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June School Board Wrap-Up - A NEW MONTHLY FEATURE!

Leander ISD board president Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia reads a prepared statement affirming the district’s book policy.

Whew! June was an eventful month for Texas school boards. The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) released its long-awaited guidance for districts trying to navigate the post-HB900 landscape, and a slew of districts debated or revised their library book and instructional materials policies in response. On top of that, the traveling pastor circus of the Remnant Alliance continued its tour of board meetings around the state, attempting to bully trustees into removing books without consideration of their policies or the potential harms to students. And conservative groups pushed boards to formalize objections to the Biden administration’s trans-inclusive interpretation of Title IX. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the month’s biggest developments: 

Plano ISD Adopts Best-Case Scenario Policy; Library Purchases Will Resume

At Plano ISD’s June 25 meeting, the district’s board voted to adopt new instructional resources and library book policies (EFA and EFB Local) in line with TASB recommendations, emphasizing that, while parents are “the primary decision makers regarding their student’s access to library material,” a parent’s or guardian’s “ability to exercise control over instruction and instructional resources, including library materials, extends only to his or her own child.”

“Every parent is really different about how they raise their child, and what they deem appropriate for their kid to read,” said trustee Tarah Lantz. “So the way I’m looking at this new policy, if parents can go in and say, My child should not have access to this book, that wouldn’t hinder my child’s access to the book?”

“That’s correct,” said Matt Frey, the district’s Executive Director of Instructional Technology.

The board also modified the district’s reconsideration form to limit book challenges to district parents, students who are 18 years old or older, and district employees—eliminating challenges from district residents who are not directly connected to its schools. This is a welcome change in a district where dozens of books were pulled off of shelves last school year after complaints at board meetings from Citizens Defending Freedom.

The policy does create new restrictions on classroom libraries: teachers must make a list of classroom library titles available for review, and “titles contained in classroom libraries must be offered in at least one Plano ISD library collection in a school that serves the same grade levels.” Teachers will be given until December 20 to complete their inventory, which is important because in other districts that have similar restrictions, some teachers have shuttered their classroom libraries because cataloguing and cross-checking titles is time-consuming work.

But one district librarian said that, overall, the changes are “good developments.” “I feel like it will cover the librarians’ purchases,” she said, “but also cut down on challenges.”¹

In addition, the district announced that “Plano ISD is now fully poised and positioned to resume new library book purchases for the 2024-2025 school year and beyond.” The district did not purchase any library books during the last school year, citing “a time of uncertainty” around HB 900’s legal requirements. Now that “significant portions of the law have been rendered inoperable” and the board has adopted new policies, librarians will be allowed to purchase new books as soon as the district’s budget rolls over in July.²

Traveling Pastor Circus Derails in Leander

If you’ve followed Texas book news in recent months, you’ve likely heard of what we at the Texas Freedom to Read Project are calling the Traveling Pastor Circus: a group of religious leaders affiliated with the Christian Nationalist Remnant Alliance who are traveling from district to district, trying to get superintendents and trustees to remove books without regard for the policies in place in those districts or concern for the educational damage they might be doing. They send threatening emails and show up at board meetings to read out of context passages. They call district employees “punks and perverts,” and try really hard to get thrown out of board meetings. Then, if a district administrator agrees to review or remove any books from their 676-title list, they declare victory and move on to the next district. So far, they have hit Midland ISD, Fort Bend ISD, several districts in the Rio Grande Valley, and several districts in and around San Antonio.

The group seems at least as effective at generating press as it as at getting results. The Progress Times reported, based on emails from the district’s superintendent, that Mission CISD agreed to remove all books from that 676-title list (which includes things like The Picture of Dorian Gray and the graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s Diary) within five minutes of hearing the pastors’ complaints. But that superintendent is no longer with the district, and there is no indication that the district followed through with the removals, which would have been in violation of district policy.

