The school district said it had questions about what to do with books in the LGBTQ+ genre.
"If we have a book that maybe fits in the LGBTQ kind of genre, does that fit? And so the guidance from our legal department was the law is actually talking about graphic sexual activity, not just a state of being," said Arnold.
The district also had to address classroom libraries.
"Each teacher will create a catalog of the book titles that are in the classroom and then provide that to parents, and then the parents will either opt in or opt out. So, the kids either get to have access to the classroom library or don't get any access to the classroom library," said Arnold.
All of the district's library and curriculum materials go though a board-approval process during meetings that are open to the public.
While individual teachers can be held liable for giving harmful material to minors, Arnold said their policy complies with the time frame they have to review material, so that isn't much of a concern.
Coeur d"Alene Public Schools has also been working to comply with the law.
Part of it's process was creating forms for parents and guardians to submit materials they would like reviewed for harmful content.
The district had a public reading of the policy revisions on August 12. You can find the drafted policies HERE and HERE .
The district is now giving the community 30 days to make public comment on the drafted policies. An official said they will take public comment into consideration, refine the policy and present it back to the board for adoption in September.
"We have put some materials last year on reserve, so that if you do want to check out a particular title, it would require a parent or guardian authorization to be able to do so," said Dr. Mike Nelson, Deputy Superintendent of Public Schools.
Both the Lakeland Join School District and Coeur d'Alene Public Schools will establish committees to review any material parents feel might be harmful to children.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0