001e e e good evening let's call this meeting to order roll call please Miss Miller Miss Williams here Mr Moore here Mr Garing pres miss chzn here and Miss Lanny here I'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all audience participation and there are a few number one Juniper Brown so far I have spent six total minutes explaining the legal framework of the Supreme Court's military and the doctrine of Works taken as a whole the following words are those of the presently contested author John Green from his video titled on the Banning of Looking for Alaska posted to YouTube on April 12th 2016 text is meaningless
002without context and what usually happens with Looking for Alaska is that a parent CHS one particular passage of the novel to show an administrator and then the book gets banned without anyone who objects to it having read more than that particular page the scene in question involves a very awkward and ultimately failed attempt at oral sex which is described in very cold and clinical language in fact the entire passage includes only one adjective nervous and then in the book's next scene the two characters have a much more sensually described and passionate but much much less sexually explicit interaction that passage ends quote we didn't have sex we never got naked I never touched her bare breast and her hand never got lower than my hips it didn't matter as she slept I whispered I love
003you alas young so in context the novel is arguing really that in rather a pointed way that emotionally intimate kissing can be a whole lot more fulfilling than emotionally empty oral sex teenagers are critically engaged in thoughtful readers they do not read Looking for Alaska and think I should go have some aggressively unerotic oral sex and they do not read The Outsiders and think I should join a gang or read Divergent and think I should jump onto moving trains so as far as I can tell that kind of narrow prescriptive reading seems only to happen inside the offices of school superintendents so yeah I don't think Looking for Alaska is pornographic and I don't think that its readers find it titilating but that noted I don't think it should be up to me whether Looking
004for Alaska or any book in a school or a library whether it should be up to me because I'm not a teacher or a librarian the highly trained criminally underpaid professionals we employ to make those decisions as I've discussed in the past I don't think publicly funded learning exists primarily for the benefit of the parents or even for the benefit of the students it exists for the benefit of the social order we are all better off when we are well-informed well-educated population because that population is more likely to start successful businesses and develop uh treatments for cancer and write musicals about treasury secretaries and that's why everyone pays taxes to fund public schools and libraries regarding of whether you personally use the library or have kids in school I think teachers and Librarians know more
005about teaching and librarianship than I do and I believe that they must be allowed to do their jobs and serve the public as a whole but even beyond that I don't believe that books even bad books corrupt us instead I Believe Books Challenge and interrogate they give us Windows into our lives into the lives of others and give us mirror so that we can better see ourselves and ultimately if you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel let me submit that the problem is not with the novel thank you Larry Christie thanks for the time uh my name is Larry Christie I am the former co-owner of Paper Moon Books in downtown St Joseph and also former managing partner at Felix Street an quarian books also in downtown St Joseph as a
006book seller I have come to know that there are really only two kinds of books good books and the others thankfully blessedly in this country at least for the time being each one of us as an individual has the privilege of being able to decide for ourselves which titles are the good books and which ones are the others of all the books we encounter in life we each assemble our own lists accordingly I can share with everyone my own list of titles that I believe to be compelling and essential and also my opinions of the titles that I believe to be completely unredeem and awful likewise everyone is able to share with me their own lists of books that they have strong feelings about for whatever reason but thankfully in this country at least for
007the time being I cannot require anyone to adopt my own personal book list and thankfully again no one can require me to adopt theirs which would dishonor and deny the validity of my own intellect and my personal Liberty to exercise free thought the only other categories I can think of to group all of the books in that we might encounter in our lives are the books we choose to read and all the ones we choose not to read again thankfully this sorting out is left to each one of us to personally they decide serious writers writing what are meant to be serious books can and should survive and flourish even in the face of official indiff indifference and hostility so long as they have something to say and are able to say well something which
008interests a sufficient number of their fellow citizens so too it is the charge and the highest mission of our libraries to make these Works available to all citizens to either choose to read or not and lastly we all know what's going on all over the world some of the best novelists journalists poets and other artists are in prison they are hiding they are in Exile they're being disappeared tortured and even murdered censorship and its attended persecutions are alive and well around the globe the last thing this type of Oppression needs is any Aid in gaining yet another foothold within our library system here in the middle of the United States to allow such a thing is a first step toward greater future intolerance and a more widespread silencing of authors voices perhaps even one of
