The books are going back on the shelf.

Superintendent James Konrad announced at the school board meeting on Thursday night that the books he had the librarians pull from school shelves will be returned.

The books in question were on a list of 57 provided by Moms for Liberty, an organization which has been petitioning school boards nationwide to pull the books.

The school district had 27 of the books at the school libraries, 21 at the high school, six at the middle school, three at the intermediate school and one at the elementary school. Some book titles were at both the high school and the middle

A group of parents has been attending school board meetings objecting to these books.

In July, Antoinette Gravel of Polk Township read to the school board an excerpt from one of the books that had sexually graphic content. The book is titled “This Book Is Gay.”

“This is pornographic,” she said. “This shouldn’t be in a school library.”

The majority of the books are about homosexuality and related topics, but they also contain books about race, culture, teen depression and suicide, drug use, school shootings, and navigating being a teen. Some of the books have been read by teens for decades, such as “Forever” by Judy Blume, as well as many newer writings.

The Moms for Liberty and the 917 Society donated a book to the school district. They gave pocket constitution books to the eighth-grade students on the anniversary of the signing of the constitution. At the Sept. 22 school board meeting, Konrad thanked the groups for their donation.

Although the books the group wanted pulled from the shelves were removed, they could still be checked out. They were placed behind the circulation desk and could be signed out after requesting them from the librarian, Konrad said.

The school district has a long-standing process to address a request to remove a book. Pulling the books from the shelves went against the school district’s policy, which was something a resident, parent and teacher, Ann Parham of Chestnuthill Township, brought up at the Sept. 22 school board meeting.

Parham said that although she was raised in a conservative household, her parents did not censor what she read. As she raised her own children, they were encouraged to read and came home with “armloads of books” from the library.

“Today’s students’ book choices should continue to widen, not narrow, their view of the world,” Parham said. “I certainly believe inappropriate reading material has no place on PV book shelves, but let’s use the procedures outlined in PV’s policies to make that determination.”

Parham said she would be willing to read all of the books on the list in question that are in the school district to help in the review process to determine if they should be pulled.

“Just don’t allow a vocal minority to intimidate this district into widespread censorship without due diligence,” she said.

To remove a book

According to the policy, the person challenging a resource material has to complete a form explaining his or her objection. The material is reviewed by three objective reviewers with at least one of them being a reading specialist or a school librarian. They complete a packet regarding their findings, and it is submitted to the curriculum office for review. From there, recommendations are provided by the building principal, department chair or team leader, the reading supervisor, the director of Curriculum and Instruction and the assistant to the superintendent.

Article 3 of Policy 109, titled Guidelines for Censorship, addresses direct and indirect censorship.

Direct censorship is defined in the policy as occurring “when principals and school boards restrict the materials a teacher can and cannot use in the classroom.”

The policy on indirect censorship concerns a teacher’s censorship of themselves.

The policy states, “Indirect censorship occurs when teachers, in an attempt to avoid controversy, self-censor their classrooms, limiting their students’ education, for instance, by restricting the viewpoints and perspectives of authors, producers, and community members that may be deemed controversial. Such indirect censorship is often most frequently tied to the voices of producers from historically marginalized communities such as members of the LGBTQ communities, despite the fact that these voices will mirror the often invisible identities of students in all teachers’ classrooms. Indirect censorship, like direct censorship, deprives students of the learning opportunities they need to become fully literate, civic actors and suppresses the full humanity of the young people in schools now.”

Konrad said the school district is going to create a form that parents can sign listing any books that they do not want their children to read.