Leander ISD returns 36 books to shelves after SB 12 review

The district said it reinstated 36 of the 40 books it pulled from classrooms with “revisions to curriculum materials.”

AUSTIN, Texas — A Central Texas school district is returning dozens of books to classroom shelves after pulling them for review last month to ensure they comply with a new state law.

Leander ISD decided to temporarily pause and review the 40 books because of Senate Bill 12, which went into effect on Sept. 1.

SB 12, which supporters dubbed the Parental Bill of Rights, aims to give parents more authority over their children’s curriculum and extracurricular activities. It bans Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the more than 1,200 K-12 public school districts across Texas. It also bans teaching gender identity and sexual orientation while requiring parents to opt their children into sex education.

The district said it temporarily paused the instructional use of the books in middle and high school out of an abundance of caution. For middle school students, the district put books like “Les Misérables” and “The Devil’s Arithmetic” on hold, and for high school students, the district flagged books like “The House on Mango Street,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.”

Mary Elizabeth Castle, the director of government relations for the conservative group Texas Values, which supported SB 12, said she believes, in some ways, the district overcorrected. 

“Some of these books or classics. They actually help us understand a positive message of our country and how we can come together and correct wrongs and work together,” Castle said. “’Les Misérables’ is about the French Revolution, which actually inspires the American Revolution.”

After evaluation, the district said it reinstated 36 of the books “for classroom use with revisions to curriculum materials.” 

Four of the books are still temporarily paused for instructional use due to what the district calls “unresolved concerns related to SB12 requirements.” Those four books are “Stamped,” “Melissa,” “Gracefully Grayson” and “The 57 Bus.” The district said its goal is to “provide clarity and to resolve this situation” as soon as possible.

Castle said the books talk about sexual orientation, gender identity and other topics she does not believe belong in the classroom.

“These types of books clearly should be left out of the curriculum and are exactly what Senate Bill 12 is about,” Castle said. “If schools can just clearly look at the heart of the text of Senate Bill 12, then that should serve as guidance on what should be included and what should be excluded.”

Throughout the process of pulling the books for review, a Leander ISD spokesperson told KVUE that students were still able to check out some of these books from the library.

“Throughout this process, there has been no impact on library access or overall student access to literature for independent reading,” the district told KVUE in a statement. “In Leander ISD, we have a strong desire to share a wide variety of literature to students while ensuring our staff provides learning that complies with the new law.”

The district stated that it developed a screening rubric based on SB12 to evaluate more than 300 titles and determine the level of risk associated with violating SB12. However, district leaders made the final decision.

“District administrators made the decision to temporarily pause certain titles after a thorough manual review of both the content and the context in which each book was used in the curriculum,” a district spokesperson said.

Carolyn Foote, a retired librarian and English teacher, said it is a relief to have many of the books back, but it should never have happened in the first place.

“What I really hope is that district administrators around Central Texas think carefully, read the laws carefully, and carefully adhere to the letter of the law, which is not meant to remove valid instructional materials from student access,” Foote said.

Foote said she is concerned that the pause on certain books sent a bad message to students.

“It sends a message to students that stories about their lives don’t belong, which means that they don’t belong, that their family doesn’t belong, even in their classroom,” Foote said. “That’s a terrible message to send to high school students, who are already struggling with their own identities and belongings, and reading is a place where we learn to understand one another better and have empathy for others, but also a place where we can see ourselves.”

Foote said these are stories kids should be reading, and she is urging districts across the state to slow down.

“We really hope that districts slow down and be reflective about how they’re implementing all these new bills,” she said. “We know districts want to get it right, but you don’t want to get it right by getting it wrong for students.”

This week marks Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of literature that has drawn the ire of governments worldwide. 

The American Library Association puts on the weeklong event every year to highlight the importance of protecting the right to read freely, no matter what the content is. 

“I think that now it’s scarier than ever, because even more books are being banned,” Half Price Books President Kathy Doyle Thomas said. “If you go to any one of our stores, we have displays set up of books.”

Pen America reported that 6,870 book bans were enacted last school year in 23 states and 87 public school districts.

“We sell all kinds of books. We carry ‘Harry Potter.’ We carry the library books that have been banned, but we also carry books on how to build a bomb,” Thomas said. “We have to, and if you’re supporting freedom of speech, you have to carry all books.”

There is an ongoing lawsuit challenging key aspects of Senate Bill 12 that is still working its way through the courts.