Billings school board tables reading of proposed book policy

BILLINGS - The Billings Public Schools board voted to postpone the first reading of the proposed book policy until its next meeting.

School District 2 trustees want to study the material more as well as to allow the public to look over the proposal.

Still during the public comment period, several did give their thoughts.

The discussion to table came up because the library policy issue did not appear on the agenda until Saturday and with one board member missing and the passionate discussions on books last school year, the board unanimously agreed to delay looking at it until next month.

“The (Montana School Boards Association) policy is well-constructed, legal, and sensible,” one woman said to the board.

“The library policy that the board is set to move forward with is a good policy,” said Jack Hanson before the meeting. “It's legally vetted. It brings the district into compliance with state law.

“It specifically delegates control of the library collections to the librarians who are the professionals,” Cici Kelling, a parent, said before the meeting. “And they're the ones who see the kids day in and day out and know what the kids want and need to read.”

The board voted 5 to 4 last Wednesday to consider using the Montana School Boards Association model policy.

Hanson likes that the policy has a procedure for removing a book, which is also part of the old or current policy.

“They still need to go through a process to get that material removed and I think that's very important,” Hanson said.

“Many parents, taxpayers, and voters want tax dollars to go to materials that will aid in students academic success and are not obscene and sexually explicit,” Jesse Browning, a parent, said in a statement emailed to Q2.

Others also expressed concerns that came up because of book challenges.

“If we plant in front of teenagers, things that are driven by desire and excitement, we are leading them on a path to destructive life choices,” one woman said to the board.

“We're not talking about a ban,” one woman said to the board. “Any parent that wants their children to read this material can absolutely obtain it for them. The children can probably also obtain it on their own. The question is, should our tax dollars be providing it for them in the school?”