And there are signs that the traveling circus may be running out of gas. Last week, the group tried to generate controversy in Leander ISD, but ran up against a well-prepared board and a community that was having none of their intimidation tactics. Houston-area pastor Richard Vega signed up to speak during public comment but did not appear; several others who had signed up also did not speak. Harlingen pastor Luis Cabrera did speak, as did 2022 board candidate Brandi Burkman. But they were met by thoughtful public comments in defense of books from district students and parents. After public comment, board president Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia noted that individuals from around Texas had signed up to talk about books, and stated, “For those of you that are not from our community, I thought it would be helpful to share our policy: For all library book concerns, the Leander ISD Board of Trustees is committed to upholding Policy EF which allows a parent or guardian of a current LISD student, any Leander ISD employee, any Leander ISD student and any individual currently residing within Leander ISD boundaries to submit a formal reconsideration for any book that they are concerned about. Per the policy’s guiding principles, a parent’s ability to exercise control over reading, listening, or viewing matter, extends only to his or her own child.”

That’s how you do it.

Conroe ISD rejects Title IX Resolution

I wrote about the some of the developments at Conroe ISD’s eventful June regular meeting—the board opted not to return 19 books to classroom shelves after they had been removed through internal reviews, although it did agree to reconsider its EFA & EFB Local policies after several board members expressed dismay at the procedures that led to the books’ removal.

At the same meeting, the board also chose not to adopt a resolution rejecting the federal government’s LGBTQ-inclusive interpretation of Title IX. Ultra-conservative trustee Tiffany Nelson introduced the resolution, but failed to find majority support. The resolution would have expressed support for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal challenges which would “prohibit Title IX implementation or enforcement actions based on gender identity.”

Other districts around the state—including Keller ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Carroll ISD, Tyler ISD, and Spring Branch ISD—have adopted such resolutions.

Elsewhere:

• While Plano ISD adopted a policy that addresses the mandates of HB900 without requiring unnecessary book removals, in Cypress-Fairbanks and Fort Bend ISD, the boards moved in the opposite direction, discussing draconian policies that go beyond the law’s demands. These policies could come up for final votes soon.

• Also in Cy-Fair ISD, the board doubled down on its decision to censor thirteen chapters from its science textbooks on topics including climate change and vaccines. By a 6-1 vote (with trustee Julie Hinaman dissenting), the board rejected a grievance from a district science teacher that would have reversed the chapters’ removal.  

Clips of the Month:

Finally, here are must-watch moments from three Texas trustees:

• First, Julie Hinaman, discussing elements of the draconian book policy newly proposed in Cy-Fair ISD, asked the million dollar question: “Is this language required by state law or TSLAC standards?” The answer was no—and every trustee addressing policy revisions meant to align with those standards should be asking the same thing.

• In Conroe ISD, Datren Williams pointed out the double standards in a policy that resulted in removals of books like The Color Purple for offensive language but did not result in removal of books for racially offensive language. “Because The Color Purple specifically was mentioned in Mr. Lambert’s argument, that the ‘p-word’ was the major issue there. Did Mark Twain make the cut? Because the ‘n-word’ would seem like it would have a whole lot more damage and impact, negative impact for our students.”

• In the same meeting, trustee Stacey Chase passionately pleaded for her colleagues to return 19 books—including The Color Purple and Brave New World—to district classrooms. Chase, who based her arguments in her knowledge of the books in question, was aghast that the books were removed by internal review committees who were not required to read the texts in their entirety. When her colleague Skeeter Hubert admitted he also hadn’t read the books, Chase earned an ovation with her response. “I understand you didn’t read them,” she said. “That committee didn’t read them either. But you know did read it? The AP and English teachers we have in our district that have taught this material year after year.”

Up Next:

• The filing period for districts with trustee elections in November begins July 20 and runs through August 19. This November’s elections include Austin ISD (4 positions), Conroe ISD (4 positions), Corpus Christi ISD (3 positions), Klein ISD (3 positions), Leander ISD (3 positions), Round Rock ISD (3 positions), & Tomball ISD (3 positions)

What did I miss? What should I cover in July? Let me know in the comments!

1. This librarian asked not to be named in this story.

2. In the meeting, trustee Lauren Tyra asked Frey what happened to the budget money that was allocated for purchasing library books in the 2023-2024 school year. Frey explained that most money for book purchases comes from bond money, which rolls over and is not lost if it is not spent in a given year. He did say that some book purchases come from “operating dollars, too,” and he did not make clear what happens to that money.