School district officials in Urbandale have made a list of nearly 400 books that are no longer allowed in classrooms and libraries.
Teachers have been told to remove the titles in order to comply with a new state law passed this year, SF 496, which both prohibits lessons related to gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through sixth grade and also requires schools to remove all books that include sexual content.
The list shared with Urbandale teachers includes titles singled out by Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups that advocated for the law — books such as the graphic-style memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison.
Literary classics show up the list, such as Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, George Orwell’s 1984 and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. So do acclaimed works by writers of color including Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou.
A number of children’s picture books are listed for removal because they include LGBTQ characters.
Urbandale school board member Daniel Gutmann said he is upset the list wasn’t given to board members to review beforehand, and by the lack of guidance at the state level.
With no further explanation from the Iowa Department of Education, Gutmann said schools are unsure of the law’s boundaries.
“In that vacuum of leadership, school districts are fearful and they’re putting out lists that are exhaustive and possibly exceed the scope of Senate File 496,” Gutmann said. “It’s infuriating as a parent, it’s infuriating as an educator and it’s infuriating as a board member tasked with the oversight of a school district.”
The list was acquired through a public information request by the Johnston nonprofit, Annie’s Foundation, which advocates against book bans.
According to a district spokesperson, the list was made in order to give direction to teachers at a year-round elementary school that started classes this week.
“As we have not received guidance yet from the Iowa Department of Education regarding implementation of SF496, we looked at other states that have passed similar laws in order to create the list of books,” said Urbandale schools communications coordinator Dena Claire. “UCSD will continue to comply with the law and timeline as written.”
A letter sent to teachers by the district administration warns of penalties written into the law for educators who violate the new rules banning sexual content in library books. An initial violation earns a warning, but after two or more violations a teacher or superintendent would go before the Board of Educational Examiners for possible professional discipline.
Claire said there is a process for staff members to question books that are included on the list or to propose to add books to the list. Books purchased by the school that are removed from libraries or classrooms will be stored in a central location.
