A bill that would allow parents to review books in public school lesson plans, and refuse the book if it is too “sexually explicit” passed the House last week.



A bill that would allow parents to review books in public school lesson plans, and refuse the book if it is too “sexually explicit” passed the House last week.

HB 516 https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?ses=161&typ=bil&val=hb516, introduced by Del. Steve Landes, (R-Augusta County), would require teachers to notify parents of students whenever there is “sexually explicit” content in instructional material.

Under the legislation, parents are allowed to review any content they have been notified about and request alternative material if they consider the proposed content too sexually explicit for their child.

The bill does not define “sexually explicit” which could possibly pose problems. A teacher may not think a book is explicit where a parent might. So it leaves instructors liable to parent’s judgement. On the flip side, an overly cautious instructor has to take time away from lesson planning or grading to count every kiss and sexual allusion in every book they teach.

Without a clear definition there is a lot of gray area.

Teachers would also have to plan their lessons around the time it takes for parents to read the waiver and either object or allow their child to be apart of the set curriculum. As well as having to have a logical backup for the children whose parents don’t find the material age appropriate.

“It could get to the point where teachers find that some books cause too much overhead and they stop teaching them all together,” said James LaRue, Director of the American Librarian Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

LaRue’s division of ALA compiles a list of the most challenged books in public school systems as well as how many challenges are made in total which, in 2013, included Captain Underpants, The Hunger Games and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.. You can see the entire list and past lists here.

Another factor Bill HB 516 fails to detail is what can be included in the required report of explicit material. Could a teacher be allowed to explain why they want their class to read the book or should the waiver only detail the explicit nature of the book?

“If the report doesn’t say why it is a good book or why you want to talk about it and just says it’s sexually explicit, some students could really get cheated out of a learning experience,” LaRue said.

Tori Otstot, president of the Virginia Association of Teachers of English and an English teacher herself, agreed with LaRue’s hypothesis.

“I could see it becoming so much trouble to get a book approved that eventually teachers would choose another text. Otstot said. “Which could have significant ramifications in the classroom as far as exposing the student to quality literary and nonfiction text.”

Otsot also believes that the bill is not only a detriment to students, but an expression of distrust in the decision making abilities of instructors.

“We as an organization really value the abilities and expertise of English teachers as decision makers in selecting texts for a course,” Otstot said. “ This bill undermines the trust that an educator has that ability.”

The bill was passed by the House last week in a block vote of 96 to 0 and is now headed to the Senate Health and Education committee.