PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (KMTV) — Plattsmouth Community School District is reviewing the policy of selection and de-selection of several books on the library shelves.
"If you read the policy, there are some things, that in the new one, or the recommended draft, are a little bit different, but currently the way it is written, we are following our policy," said one school board member.
The discussion included re-wording parts of the review policy. Criteria for de-selection were added to the policy for recommendation to the board, including the following eight points.
Less than two weeks ago, several students peacefully protested outside of Plattsmouth High School when several books were removed from the library.
Reporter Molly Hudson caught up with Sam McKnight, a junior who spoke up at the school board meeting, following the board's discussion and feels strongly that the board didn't address the students' concerns.
"The books at our school, they are very well curated by our librarian, to show a diverse series of voices and they do a really good job of presenting perspectives that you can't see in Plattsmouth, Nebraska," McKnight said.
McKnight said many of the books on the list target marginalized or minority communities. While many like McKnight stood to keep the books, some expressed concern about doing just that. Some spoke up about their concern about the innocence and vulnerabilities of students.
The board talked about adding a restricted section in the library, which would allow parents to sign a form at the beginning of the year to either approve or deny their student from reading books from that section. This possibility is something two students, told Reporter Molly Hudson, think could be an option.
"If that's the solution that we need to get our books back on the shelves that would be great, they are not going to take that solution," McKnight said.
Plattsmouth Senior Carlee Petereit added, "It's kind of like, what we feel would be the best step forward at least at first instead of just taking them off automatically."
The board mentioned that once the policy is fully revised, the list of books can be reviewed.
This was just the first reading of the policy. This means the policy will now go back to the committee and then come back to the board for a second reading, repeating the process again, before a final review by the board.
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