By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Fifteen new books have been challenged in the Beaufort County School District under a South Carolina state regulation that the complainant alleges contains descriptions or images of sexual content.
The newest round of book challenges was made by Beaufort resident Elizabeth “Ivie” Szalai, who previously submitted a list of 97 books for review in 2022 and has been successful in challenging most of the 22 books that have been banned from school libraries statewide under Regulation 43-170.
Under Regulation 43-170, a parent can challenge up to five books in a month after that individual has tried to resolve the issue with the school or BCSD staff.
Currently, books challenged in Beaufort County School District that have already been reviewed, such as the list of 97 books that were reviewed locally by committees over the course of a year, are being forwarded directly to the South Carolina Department of Education for their review.
The BCSD has stated that books that have been reviewed locally, even those that were reviewed before the regulation was put into place, do not require an additional vote on the local level.
The state Board of Education has sent a letter to the Beaufort County Board of Education allegedly requesting that Beaufort County begin reviewing and re-reviewing books locally instead of continuing to send challenged materials straight to the state level to be dealt with there.
Partly due to her complaints being escalated to the state level at a faster pace, Szalai’s influence has been the topic of discussion in recent state Board of Education meetings questioning if one person should have power to dictate what books are allowed to be offered in S.C. public school libraries statewide.
After Tuesday, July 8, BCSD Board of Education meeting, no decision was announced regarding the letter coming out of executive session as the board needs more time to write a response back to the S.C. Board of Education.
Since March, the following book have been challenged:
“Shine” by Lauren Myracle
“Skin” by Donna Jo Napoli
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
“The Carnival at Bray” by Jessie Ann Foley
“The Duff” by Kody Keplinger
“Like a Love Story” by Abdi Nazemian
“The Freedom Writers Diary” by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
“The Infinite Moment of Us” by Lauren Myracle
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“Tilt” by Ellen Hopkins
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
“Sold” by Patricia McCormick
“Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold
“The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta
“The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein
Under the currently regulation, after a parent or guardian of a BCSD student has made a formal complaint, up to five in a month, the local Board of Education must review the complaint publicly and vote on each complaint within 90 days.
Only complaints pertaining to descriptions and depictions of sexual conduct in a book will be reviewed, not issues with social or political viewpoints.
A decision will be made at that point to either remove the book entirely, restrict it by grade level or allow the book to be checked out with parental consent.
If a complainant is unhappy with the decision made at the district level, they retain the right to appeal their case to the S.C. Board of Education.
While there are some who praise Regulation 43-170 for allegedly protecting students from content deemed inappropriate, there are groups like Families Against Book Bans who feel that the state, under Regulation 43-170, is overreaching, especially as there is currently no process in place to restore books that were previously banned.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.