WESTMINSTER, Md. — On Wednesday night in Westminster, a school board vote passed 5-0; changing what kind of material can go on the shelves in Carroll County schools.
With the support of each board member, the school board in Carroll County approved a revision to school system policy, saying material in their schools shall not contain "sexually explicit content," outside "instruction related to family life and human development or as otherwise approved by the superintendent."
The change adds the following text to board policy:
THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CARROLL COUNTY RECOGNIZES THAT ALL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, INCLUDING SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS, SHALL MEET THE ESTABLISHED GENERAL SELECTION CRITERIA. ASIDE FROM THE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS APPROVED FOR INSTRUCTION RELATED TO FAMILY LIFE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT OR AS OTHERWISE APPROVED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, ALL OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, INCLUDING SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS, SHALL NOT CONTAIN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT. SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT IS DEFINED AS UNAMBIGUOUSLY DESCRIBING, DEPICTING, SHOWING, OR WRITING ABOUT SEX OR SEX ACTS IN A DETAILED OR GRAPHIC MANNER.
Stephen Whisler, a member of the Carroll County school board, moved for the board to review the policy last year. At the Wednesday night meeting, Whisler explained his viewpoint, and rejected the charge the policy bans books.
"I struggle to discern which is more disturbing," Whisler said, "the fact that our system spent tax dollars to purchase and provide children access to this content - it's frankly very embarrassing - or that a small fraction of members in this community think that the presence of graphic sexual content somehow benefits students."
The new language in place can be a guideline for evaluating books down the road.
Last September, the school community debated a list of books, which some parents argued should be banned on similar grounds; others disagreed.
READ MORE: Carroll County parents debate potential book ban at school board meeting
On Wednesday night, parent Jessica Bronson explained there might be adverse consequences to the change.
"We're talking about a lot of powerful works of literature by authors of people of color, LGBTQ people, survivors of sexual assault," Bronson said, "all of those stories, all of those works of literature, they fall under that definition and are now subject to be purged from our entire school library system."
There was a handful of pre-vote discussion over the interpretation of 'sexually explicit content.'
"We have seen so many works of classic literature, include parts of content that may be considered sexually explicit to some but are ambiguous to another. And with this policy, what I'm worried is that we're going to lose some very important content in our schools," said Sahithya Sudhakar, the board's student representative.
The vote still passed with total support of the board's voting members. According to the document, the policy will be reviewed in three years or sooner.
