Ohio County BOE President Explains Book Selection Process

Several residents took the members of the Ohio County Board of Education to task this week concerning allegations that books were being banned on the second-grade level in the school system.

The meeting was held Monday evening and several residents voiced their concerns to the board and to Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller. The allegations, according to Board President David Croft, stemmed from a social media post that offered misinformation pertaining to the school system’s process of selecting textbooks for the students in Ohio County Schools.

 “What the selection committee has done is select the books they feel are best for our students,” her explained. “We’re not banning any books. In fact, I suggested to the superintendent that if there is an unhappy parent because of the books that have been selected over another, then maybe we should buy each of those parents a copy of the book that was not selected so they can see for themselves.

“When the committee looked at the books for our second graders, some members felt there was content in some of them that was not appropriate for second graders,” Croft said. “I’ll stand by their judgement because I will never support any stifling of learning. There are just better times for young minds to accept that knowledge and I believe that was the balance they were trying to find.”

While Croft is unaware of the individual who claimed book banning was taking place, he feels he knows where a list of titles may have originated.

“I didn’t see who wrote the post on Facebook, but I did see it posted over and over again,” Croft reported. “It listed the names of some book and it stated that Ohio County Schools is banning those books, and that’s just not true. The post didn’t explain the process that our staff members work very hard on. It just claimed that we are now banning books.

“The list of books was from an email that was sent to our teachers so they could see what would not be offered as far as the textbooks are concerned. Again, the email was just part of the selection process,” he said. “When I was in school, it never occurred to me that such a process existed, but it’s always been there because of how important it is to quality of education we offer.”

One Over the Other

The vetting process conducted by the selection committee of Ohio County Schools is one that has existed for a very long time, and it is a course of action that takes place concerning every single textbook utilized in grades first through 12^th.

Most people, however, have been unaware of the mechanism until now.

“And what that process accomplishes is selecting one book over all of the others that are in consideration. That’s all it is,” Croft said. “Each of the books the same subject content, but the committee members felt one of the books offered that information a lot better than the others.

“There is one book that deals with the subject of shyness, and the committee liked one book over the other. It’s that simple,” he explained. “The curriculum, though, is the same, and it is a process that is ongoing so our educators can be certain they are offering the best possible education to the students in Ohio County Schools.”

The board president does believe now that questions have been asked and explanations have been offered, parents should now be aware of the selection process when it comes to the textbook utilized inside the classrooms.

“Now that all of the questions have been answered and the process has been completely explained, it really diffused the situation immediately. It is also very clear that no one involved with the school system or in our community is interested in any type of censorship,” Croft said. “And I agree with that 100 percent.

“We cannot be censoring history or the civil rights or anything else in anyway, and I do believe strongly that what our system did was vet the books the way they should be,” he added. “That’s the only way the best books can be found for the content that is needed as a part of the curriculum on whatever grade level it may be.”