Textbook Adoptions Should Be Done by the Book | News, Sports, Jobs

The recent Ohio County Schools textbook controversy is only the beginning of an effort orchestrated across the country to change curriculum from the ground up. In concert with anti-CRT legislation — which the West Virginia Legislature missed passing by a matter of minutes — parents and activists on the local level are pushing to remove books from school curriculum. What is happening in Ohio County is happening all around the country — powerful anti-CRT, anti-LGBTQ+ advocates such as Moms for Liberty are influencing what our children are taught.

Seahorses are seen as “too sexy” for first grade curriculum, and the book “Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea” has been removed from first grade shelves across Ohio County Schools. Concerns about the seahorse curriculum are outlined in the YouTube video “Let’s Talk About Wit & Wisdom 2” from the Williamson County Chapter of Moms for Liberty in Tennessee. Moms for Liberty claim that “Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea” is “a soft introduction to sex ed: the gender roles are switched.” Objections to content include the description of sea horse mating rituals in which sea horses “twist their tails together and twirl gently around,” and in which the male sea horse works hard to give birth to baby seahorses.

The video states, “So basically, the dad gives birth here. This is the kids’ first introduction to gender roles being switched. The question is, ‘Are they ready for that?’” The objections to the book also include a small photo which shows sea horses mating and the supplemental video Pygmy Sea Horses: Masters of Camouflage (2014) which states: “We humans tend to think of who we are as mostly fixed, but in the ocean, identity can be a fluid and mysterious thing.”

Another book removed from the elementary curriculum of Ohio County Schools is “Feelings” by Aliki, a text written in 1984. The small, mostly illustrated book and the associated Reading Rainbow video from 1986 have been taken out in favor of more current social-emotional learning curriculum. In a world where there are so many books to teach, after all, why teach this one?

Why not?

“Feelings” by Aliki is specifically targeted by Moms for Liberty because it is used to teach social-emotional learning. The national group argues that it is not the place of schools to teach children how to manage their feelings — that is the place of the parent. However, by taking books out wholesale on the district or county level — this is book banning.

The First Amendment Encyclopedia from Middle Tennessee State University defines book banning as a form of censorship which “occurs when private individuals, government officials, or organizations remove books from libraries, school reading lists, or bookstore shelves because they object to their content, ideas, or themes. Those advocating a ban complain typically that the book in question contains graphic violence, expresses disrespect for parents and family, is sexually explicit, exalts evil, lacks literary merit, is unsuitable for a particular age group, or includes offensive language.”

I would ask — can first grade Ohio County Schools teachers include the book “Feelings” in an SEL lesson? Can students view the book at that grade level?

At any grade level?

Was this book ever presented to be organically problematic by teachers, students, or parents before the book list from Moms for Liberty was handed out? Similarly, can first grade teachers teach “Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea?” Can first grade students have access to the book and look at the pictures? Or is this also, now, forbidden?

Ohio County Schools already has a protocol in place to listen to parents and negotiate curriculum at the school and classroom level. Ohio County Schools policy 3002.02 states that school personnel will meet with the parents and guardians to discuss their concerns, and parents are asked to complete a “Request for Alternative Instructional Material” form which is considered when selecting future instructional materials. Together, parents, administrators, and teachers can decide on alternative assignments for students as is appropriate. This is customary practice, and it does not prohibit the teaching of the same or similar materials across the county.

When I questioned the removal of 10 books from the elementary curriculum at the Feb. 28 Ohio County Schools board meeting, I asked if it was normal for the county to ban books after a textbook adoption. I was met repeatedly with the response that this is not banning, it is removal and replacement. But what makes the difference between the ordinary updating of curriculum and book censorship? As Kelly Jensen so aptly puts it in “Is a Curriculum Update a Book Ban?” for Book Riot: “Intent is key.”

This is what book banning looks like. It is not sexy, as opposed to those seahorses, but this is it. It is more important now, than ever, that adoptions be done by the book. Following outlined policies and procedures avoids confusion and creates clear boundaries — boundaries our predecessors found necessary to put into place.

Boundaries such as West Virginia State Code 18-2A-8, which states that the public can examine and assess textbooks during the adoption process, but all the haggling has to happen before the textbook adoption is finalized.

Textbooks that have already been vetted by the West Virginia State Board of Education, per West Virginia Board of Education Policy 8200, and which have already been appropriately matched to age and grade level groups by curriculum developers.

Book banning is boring and bureaucratic, and it can lead to a lot of obfuscation and doublespeak. It can make people who oppose it feel small and, worse, foolish, for speaking the truth. It is hard to stand up to our institutions when we feel as if we are one and they are many. But we are not alone. We are here, we are listening, and we need to be aware — not only as a county, but as a state.

School board meetings aren’t always interesting. I can think of a lot of great places to be (in bed with my pajamas on, making dinner, hanging out with my kids) other than in a room listening to budget and institutional details. But something new is coming — moreover, I would like to argue that it is already here.

We have a responsibility as a democracy to protect the diversity of our curriculum, and as such, the diversity of our schools.

All books that have been censored and banned from the Wit & Wisdom curriculum adoption by Ohio County Schools should be taken off the shelves and placed back into the hands of our children — where they belong.

Katie Redd of Wheeling is a National Board Certified Teacher in English Language Arts and a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction at Marshall University. She is the proud mother of two Ohio County Schools students.