Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Guidance Document Change: The guidance document "Model Policies Concerning Instructional Materials with Sexually Explicit Content" was developed in conjunction with stakeholders in order to comply with SB656 (2022).

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7/18/22 3:51 pm

Commenter: Ellen, elementary librarian

Strongly opposed to SB656

My name is Ellen and I live in Richmond, Virginia.

I have serious concerns about the VDOE’s model policies concerning instructional materials with “sexually explicit content,” a broadly vague term that could be applied to important works of literature like Beloved by Toni Morrison or Ulysses by James Joyce.

As a public school librarian, I believe that classrooms and libraries should be a place where students are free to ask questions, explore new ideas, and learn about diverse viewpoints. The proposed model policies could lead to the exclusion of valuable instructional materials that introduce students to LGBTQ+ stories and experiences, especially those by or for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Even worse, they could potentially prevent LGBTQ+ youth from accessing life-saving information about themselves. Representation matters, and all Virginia students deserve to learn free from censorship and political interference.

While parents are invaluable teachers in their children’s lives, the public school system was established to support parents in educating their children. Teachers, librarians, and education experts have years of experience and are well equipped to introduce diverse and sometimes difficult subjects into the classroom while mitigating the harm and trauma these subjects may cause their students. They are trained professionals whose jobs are to put the students’ interests first. The proposed model policies would make it harder for these educators to do their job and will likely result in censorship due to teacher and librarian’s fear or confusion over what qualifies as “sexually explicit content.”

Virginia students deserve to grow up into brave, courageous people who value diversity and inclusion. We are all better off when young people are encouraged to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This bill has already had impact on my district, where guardians are allowed to view what books their students' check out. This goes against the ALA's Library Bill of Rights, particularly "VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information." (ALA's Library Bill of Rights https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill). What if a student is suffering from parental abuse and checks out a book to learn more? What if a student checks out an LGBTQ+ book, but has extremely homophobic parents? This law does not protect a student's privacy, nor does it advocate the rights of students at all. As adults some of us forget that students are people, and should have individual freedoms such as privacy, confidentiality, and respect.

CommentID: 122730