By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A panel with the State Board of Education has decided that four more books should be removed from public schools in South Carolina due to their sexual content.
Two books – “ The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros and “Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes – will not be removed from schools.
The four books that were removed by the five-person committee will join the seven others that have been removed since the state regulation banned public schools from allowing access to books that contained sexual conduct.
The four books that were reviewed in the meeting on Thursday, Jan. 9 and put up for removal were “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, “Flamer” by Mike Curato, “PUSH” by Sapphire and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky.
The books reviewed Thursday came from a challenge from Ivie Szalai, who was the Beaufort County parent who put forth a list of 97 books in 2022 that resulted in a year-long district-wide committee review of the books.
During that review, only five of the books were removed and all four of the books recently challenged by Szalai were not removed and were still in schools.
This is the first time since the regulation was put into place that a book has gone through the appeals process from start to finish.
Szalai said the books she contested at the state level all contain descriptions of sex acts that are inappropriate for children and violate the state regulation.
Newly elected Beaufort County Board of Education Chair Richard Geier said that they will have to abide by the decisions made at the state level and will refer specific concerns about books to the state level.
The question as to if the books will officially be removed will be addressed by the full 15-member South Carolina Board of Education at its normal meeting on Feb. 4.
The books will be removed if there is a majority vote.
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.