009your own living in a free and open Society it is easy to forget just how very rare such a thing is a free press free speech freedom of thought and the Liberty to make personal choices are all ideas that are Central to the founding of the Republic as Benjamin FR Franklin said upon the signing of the Constitution you have a republic if you can keep it thank [Applause] you Janice Str good afternoon board members and guests I'm here because I have a concern and I'm asking that the book looking for Al Alaska by John Green be removed from our Public School libraries only I'm not requesting that book be banned in the public libraries I just feel that it's important for our young youth of today to have material that is uplifting and I apologize
010in advance because I'm going to read directly from this book um I've read the whole book but nothing house has seemed to have had an effect except maybe reading this book on some of the board members and those in our community so I think as you think about movies having different ratings I think books can have different ratings and we need to consider that when we're deciding what our students should be able to read or read this is from page and it's an excerpt that's true and we found plenty of porn magazines haphazardly stuffed in between mattresses and box springs um until we came to room 32 Alaska read the sticker on the top of the video the of Madison County well ain't that just delightful we ran with it into the TV room closed
011the blinds locked the door and and watched the movie it opened with a woman standing on a bridge with her legs spread wide spread while a guy knelt in front of her giving her oral sex no time for dialogue I suppose by the time they started doing it Alaska commenced with her righteous indignation they just don't make sex look fun for women the girl is just an object look look at that I was already looking needless to say a woman crouched on her hands and knees while a guy knelt from behind she kept saying give it to me and moaning and through her eyes though her eyes brown and blank betrayed her lack of Interest I couldn't help but take mental notes hands on her shoulders I noted fast but not too fast or going
012to be over fast keep your grunning to a minimum this quote is from from uh page 157 it says just as the bradies were getting locked into jail Laura randomly asked me have you ever gotten a I've just never given one is why she said so her little voice dripping with seductiveness it was so Brazen I thought I would explode I never thought I mean from Alaska Hearing that stuff was one thing pardon it's your time okay thank you for your time s opinion hi um sorry um I'm Sydney from The Forbidden book club I could do the thing I usually do where I explain to you all the literary value that Looking for Alaska holds as a tool to teach about hard subjects like grief mortality forgiveness and faith I can explain to you
013all that while the book does feature themes of underage drinking it does so in a way that presents the dangers associated with those choices or how the scene containing an awkward attempt at a sexual encounter which is often taken out of context is written a very It Was Written in a very cold and clinical way using only one adjective nerous with the intention of teaching teenagers that meaningful relationships with the people you care about are much more fulfilling than giving into societal pressures to do things you aren't ready for I could explain to you all again how the things you're trying to shelter kids from are things that they and their peers are already experiencing and it's better for them to have these books as tools to navigate through real life the fact of the
014matter is that the people who will care do care and the people who don't care won't I was paed back in June to learn that the people who challenged these books by their own admission had not read them and I was appalled to find out that so much of this is a direct result of herzog's continued attack on her Public Schools I was appalled when Kim Miller asked her Facebook group chat to stir the pot when she's supposed to be acting in the best interest of students not pushing it pushing an agenda or calling for more de Division I was appalled that the same group later admitted to stealing a destroying property of schools with the help of elementary students and called for burning books I was appalled by some of the blatant bigotry I've
015heard from fellow community members while discussing these books sorry I was appalled that yet another committee decision had been appealed and I'd like to share a quote from the book we need not ever be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken we think that we are invincible because we are we cannot be born we cannot die and like all energy we can only change shapes sizes and manifestations they forget that when they get old they get scared of losing and failing and that part of us that is greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin cannot end and thus cannot fail and so to say and so it is to say that in spite of how appalling all of these things have been and how hopeless it can feel after the events of
