that they shouldn’t be reading.”

When the Belton ISD school year began stakeholders had formally challenged seven library books at Lake Belton High School.

Each of these books — “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe; All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson; “Kiss Number 8” by Colleen Venable; “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur; “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison; “Now That We’re Men: A Play and True Life Accounts of Boys, Sex & Power”; and “Cherry” by Nico Walker — were part of an 18,000-book collection that was purchased when the campus opened to students in 2020.

However, two additional books have since found their way onto the list, according to Belton ISD.

“What Girls Are Made Of” by Elana K. Arnold — which follows a 14-year-old girl who is trying to understand what the conditions of love are — is part of the Lake Belton High School library collection, and “After” by Anna Todd — which follows a freshman college student’s budding romance — is part of the Lake Belton Middle School library collection.

Although challenged books are removed from the shelves in the midst of a formal reconsideration process, students with parental permission can still check them out.

“As always, parents continue to have say and oversight into materials their children are reading and checking out in Belton ISD libraries,” Deanna Lovesmith, Belton ISD’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said during a school board meeting last month. “We respect that you are your child’s first and most important teacher and thank you for your partnership.”

Last month, Belton ISD adopted two new policies — EFA(LOCAL) and EFB(LOCAL) — during a special meeting to address the instructional materials and library materials at its campuses separately.

EFA(LOCAL) addresses instructional materials while EFB(LOCAL) addresses library materials.

These newly adopted policies replaced EF(LOCAL), which had addressed instructional materials and library materials collectively, but Lovesmith noted how the Texas Association of School Boards did not call for nor require the move.

“TASB gave us an option,” she said during a school board meeting last month. “We could’ve continued with the combined policy but, as we discussed it, we felt like there were differences in those two and that it would be best served to have separate policies.”

These changes now require parents to be involved in the library material reconsideration process, calls for guidance for administrators and staff who are selecting library materials, and allows for parental control of library materials.

“During the reconsideration process, access to some books may be restricted. For example, books with graphic pictures will be removed from shelves and available only with parental permission,” Superintendent Matt Smith said. “No challenged instructional materials will be removed solely because of the ideas expressed in them.”

Yet Jones believes the reconsideration process is dragging out what should be a simple process.

“I think it’s another way for the school board to make it seem like they’re getting involved and understand what’s going on, but they’re actually not doing anything,” he said. “It’s just a tactic to delay. They ask the parents to take a book, review it and write down the pages that are inappropriate or sexually explicit, but my peers have said that it is time consuming and extremely difficult because most of them are working parents.”

Despite the ongoing complaints and challenges, Smith has remained confident that his district is taking the right approach.

“Belton ISD respects the rights of all individuals to voice their opinions,” the superintendent said in a statement to the Telegram on Monday. “The board of trustees and administrators spent months developing a policy that reflects the values of the (community).”