From staff reports
In a special Beaufort County Board of Education meeting on Friday, June 2, at Battery Creek High School that lasted less than three minutes, the school board voted to affirm the decisions of the book review committees that returned seven books to the Beaufort County School District (BCSD) library shelves on May 11.
The board voted 6-1 to uphold the committee decisions.
The committees had reviewed eight books at Okatie Elementary – Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher, Fade by Lisa McMann, Fallout by Ellen Hopkins, Foul is Fair / Golden Boys Beware by Hanna Capin, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, Identical by Ellen Hopkins, Push by Sapphire and Tricks by Ellen Hopkins.
The committees returned all but Identical by Ellen Hopkins. Because of a tie vote, it will go back into the review process.
As reported by The Island News’ Delayna Earley, four books – Almost Perfect, Fade, Fallout and Tricks – were previously available to students in Grades 6 through 12. Of those books, Fallout by Ellen Hopkins will be returned to circulation without any additional restrictions, whereas the other three books will be returned to library circulation for Grades 9 through 12 only.
The other four books, Foul is Fair / Golden Boys Beware, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces, Identical and Push were all originally available for Grades 9 through 12, and all but Identical have been returned to those grade levels.
Of the 97 books that were originally removed from BCSD libraries, 54 have gone through the review process. Of those, three books have been removed from school district shelves – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and The Haters by Jessie Andrews – with one book – Identical by Ellen Hopkins – returning to the review process.
There are still 44 books that need to go through the review process, including the book that is being re-reviewed. The review process will continue into the summer according to BCSD spokesperson Candace Bruder. Review committees will meet twice during the school district’s summer break, but those dates have not been finalized.
