Pender County Board of Education discusses book ban at meeting
BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — The Pender County School Board had a number of things on their agenda for their Tuesday night meeting.
One item included an update from the “Collection Development and Weeding Review” regarding book titles at two county schools.
In a prior meeting, the board decided to review 42 books in schools across the district.
Following that meeting, seven book titles were removed from four schools.
People on both sides of the issue spoke about why they think, or do not think, that these books should be banned from county schools.
Nell Chapman Case, in favor of the book ban, who also introduced herself as an Education Sector Activist and an Anti-SEL and Critical Consciousness Person, spoke to the board saying, “What we want is accountability from our lawmakers and our elected officials, and we want you to acknowledge that these materials are dangerous. It’s dangerous ideologies.”
She also claims that many of the books coming through the school systems are being framed as materials to help children’s mental health, but says that is a lie.
“The transgender ideology tributary is dangerous. These materials that are being filtered and flowed through our school system, our taxpayer-funded school system, the DPI, the Department of Public Instruction, they are opening up the vein that serves as a pipeline to the medical-industrial complex, which is where we get into the very dangerous ideology of gender-affirming care.”
On the other side of the issue, members of the community are saying that these books help children cope with real-life issues, and also that Pender County Schools already has a method for dealing with questionable material.
Sandra Malpass, a retired school media specialist that worked in both Pender and New Hanover Counties, is against completely removing these books from school libraries.
“I’m not saying that R-rated books should be in elementary school, but there are books in the middle and high schools that these students today need to read. They need to know, because a lot of them are dealing with the issues that are covered in those books, and by having a book to read, it may help them learn to cope with their own issues.”
Also opposed to the recent surge of book banning is Rochelle Whiteside, who is a retired Pender County Schools teacher and former board of education member. She says she believes the board should stick to the policy that it already has.
“Pender County has a policy in place, and has had a policy in place, to deal with books… or library materials… that are questionable by parents and students. A parent or a student may request that a piece of material be reviewed, and there is a committee in place to do that. We have operated on that policy for many years, and it works. We need to simply stick with that, and continue to do what we’ve been doing… not bow down to a political group, that wants to turn our children into political pawns.”
During tonight’s meeting, the review of the final two school’s books were included in the Consent Agenda, and passed.
