AUGUSTA — Maine education groups have joined an intellectual freedom campaign to push back against reports that certain books are inappropriate for school libraries.
Educate Maine, the organizer of the campaign, said “these challenges are about more than the content of the texts; they are attempts to silence and erase the truths and humanity of the books’ characters and creators.”
Some Maine officials, such as Steven Bailey, the director of the Maine School Management Association, said they haven’t received any complaints, the Bangor Daily News reported.
But York Middle School received a complaint about a sex education book in November, which school librarians and parents advocated remain in the school’s library. The York School Committee is considering whether to grant an appeal from a local resident who asked to have the book removed, the Portsmouth Herald reported Tuesday.
The Maine School Boards Association has an online form for people to register their book complaints. The district’s superintendent is then tasked with appointing a committee to look into the complaint.
The complaint must also consider the book in its entirety and not based on passages pulled out of context. The book cannot be removed until a decision is reached by the committee.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