016this summer and the Persistence of people who want to pull this town in our community backwards and in spite of the fact that we're all still talking about whether or not to ban books instead of focusing on things that actually benefit children and that even when it feels like we are going in circles we need not ever be hopeless because despite all of the naysayers this community can do good things and we will never be irreparably broken please vote to retain this book and preserve the intellectual freedom for all of our students thank [Applause] you Nathan pinion hi everyone um I'm not nearly as eloquent as my wife um I would like to start by just saying I'm thankful that so far the board has decided to uphold all of the committee decisions and consistently
017do the right thing um we don't have a lot necessarily to be proud of As Americans right now but right here in this room I I am proud of my community and I just want to thank you for that I would also like to say though that I am exhausted I am tired of us repeatedly getting up here over and over and explaining the literary social and educational value of these books to repeatedly be spoken to by essentially the parents from Foot Loose with the exact same arguments that we've been hearing for decades except that in foot loose John Lithgow stopped the parents from burning books we are somehow worse off than that and I would just like for us all to take a moment to appreciate the absurdity of our situation that a corporate
018Force paid money for information to leverage through the use of Social and religious groups to put pressure on our school system to negatively impact our children for profit that's what's happening we all need to acknowledge it the people who are doing this are at best at best acting in a way that they think is best but is a little ignorant and at worst maliciously hurting the children in our community for money thank you thank you Mr P and our last one Elizabeth Hoskins good afternoon I'm Elizabeth Hoskins I'm currently serving in my ninth year as the librarian at bod Middle School though Looking for Alaska is not in my library I feel it is a vital part of my role role as a school librarian to understand each of the challenged books and the place
019they have in libraries John Green the author of Looking for Alaska has spoken out many times about this novel being challenged green has emphasized that the themes of this book as it explores grief in the complexities of loss identity in the character's Journeys through self-discovery are intended to highlight resilience in the face of loss and as an exploration of the deep questions young adults are facing I like many Educators wish that young adults were not faced with the harsh reality that our world has to offer I wish they did not have to consider if they will participate in underage drinking or how they will turn down such offers if they come I wish that they were not likely to face the Deep grief that comes the loss of a friend or a peer a grief
020that far too many of our students have faced in more than one circumstance involving a car crash not unlike the one in Looking for Alaska and when they are faced with these things I hope each is in a home where they can openly discuss the challenges of life and their deep questions with a supportive family and though I wish these things and fully appreciate the desire of any parent to protect and shield their own children as long as possible I am grateful for authors who use their incredible talents to write stories that will help young people process the emotions and feelings that come with grief and loss their search for their place in the world and who they want to be I appreciate the authors who do as green has here and highlight how resilience
021can help us move forward and how the readers can identify ify the support systems that exist in the real world around them so today I ask that you vote to uphold the decision of the Review Committee to keep looking for Alaska on the high school shelves for which it is professionally reviewed as we continue to encourage families to discuss with their students what they are reading and communicate to Librarians any guidance for their individual students thank you very much [Applause] thank you Miss Hoskins approval of the agenda is there a motion I'll make it thank you Mike is there a second call second thank you Rick would you call the vote please miss Don Miss Williams yes M Garcia yes M Miller yes M chne yes Mr gar yes M Lanning yes Mr Mo yes
022and the motion passes 70 items under discussion the book review Dr beginners sure thank you so this format will be similar to the other challenges that we've had so you have a packet at your station that the front cover page mentions Looking for Alaska it was challenged on May 29th there was a total of three request for this book to be reconsidered the committee met on 926 and the decision was to retain the book with no restrictions and then you can see there on the fourth bullet of the seven committee members five chose to retain the book with no restrictions two members marked to retain with restrictions one of those stated not recommended for students under 14 and the other one stated High School age students only and just as a reminder this book is
023located only at the high schools at the three high schools and the committee decision was appealed on October 22nd and the reason for that appeal was stated it is inappropriate for the students and then you have the checkout history and a table there from all three schools you can see for the past five years at your stations you have the individual committee forms you have board policy so if you have any questions I would be happy to answer those at this time again my role in all of this is a facilitator and making sure that the committee runs smoothly and all voices are heard so but I would take any questions you may have are there any questions from members of the board if there are no questions um I would open up for board
