By Mike McCombs
The Island News
The Beaufort County School District’s (BCSD) book review wheels keep turning.
At least one of the two original complaintants have appealed the review committee’s decisions for each of the nine books returned to circulation in some fashion after the committees’ Thursday, Jan. 19 meeting.
Neither of the original complaintants – Ivie Szalai or Mike Covert – appealed Committee 10’s decision to remove It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover from circulation in the BCSD. It will remain out of circulation in the district for five years, according to policy.
The decisions on the other nine books – all appealed by Szalai – went as follows:
Committee No. 7: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 8: The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 9: Looking for Alaska by John Green – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 11: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 12: Glass by Ellen Hopkins – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 13: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 14: Crank by Ellen Hopkins – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Committee No. 15: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – returned to circulation.
Committee No. 16: The Poet X by Elizabeth Aceveda – returned to grades 9-12 only.
Covert did not appeal the decisions of Committees 15 and 16.
The fate of these nine books will ultimately fall to the Board of Education. While a date to decide the appeals has not been set, the next board meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 7, which falls within the 15-day window since the appeals were filed Jan. 27 and Jan. 30.
Meanwhile, 10 more book review committees are set to meet Thursday, Feb. 16 at 5:45 p.m. at Okatie Elementary School.
The books under review include:
– Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
– Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson
– I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
– Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
– Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
– Sold by Patricia McCormick
– All the Things We Do In The Dark by Saundra Mitchell
– City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
– I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
– Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
