WICHITA, Kansas — The Goddard school district has removed more than two dozen books from circulation in the district’s school libraries, citing national attention and challenges to the books elsewhere.
The list of books includes several well-known novels, including “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky.
It also includes “Fences,” a play by August Wilson that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987, and “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.,” a historical look at how the white supremacist group took root in America.
Weird, huh, how so many of these works are about minorities triumphing over adversity from straight/white/male/Xristians? Anyway, for the disingenuous double-speak award of the year:
“At this time, the district is not in a position to know if the books contained on this list meet our educational goals or not,” [Julie Cannizzo, assistant superintendent for academic affairs in Goddard] wrote in the email. “Additionally, we need to gain a better understanding of the processes utilized to select books for our school libraries.”
Here’s an idea, Julie: ASK A LIBRARIAN. Bet they know the answer!
UPDATE 1: That didn’t take long – Virginia is proposing burning books
The board voted 6–0 to order the removal. Berkeley District representative Erin Grampp was not in attendance for the vote on that issue.
Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.
“I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”
Mock Paper Scissors 
It’s all at the behest of the Republican Jebus…
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Next on the list will be the immortal classic, “Revenge of the Tiger” by Claude Balls.
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Or the equivalent title “Fifty Yard Dash to the Outhouse,” written by Willie Makeit and illustrated (ick) by Betty Dont…
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Well. Witches are next.
You know it.
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Well, it’s about time! A witch turned me into a newt!
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shrugs I got better.
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In other news, the local public library(s) now have a three-year waiting list on all of the books on the list and Amazon has noted an uptick in orders of the same. Oopsie
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You know their motto. Have dick, will steponint
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Are they also restricting access to the TV machine, in case someone accidentally watches the screenplay version of The Handmaid’s Tale? I mean, they always make changes, but still.
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You know, I want to be outraged about this, but knowing as I do how our school districts are organized, I’ll try to leave it that I’m aware that Goddard is an affluent district, and they have the board they elected for reasons. I’ll add that the existence of an administrative position called the Assistant Superintendent for Academic Affairs (as opposed to, say, simply an assistant district superintendent,) tells me that if they have one actual librarian in that district, that’s all they have, because of priorities. Most schools here are funds-starved, so, again, priorities. I’m not saying all districts are corrupt; instead, district administrators have to protect their positions and their paychecks. So, when they feel called on the carpet, they make promises they think district patrons want to hear; God forbid a desk for Academic Affairs go away.
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Every school should have a credentialed librarian. They are the gateway to teaching students how to access the sources of knowledge.
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Agreed! It’s unfortunate that so many districts are so underfunded that they can afford but one or maybe two per district.
My first draft of my above comment included that our district has one credentialed librarian, and several para-educators who fill the position in media centers, which used to be the buildings’s libraries. I’m certain (but cannot prove) it’s not only Southern KS in similar positions these days.
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