KENOSHA, Wis. — Kenosha Unified is the latest school district to take up the topic of book bans and the first to make changes to its policy.
Their school board voted on Tuesday to update their book review procedure to streamline the process after 38 books have been challenged for allegedly being harmful to students.
“I think the new policy is going to be much more efficient,” said Sarah Kirby, a mom of three KUSD students.
“KUSD parents can stop their children from reading these books if they want to. There really is no need for this campaign,” Kirby told TMJ4.
The old book review policy was written in 2001. On average, it took about a month for each book to be reviewed. That process included an ad hoc committee reading the book in its entirety and holding public meetings before making their final recommendation to the district.
KUSD Superintendent Jeffery Weiss said with nearly 40 challenges the old policy would take three to four years to complete.
“The policy that was written in 2000, I’m sure was not written with an eye on dealing with 38 book challenges, and how to get through all of that work while still running a district,” Weiss said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The new policy prioritizes requests from parents with kids in the district, requires those challenging a book to have read it in its entirety first, and states that challenges to books must be brought to the school level first before bringing it to the district.
The board passed the changes in a 3-2 vote.
“I like that it prioritizes parent concerns,” Kirby noted. “That should take priority because we do have kids in these schools.”
While moms like Sarah are in favor of the new policy, community groups who have been vocally in favor of banning books tell TMJ4 in a statement:
"With the newly amended policy, they have removed taxpaying citizens and parents from the book challenge committees ... They have no interest in truly protecting children."
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