024comment if you would have any um how about you Rhonda okay first of all I I do still want to make it clear my goal is not to on the book um so I just want to start by that and the second thing that I really want to say is I appreciate uh the mom who emailed all of us and uh discussed how her and her child read the book together and discussed uh the topics because there are some very um adult related topics I feel like um the whole idea of underage drinking underage smoking um going off to a private school and leaving your family um so there are a lot of adult things so I just appreciate and I'm sorry I don't have that email up in front of me to um talk
025about that particular parent but I appreciate that and honestly with all the books that we've looked at and reviewed that is my ultimate goal that we somehow or another um identify the books that these would be wonderful books that a family could do some support um and read the book with their child I wish we had more parents who were willing to take the time and read the book with their child because I do feel like the topics in here um are pretty uh pretty big topics I also another concern I have is um with the choices that the characters make in the book other than what happens to Alaska in the book that there there are not there are no consequences for the underage drinking the underage smoking the disrespect that they show to
026the Educators at the school there are no consequences for that that the characters really I I know Alaska receives the ultimate consequences by losing her life from drinking but my concern is um as an educational system I don't want us to send any mixed messages to Children through the books that we allow them to use that those kinds of behaviors they're having can go on and on and not have any consequences for that so I think that's why it's so good that the mom in our community was willing to take the time and read the book with her child and discuss uh what is happening in the book and I really feel like those kinds of conversations in our community and our school system is what's going to say children's life not just giving them
027the book to read the book so I I don't know if we can put a sticker on them I I I don't know what we can do and what we can decide U but that families if they see this book in their child's bedroom they know hey this is one that maybe I need to take a look at because the other book um The Fault in Our Stars may have been a book my daughter read and I had I known what I know now that may have been a book that maybe I should have read with my daughter so I don't know what we can do to make that happen but I really that's my push not to say let's get rid of this book Let's ban it from America but how can we help
028support the children in the families and our community through our schools thank you MH um Kim I'm in agreement with that we have never been about banning books just making sure that they get in the right hands and again I I responded to that Mom and thinking wow what a great gift she gives that child you can't put a dollar amount on that involvement and that uh care and compassion she has with that child we got another one that stated you know it happened in our generation so what's the problem with it going on in this generation it's not that we're immune in any generation it's not that we don't know how to handle that it's just that it doesn't have to perpetuate year after year and I'm noticing in our audience I'm being reminded
029of a of a comment I made through a Facebook item that if it if the total conversation was copied it would have made clear that that comment was told to our Facebook group because all they did was complain but didn't act it wasn't according to do this so that's so that's the that was the point of that conversation if all they're going to do is sit and complain it doesn't make any it won't make difference so it's good that we can have someone like Miss je excuse me sorry excuse me I'm gonna have to ask you to be quiet I'm sorry someone who has courage enough to come up and speak about it we have 22% of adolescen across the globe have is mental health issues that's my concern that if if a parent if
030we can get more involved and not just saying Hey give all the kids this book and they're going to discover and feel good about it that and I know that's not what they're presenting but that can't happen we don't give a ship to a novice uh captain and say okay here's the book go go steer the ship or a doctor so it's imperative that when these difficult topics are brought up if there's a book where they are that it's imperative that we're involved with that and we can help them and as a mental health counselor that's vital and if it only helps one that's that's enough for now but that's our job if there aren't parents who can sit down and read with that child is that our job yes to to circle around them
031and encourage yes those are awful how can I be a part of helping you navigate those issues thank you kimar you can come back to me I kind of want to hear what Rick I'm prepared to vote how about you Whitney so I had so this is a very triggering book for me and so I have planned to come here this evening and make a smart outlet comment about Herzog um and how they brought us all here today but I appreciate the opinions for pointing that out out already um and then I had planned to Simply say I'm ready to vote um but that seems inappropriate um to me uh personally um so I do want to point out Kim you make a great point about how the Miller test when you take a a
