Banning books thwarts students

Editor,

In response to the article, “Worcester Schools Work on Solutions for Book Concerns,” Bayside Gazette March 31, the same citizens, it should be noted, complain at Board of Ed meetings each month without remaining to witness the process and discussion of solutions.

As covered in the article, Jennifer Sills, Coordinator of Library Media and Instruction, presented to the Board of Ed and others the detailed process and procedures for choosing and reviewing books in our schools. This process seems thorough and fair.

Books are a portal to different life experiences and reading encourages empathy and social-emotional development.  In the 1982 Supreme Court ruling Board of Education v. Pico, Justice William Brennan wrote that taking books off the library shelves violate students First Amendment right, adding that “Local school boards may not remove books from school libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books.”

Forty-six of the Radcliff Publishing Group’s “Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century “are frequently challenged.  Banning these books would deprive students of essential cultural and historical knowledge, as well as differing points of view.

Librarians and teachers across the Worcester County School district and throughout Maryland follow the professional guidelines and standards set forth by Maryland State Department of Education: Equity and Excellence.

They “work hard to provide materials that celebrate diversity, challenge thinking and empower…. students to grow and learn while they are in school.”

In our diverse society, students deserve the opportunity to be affirmed and enlightened by books in their curriculum and those they may choose from libraries. Banning materials that make adults uncomfortable thwarts that opportunity.

Linda Linzey
Retired Public School Teacher
Berlin