At an April D181 board meeting, two concerned parents of Hinsdale objected to LGBTQ-related books from school libraries, including Monroe. One speaker referenced such 25 books, including “history books that feature Harvey Milk and the pride flag.” The other demanded removal of the books. You can probably already guess their other talking points (indoctrination, pushing woke gender ideology, etc.) during public comments.
Downers Grove District 99 dealt with a similar moral panic back in November of 2022. An epic BOE meeting went sideways with parents wanting to ban a book from their high school library even though it was not assigned as part of the district’s curriculum and only available should a student choose proactively to seek it out. During the public comments, the morally outraged “adults in the room” had similar talking points as the two D181 parents noted earlier. However, one student opened with a funny and sarcastic comment that really seemed to directly address the core issue of many parent’s fears. After having read the book, “Somehow, among all of this corruption, I’m still straight.” That same student followed up with, in my opinion, the most wise and insightful public comment from that meeting two years ago — and it still resonates today: “Someone who picks up this book will either feel like they’ve finally been understood or, as I did, will learn to put themselves in others’ shoes.”
Attempts to censor 4,240 books in schools and public libraries marked a historic all-time high in 2023. But thankfully, in June of 2023, Illinois became the first state to outlaw book bans. Since House Bill 2789 became effective Jan. 1 this year, extreme groups like Awake Illinois and Moms for Liberty no longer have a legal path to push their book bans, so they’ve pivoted toward an “opt-in” policy idea that would allow parents more say (vs. education professionals) in what content their children consume at school. That policy, also pushed by a thrice failed D86 BOE candidate, sounds fine on the surface, but concerned parents have better options.
Option 1: Follow D181’s current “opt-out” procedures that allow parents to restrict their student’s access to books they might not agxree with.
Option 2: Purchase a $495 ticket to the upcoming event “All Aboard for the School Board.” Perhaps you’ll learn how to advocate for the passage of a bill like Florida’s HB 1467 (that permits parents to submit schoolbook challenges) and has resulted in roughly 300 books banned last year, among them several winners of prestigious book awards, including the Pulitzer Prize.
Thanks to the signing of HB 2789, it’s become much more difficult to undermine the professional authority (not to mention the safety) of our school district’s librarians and teachers to carry out their work — such as providing access to books that allow students to feel like they’ve finally been understood or to put themselves in others’ shoes.
— Bret Conway of Hinsdale is a former contributing columnist Readers can email him at [email protected].
