Age-Appropriate for Whom? Questions About Book Fair Selections at PCS
After giving this much time and consideration, I am finally ready to share my thoughts about something that came to my attention last week while assisting with the Scholastic Book Fair at our elementary school.
At the end of the week, a child came in to purchase a book rated for the middle school age range. This was the first time we have offered middle school-rated books to sell since I have been helping out these past few years. We were told at the beginning of the week to sell those books to students who appeared to be middle school-aged and that a notice would pop up on the screen on the registers to confirm this. We did not have a list of students who qualified to purchase the mature-age content, and we had to use our best judgment. This alone made me a little weary.
Fast forward to Friday, I had already worked the Book Fair for about 7 hours that week when we had a student walk in with a teacher to purchase some books. The student selected a book that I had never seen from the middle school section and brought it over. The student went to the other register, but as soon as I saw the parent volunteer flip the book to scan it, I saw the sketch of two men about to kiss on the back cover. I was stunned. To take it one step further, the student was jumping up and down with excitement that they got the “last copy” of this “graphic novel” (their words, not mine). As soon as they left, we started looking into what’s in that book, and more importantly, what other books we had on our shelves that we were not aware of. This exposed some real issues.
Pomfret Community School serves kids from preschool through 8th grade. As of our latest enrollment numbers, we currently have 43 8th-grade students in a school population of 326.
The book titled Heartstopper is rated by Common Sense Media as being for ages 14+ (with parents averaging 13+). This is straight from the Parents Need to Know section on their website:
After a deeper dive into the content we are selling at our school’s Book Fair, I found several other titles that may be extremely inappropriate based on their age ratings. This leads me to more questions…How was this authorized? Who is in charge of policing this? Who is protecting our school population?
I am a STRONG believer that parents should 1. KNOW what is being sold and offered in our schools AND 2. Have the final say on whether or not their kids are allowed to be exposed to this mature content. Frankly, for me, if my kids would be in trouble reading the words on the pages of these books at school in front of their class for storytime, they shouldn’t be getting them from the school Book Fair OR library. If you have a different opinion, you have the freedom to purchase whatever you see fit for your child to read in the privacy and protection of your home, where you can explain right from wrong to them.
At the time of writing this blog, I have been made aware of parents who have formally complained. According to one of them, the principal said she couldn’t find the book in the Book Fair when she looked (because they were sold…) and she would let the PTO, who were staffing the Book Fair, know. Sales can be verified through the register system, which tracks purchases, or through the title list that I would expect to accompany each shipment.
Our next PTO meeting is on Monday night. I plan to discuss this at that level and with the Board of Education. I’ve been researching how other districts approach this issue and have a few potential solutions I’d like to share. What do you think?
Snippets from the book purchased & a few other titles we were selling:
Disclaimer: This isn’t an issue about gay vs. straight. This is an issue with transparency, consent, and age appropriate content for our children who we trust are in good hands when we send them to school. I may be a volunteer on the PTO and an elected member of the Board of Education, but I am a mother, FIRST. I will always advocate for the rights of parents wanting to protect their youth. We need to do the best that we can, and this isn’t it.
If you are a concerned parent on either side of the aisle, I would love to hear from you! My email is parentsforpomfret@gmail.com, and I am always happy to discuss ways that we can improve for the greater good.
I want to be clear that I am writing this as an individual community member and parent advocate, not on behalf of the Pomfret Board of Education or Pomfret Community School. The views expressed here are my own, based on publicly available information, concerns shared directly with me by kindergarten parents who attended orientation, and perspectives shared by teachers working inside our school.
Comments