By Delayna Earley
The Island News
The state Board of Education members voted to hold off on deciding whether to remove 10 more books from public school libraries due to sexual content and depictions during their April 1 monthly meeting in Columbia.
On March 13, the Instructional Materials Review Committee unanimously voted to recommend that the board remove 10 books from school libraries statewide after they were found to have violated Regulation 43-170, which states that any books that contain sexual depictions should be removed from public schools in South Carolina.
All 10 books were part of the list of 97 books that were originally submitted for review to the Beaufort County School District by Beaufort resident Elizabeth “Ivie” Szalai, in 2022, most of which were returned to library shelves after an extensive review process by the district and community that lasted just longer than a year.
Under Regulation 43-170, local districts are required to handle complaints about books at the district level before they are kicked up to the state level for review, but since Beaufort County completed their review of the books shortly before the regulation was enacted, the district has refused to review the books again and is sending them straight to the South Carolina Board of Education for review.
Before a final vote on banning the books from school libraries was able to be taken during Tuesday’s meeting, questions were raised by several of the board members about the regulation and whether they had correctly applied it in the past.
Several board members also expressed concern that the majority of the books submitted for review, including the 10 that were up for consideration in Tuesday’s meeting, came through challenges from Szalai.
“I’m looking at this, it seems we have 46 counties and yet everything’s coming from one of them,” said board member David O’Shields, superintendent of Laurens County School District 56. “I’m just confused a little by that. I mean 45 out of 46 is a larger majority than 1 out of 46, but that’s only me pontificating.”
Since the board first started reviewing books in November 2024, 11 books have been removed from school libraries and six have been allowed to stay, including one that requires parental permission to check out.
The first seven books that were considered for removal from state funded public K-12 schools did not come from a parental challenge, but by board members working with the state Department of Education staff.
Board members sought to consider widely questioned books in hopes of setting a precedent to be used in future rulings and to clear up any confusion about what was acceptable and what was not, according to board members at the time.
Since then, almost all the challenged books have come from Szalai.
“When does this thing stop?” said board member Ken Richardson, who represents Horry and Georgetown Counties, asked when talking about how Szalai could feasibly ask the board to review each of the 97 books for removal.
“I think that’s the question of the day,” replied board Chairwoman Rita Allison.
Several board members expressed concern over the fact that one parent was able to request that the state remove all of these books from public schools when they are not presenting an issue or encouraging any complaints from constituents in any of the districts they represent.
O’Shields said that while he does not like the content of the books in question, upon questioning librarians in his district, it appears that the books were brought into the libraries in hopes that they would encourage more students to read while “understanding that children don’t come from a cookie cutter world,” and he argued that the books have value for some students and should be considered as a whole instead of based on some excerpts that contain sexual conduct.
He continued to say that while he finds the pages “repugnant” the books could be very important for some students going through the turbulent times of adolescence and puberty.
Tony Vincent, who represents Anderson and Oconee counties, spoke about how the books could “possibly save lives and help young people understand themselves and their experiences,” especially for children who have experienced abuse or other difficulties.
“Looking at these books outside of the arc of their full stories is a mistake, in my view,” said Vincent.
Richard Harrington, who represents Florence and Marion counties, said that his understanding was that the board originally approved the regulation to protect children from being indoctrinated by adults or older students hoping to influence them with the intent of abusing them.
He said that while he does not know if that is happening in South Carolina schools, he is in support of continuing to remove books containing sexual conduct out of an abundance of caution.
Vincent and O’Shields asked if a middle ground could be explored between completely removing the books and allowing open access to them, such as requiring parental permission or something similar.
O’Shields commented, “I’m asking for something so it’s not, ‘goodnight, sweet prince,’ for these books.”
Ultimately the board voted to postpone making a decision on the 10 books that were up for consideration on Tuesday until board members are able to get more clarification on the regulation or determining if the regulation needs changes made to it.
The next board meeting will take place on May 6.
Szalai was contacted for comment but she declined at this time as she had not had a chance to view the meeting in its entirety.
The books that were up for consideration are:
“Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins;
“Collateral” by Ellen Hopkins;
“Identical” by Ellen Hopkins;
“Lucky” by Alice Sebold;
“Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott;
“Last night at Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo;
“Kingdom of Ash” by Sarah J. Maas;
“Empire of Storms” by Sarah J. Maas;
“Hopeless” by Colleen Hoover; and
“Half of a Yellow Sun” by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie.
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.
