Lehighton Area School District unveiled a first reading of a proposed new policy on library materials Monday night. Board members said the policy seeks to balance educational integrity, diversity and parental control.

“This policy is a huge undertaking,” said Interim Superintendent Jack Corby, who emphasized that while the board holds the final decision, the process is ongoing, with room for suggestions and revisions.

“There must be patience and respect for each other’s opinions,” he added, calling for a united effort to serve the best interests of the district’s students.

The draft policy outlines the selection criteria for library materials.

According to the policy, selected library materials will:

• Support and enrich the curriculum taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities, learning needs, learning styles, and maturity levels of the students served.

• Meet high standards in literary, artistic and aesthetic quality; technical aspects; and physical format.

• Be directed toward maintaining a diverse collection representing various perspectives related to a wide variety of topics.

• Promote diversity by including materials that reflect authors, illustrators, voices and subjects pertinent to the many different ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic groups around the world.

Additionally, when addressing the reconsideration of challenged materials, the policy states, “The review of challenged materials shall be handled objectively, weighing the value of the material as a whole and not on passages or segments considered out of context. ... A committee will be formulated by the Superintendent or designee that may include but is not limited to professional staff members, building and district administration, and/or community members.”

In August, director Sean Gleaves brought 33 books from the high school library to a school board meeting which he hoped to have a committee made up of board members, district staff or interested community members, review.

“My intention for initiating this audit is to simply protect the innocence of children,” Gleaves said at the time. “It is my belief that books that contain sexually explicit material should not be in the public education system. Some of the content I found was truly disturbing and there is no excuse that would justify such content to be exposed to a minor without the consent of their parents. These books are grooming children to accept a reality where sexual deviancy is considered normal.”

Corby noted Monday that the proposed policy is up for a first reading and that additional readings and discussions would take place before any final decisions are made.

“Policy adoption is a process,” he said. “Changes can still be incorporated and deliberations must occur in a public forum.”

The policy states that challenged materials remain available during the review process.

He also pointed out that with a new superintendent coming on board, the district wants to ensure that any adopted policy reflects the vision and responsibilities of future district leadership.

“If this policy is adopted through a first reading tonight, the second and final adoption will not take place until at least Nov. 25,” Corby said, adding that administrative regulations would need to be crafted to support the policy.

High School Librarian June Potts said she was happy with some parts of the proposed policy, while others still left question marks.

“Promoting diversity by including materials that reflect authors, illustrators, voices and subjects pertinent to different ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic and linguistic groups around the world is a great positive for the policy,” Potts said.

She added, however, that librarians need to be more explicitly involved in the selection process.

“I’d like to see the name of the librarian added into the policy,” she said. “Nobody knows better than us librarians who are in the trenches.”

Corby agreed that the librarians’ roles should be clarified.

“I look at this as an opportunity to get input from you through this process,” he said.

One of the most controversial aspects of the policy is the section that addresses books containing explicit content, including sexual excerpts and profanity. The policy proposes maintaining a list of such books, which will be made available to parents, allowing them to restrict their children’s access to specific titles.

Kasara Weinrich, another attendee at Monday’s board workshop, voiced concerns about how the policy might lead to unintended consequences.

“Are you just simply saying, ‘Hey parents, this is a list of books and here are some key themes that we saw,’ or are you providing excerpts without any context?” she asked.

Weinrich urged the board to think carefully about how to present such information to parents in a way that doesn’t lead to misunderstandings or knee-jerk reactions. She also called for clarity on how decisions would be made regarding which books to restrict.

“There needs to be clear criteria as to what those terms mean and how someone’s going to decide whether something is corrupting or discriminatory,” she said.

Throughout the discussion, board members and district officials repeatedly referenced the need for administrative regulations that would guide the implementation of the policy.

“The board doesn’t actually do any of this work themselves,” director Joy Beers said. “All the work is orchestrated by the superintendent, and it’s overseen by them.”

Beers said that while the policy sets broad guidelines, the administrative regulations will be where the real work happens.

“This is a good opportunity for the community to not only talk about things like sexual content and profanity but also to talk about what is the procedure that we want to implement,” she added.

Monday’s workshop concluded with a vow from board members that there would be ample opportunities for continued public input.

“This is not going to be done behind closed doors,” Beers said, encouraging anyone with edits or suggestions to submit them for consideration.

Corby, meanwhile, encouraged civil discussion as the process moved forward.

“We all know that by working together, in the end, who benefits? Our kids,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t have a respectful and productive dialogue about this issue.”

A copy of the proposed policy can be found on Lehighton’s website, www.lehighton.org, under the BoardDocs section and the Oct. 14 meeting agenda.