Books available to students through the library are intended for voluntary use by students as they self-select independent reading materials. Books may also meet a curricular need for students, but library books are not the primary source of instruction. An instructional resource is an educational aid or material intended to be used by all students for instructional purposes (e.g., textbook, online material, video, media). The distinction between the two is legally significant. 

School Librarians are highly-trained professionals, certified by the state of Texas in the selection of materials for children and young adults. Books are selected based upon the needs of the district-adopted curriculum, personal interests of students, and recommendation by staff, students, and parents. Selection criteria include:

• Support and enrich the curriculum
• Represent students’ personal interests and learning
• Meet high standards in literary, artistic, and aesthetic quality; technical aspects; and physical format
• Be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and social, emotional, and intellectual development of the students for whom the materials are selected
• Incorporate accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources
• Earn favorable reviews from standard reviewing sources and/or favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel
• Exhibit a high degree of potential user appeal and interest 
• Represent differing viewpoints on controversial issues
• Provide a global perspective and promote diversity by including materials by authors and illustrators of all cultures
• Include a variety of resources in physical and virtual formats, including print and non-print, such as electronic and multimedia (including subscription databases and other online products, e-books, educational games, and other forms of emerging technologies) 
• Demonstrate physical format, appearance, and durability suitable for their intended use
• Balance cost with need

School Librarians read and evaluate peer-reviewed resources from professional journals such as School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Review, and Publisher’s Weekly to determine if a book meets the criteria of at least two favorable reviews recommending for the age of children at their campus.

A classroom library is a set of books that are housed in a teacher’s classroom. Books for the classroom are purchased in a variety of ways such as district funds, campus funds, PTA, teacher’s personal money, Amazon wishlist donations, Donors Choose, etc. Typically, these books are available for students to read independently or use in the instructional setting.

A parent of a District student, an employee, or any District resident may formally challenge an instructional resource used in the District’s educational program on the basis of appropriateness.

The school receiving a complaint about the appropriateness of an instructional resource shall try to resolve the matter informally using the following procedure:

1. The principal or designee shall explain the school’s selection process, the criteria for selection, and the qualifications of the professional staff who selected the questioned resource.
2. The principal or designee shall explain the intended educational purpose of the resource and any additional information regarding its use.
3. If appropriate, the principal or designee may offer a concerned parent an alternative instructional resource to be used by that parent’s child in place of the challenged resource.
4. If the complainant wishes to make a formal challenge, they should complete the Sherman ISD Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Resources & Library Books form.

Yes. The complainant may appeal the decision of the reconsideration committee in accordance with appropriate complaint policies, starting with the appropriate administrator, in accordance with policies DGBA, FNG, or GF.

A complainant shall make any formal objection to an instructional resource on the form provided by the District and shall submit the completed and signed form to the principal or designee. Upon receipt of the form, the principal or designee shall appoint a reconsideration committee. The  reconsideration committee shall include at least one member of the instructional staff who has experience using the challenged resource with students or is familiar with the challenged resource’s content. Other members of the committee may include District-level staff, library staff, secondary-level students, parents, and any other appropriate individuals.  All members of the committee shall review the challenged resource in its entirety. As soon as reasonably possible, the committee shall meet and determine whether the challenged resource conforms to the principles of selection set out in this policy. The committee shall prepare a written report of its findings and provide copies to the principal, the Superintendent or designee, and the complainant. Click here to review the checklist used to facilitate the committee meeting.

If we have enough copies of the book in the District, we collect copies of the book and distribute them to the committee members. If we do not have enough copies, we must use District funds to purchase copies of the book.

Yes. All committee members are required to read the book in its entirety.

Students’ First Amendment rights guide school districts on the removal of books from a school library. The committee must determine if the book is “pervasively vulgar.” To determine pervasiveness, the committee members must read the entire book.

“Pervasively vulgar" content is defined as lewd or profane and spread throughout.  One example of pervasively vulgar content would include references to explicitly graphic sex acts.  

Once a resource has been made available in a school library, removal of the resource implicates students’ First Amendment rights. While the school district has discretion on which books it brings into its library, once a book is in the library there are legal limits on what can be removed. 

According to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1982 decision, the First Amendment rights of students may be “directly and sharply” implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library. Bd. of Educ., Island Trees Union Free Sch. Dist. No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982).

The Court, in that case, informed us that there is a meaningful difference between the curriculum conveyed in a compulsory setting and the school library, which is a place for “voluntary inquiry.” The Court made clear that state and local discretion may not be exercised in a way that violates students’ free speech rights by removing books for partisan or political reasons: “In brief, we hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to ‘prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’” Pico, 457 U.S. at 872. 

Students’ First Amendment rights are implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library. A school district cannot remove materials from a library for the purpose of denying students access to ideas with which the district disagrees. A district may remove materials because they are pervasively vulgar or based solely upon the educational suitability of the books in question. Bd. of Educ. v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982) The committee decides if a book is educationally suitable or pervasively vulgar by working through a series of questions in the areas of appropriateness, content, review/evaluations, and purpose. When the book is non-fiction, the committee also considers the authenticity of the book.