032portion of a conversation against a ho that it's not representative of a hole so I I thank you for doing doing that um a very similar event to this book occurred when I was in high school and I will tell you it was incredibly difficult for everyone in that Community it was difficult for everyone in that school um it was very difficult um as a child seeing seeing adults um going to M multiple funerals of children in one day um I read this book this summer um and I read it by the pool because I thought it would be a good pool book book and I will say it is not um because when I reached the point of the book I um became very upset and um what I will tell you is that
033that was 24 years ago and I will tell tell you that every may it is very difficult in the town that I am from and I will tell you every May 22nd is a very somber day in my house and that was 24 years ago and so what I will tell you about this book is that it's not dealing with adult themes these are issues that affect our students drug experimentation and sexual experimentation happen and are faced by our kids every day and what I will tell you is if I would have had this book to read rather than living it that would have been better if I would have known at 14 that drinking and getting in a vehicle can be very dangerous for you and others if I had learned that from a
034book that would have been better if I could explain to my children the dangers of drinking and getting in a in a vehicle if I could explain it doesn't matter if you didn't drink if who you get in a car with matters I teach that to my children because I lived that tragedy this book can teach it without the tragedy and so I understand that there are themes that we are not comfortable with as adults saying to children but these are teenagers that are faced with these issues every day and so to say that they can't handle it or that they're going to read it and then want to go do it I assure you they are not so I also want to point out that they're not alone our Librarians don't just hand out
035difficult books and not check on these kids um my kid my my junior high daughter checked out a book that just happened to be on the band list or the the I'm sorry the remove and don't allow anyone to read list um and her librarian checked on her and knew what was going on I knew what was going on we have parental controls in place and so to me the answer is not removing this these books it's trusting our Librarians um and like I said I I wish that I could have learned about these tragedies in a different way and I think it would be a real disservice to our kids by not having it available to them thank you Whitney did I already call on you Mike no okay Mike more thank you uh
036boy let's see not much to add um I think I'll just go back to when this started and and just say that look I I appreciate the concern for our kids on both sides um I've watched this change procedures and add ability for parents to connect um and really really know what books uh are out there I'm very easy to find what books are being challenged on the internet for a parent um so I I would just repeat that U I've read the book and I'm ready to vote thank you thank you Mike sorry yeah um first I do want to thank uh the audience members for coming up and speaking on both sides it's always really difficult to put your face and your voice um on one side of a topic so thank you
037for being brave on both sides I do want to say that I do understand um the emphasis of what these books are teaching I do know that it's important for our kids to learn about traumatic experiences different experiences that they don't get to experience um but I also believe that this can be taught without the sexual content and the pornography um I did read the book I did talk to a couple college students about it we agree that it's great it's just not appropriate for high school students and I'm ready to vote as well thank you SAR um in all honesty I mean I read the book a while ago um I had a lot of emotions and everything about it only I look at it like this there are a couple of instances in
038the book and the language is extremely strong and graphic only in all honesty it's not any different than what our kids are are going to be listening to on the news on a national level from its leaders I'm ready to vote please I need a motion first is there a motion without thank you Whitney is there a second I'll second would you call the vote so Donna would you repeat the motion please motion to retain without restrictions without restri okay Mr Moore yes M Williams yes Miss Lanning yes Miss Garcia no and then I would also like to say that it is true that our leaders of the board not of the board I'm sorry of the country do speak like this it's only a yes or a no I mean it's only where we
039vote it's a vote it's not a comment time it's not a com time it's not a comment time it is it's no right it's a no vote is what you said Don is that what you V okay thank you Mr Garing yes M Miller no to the without restrictions thank you m chne no and the motion passes 4 to three is there a motion to adjourn I'll make that motion thank you Rick is there a second I'll second thank you would you call the vote please sorry C up with you who made the motion Rick Rick Miss Landing second uh no I I think there was a tie I think there was a tie all right Miss Williams yes Mr Moore yes Miss Garcia yes Miss Lanning Miss Miller yes Miss chesne Mr Gary yes
040and this meeting is adjourned our next meeting will be at 5:30