Conroe ISD Trustees Vote To Throw Out Thousands Of Classroom Books

On Tuesday, The Conroe ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve disposing of discontinued instructional resources — including more than 2,800 books related to the district’s recent removals.

Most of these books came off classroom shelves through informal reviews, not the formal challenge process laid out by the district, according to Conroe ISD General Counsel Carrie Galatas.

According to Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, an independent researcher, district records indicate that 589 titles on the list of to-be disposed materials will have two or more copies thrown out. Of the 589 titles, 149 were banned by the district. A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Lord of The Flies by William Golding and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas are the three top titles, with 368, 329 and 172 books to be disposed of, respectively.

Conroe ISD is also coming after the classics by removing 61 copies of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and 47 copies of The Color Purple by Alice Walker. The motion to dispose of these books passed 5 to 1. Trustee Stacey Chase opposed the motion and Trustee Datren Williams was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting. Conroe ISD Superintendent Dr. Curtis Null said the district would try to sell the titles in an auction first. It will then try to donate them.

If unable to find a donor, trustees will choose to recycle these texts if this option comes at no additional cost to the district. The final step would be to discard the books per Texas Education Code guidelines.

A teacher who requested to remain anonymous said they were heartbroken by the district’s decision, “I’m sickened. This is only slightly less aggressive than burning them (the books).”

“I had to talk myself out of resigning,” the instructor added.

The board’s action on these titles comes after teachers were asked to box up books that were a part of their classroom collections but were no longer permitted in the district amid ongoing book bans and restrictions.

This request resulted in a single campus getting rid of over 550 books, throwing roughly $8,000 out the window. These texts, purchased with state funds, were relocated to Conroe ISD’s textbook warehouse.

Galatas said overcrowding in the warehouse caused by the district receiving more science books was why these materials needed to be moved out. She added that it was unusual to be getting rid of texts purchased with instructional materials allocation funds, as the district typically uses resources bought with this money until they are no longer on state-approved list.

“We’ve never been in a situation like this before, but for needing room in the warehouse,” she said. “We probably would have let these materials just sit there for another year until they rolled off the state’s list. It’s just in space that is a premium.”

Trustees received a multi-page report listing the other resources that would be disposed of alongside the books, some of which are still used by the State Board of Education, including paper workbooks.

Chase brought up the lack of guidelines for parents and other community members who may want to oppose informal book challenges but may be unable to do so the way the district’s informal review process is set up.

“There is a desire from some people in our community that some of these books that have been removed from the informal, they would like to challenge,” Chase said. “They would like the opportunity to (do that). So, I don’t want to approve something to sell or dispose and then we bring it back.”

During public comments, several Conroe ISD parents spoke out against recent action taken by the district as the number of books removed from library shelves and classroom collections continues to grow.

According to district records, 14 library books were reconsidered last month. Of these texts, eight were removed, and three were retained. Three more titles were removed from the junior high libraries, one of which was kept at the high school level. The other two are pending review at this level.

The district’s list of books from classroom collections that do not meet selection criteria has not been updated since Friday, February 2. The list indicated that 112 books have been prohibited from being on classroom shelves, and five titles have been restricted to high school classrooms only.

Natalie Adams’ oldest son graduated from College Park High School, and her youngest is a freshman at Oak Ridge High School. Adams told the board that she grew up as a voracious reader and taught her sons to understand the power of the written word.

She took particular issue with how the books were banned, referencing titles taken out of campus libraries and classrooms through informal reviews rather than the formal challenge process.

A formal book review allows the challenge before a reconsideration committee of an administrator, staff member, education, and randomly selected parents. The committee reads the book, discusses it, and decides whether the text will stay at the approved level. The challenger can then appeal this decision and take it to the board — the trustees have the final say over whether or not the book remains.

The informal review track allows anyone, regardless of whether they are a Conroe ISD community member, to bring forth a text they have an issue with very little oversight.

“All types of books are important and should be available for children and teens to access,” Adams said.

“We (the district)should not be in the business of censorship, nor should we waste resources the district has already purchased,” she added. “Please stop effectively banning books (if) this is what’s happening. It helps no one to live in a society where children are not allowed to read, learn critical thinking, and be exposed to novel ideas.”

Another parent, Rachel Walker, called to attention the danger embedded in Conroe ISD’s recent book removals, of which many focus on texts that include LGBTQ+ characters.

Walker’s voice cracked slightly as she spoke about Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary Oklahoma teen, who tragically died in the hospital earlier this month after they were beaten so badly in a school bathroom.

“Similarly to what is currently happening here, this Oklahoma School District had recently been the target of an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. The leader of that hate group was appointed to a committee that reduced school library content,” Walker said. “They also targeted a former eighth-grade teacher that spoke out in support of LGBTQ+ students. Does any of this sound familiar?”

“The things you vote on from those chairs have bigger consequences than just access to books,” she added.

A handful of attendees thanked the three conservative “Mama Bears” Trustees Melissa Dungan, Tiffany Baumann Nelson, and Misty Odenweller, for protecting the children in the district from the “corrupt education system.” Others called for more to be done about the “ideologies” circulating across campus libraries.

Before the vote to approve disposing of these materials passed, Chase brought to her fellow trustees’ attention that some of the titles on the list provided were not only from the informal review process but were actively pending review.

Galatas said the titles could have appeared as if they were pending review because the district’s website might not have been updated. She also addressed Chase’s concerns regarding whether or not the district has guidelines for individuals who may want to oppose a book challenge.

Galatas added if an individual felt that the text removed did meet the board’s selection criteria or criteria set out by state law by the Texas State Library Association, that person could file a complaint and ask for the material to be returned. She noted, however, as Chase mentioned, that this was not a part of the board’s local instructional or library materials policies because that envisions removal of access, not adding access.

Null requested that the conversation be redirected back to the vote to dispose of the materials. He proposed that the district could put books removed through informal reviews at the back of the list when being thrown out.

“I don’t want us to sell a book or give a book away, and then six months from now, you all tell us we misinterpreted your policy and we did it wrong,” the superintendent said.

Chase attempted to amend the motion to exclude materials related to informal book challenges. However, the amendment failed to gain traction, and the initial motion to dispose of the instructional resources through selling, donating, recycling or discarding passed.

Before adjourning, Chase told the board she would like to revisit the district’s local regulation policies for library materials in an upcoming meeting. The next board meeting is Tuesday, March 19.