Despite widespread confusion over which books are to be banned from schools under a bill Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law in May, the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) has no plans to offer guidance to school districts attempting to implement the law.
SF 496 requires schools to remove all books with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” except for approved science or health class texts. It also prohibits “any program, curriculum, test, survey, questionnaire, promotion or instruction” referencing sexual identity or gender orientation before the 7th grade.
During the State Board of Education’s meeting on Thursday, Board President John Robbins said “there’s a lot of confusion” about what those bans cover, and which books need to be removed from school.
“People in the field that I’ve talked with [are hoping] the DOE or somebody provides direction because right now, we’re kind of either guessing what is right or wrong, and not being in violation of the law,” he said.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that DOE Legislative Liaison Eric St. Clair, who was representing the department at the meeting, said although the calls for clarity were “appreciated,” the department was not committed to providing guidelines.
St. Clair said “feedback” from school districts on the new law would be reviewed on a “case-by-case basis,” following which the department would “determine how to appropriately respond.”
The new book bans received national attention last week, after Annie’s Foundation published an email from the Urbandale Community School District listing 387 books to be removed from schools in order to comply with the new law. The Johnston-based nonprofit, formed last year to oppose book bans, obtained the July email to Urbandale schools through an Open Records Act request.
But on Thursday, Urbandale drastically scaled back the number of books to be removed. The district decided to “pause” its plan to remove books with LGBTQ content because of a blanket prohibition on acknowledging LGBTQ people in SF 492. The district informed schools of its decision the same day as the State Board of Education meeting when the DOE’s representative informed it that no further general guidance for schools is planned.
Omitting books that just mention LGBTQ people and topics, and just focusing on books with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” reduced the number of books slated for removal from 387 to 64.
Books still on the banned list include works by two American authors who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is to be removed from Urbandale schools, as are three works by Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. Literary classics including James Joyce’s Ulysses and Richard Wright’s Native Son are also on the list.
Bestselling author Jodi Picoult responded on July 31 to her work being included in Urbandale’s ban.
“God, I’m sick of having my books banned,” she posted on Facebook. “This time: My Sister’s Keeper, Mercy, and Nineteen Minutes in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa.”
The revised list does not include My Sister’s Keeper or Mercy, but does still instruct schools to remove Nineteen Minutes, Picoult’s 2007 novel revolving around a school shooting, what led up to it and its aftermath. The widely-praised novel is often incorporated into school anti-bullying programs.
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