The new Ohio law known as the "Parents’ Bill of Rights" or House Bill 8 forbids the teaching of sexual content to students in kindergarten through third grade.
For students in grades four through 12, the law requires public schools to notify parents about sexuality content in materials and curriculum, to give parents a chance to review them, and to give parents the option of requesting alternative instruction.
All Ohio public schools must create a policy incorporating the Parents’ Bill of Rights. In the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools District, Board of Education members define sexual content as inherently private sexual acts or sexual intercourse in any form.
During last week's school board meeting, Vice President Audra Dorn used this example to clarified it:
"If something is inherently private, it would be, if you did it on a park bench, would an officer arrest you for it?" asked Dorn. "If that is the case, it's a behind closed doors thing."
The state law refers to curriculum and instructional materials. However, this school board determined this also includes the high school and middle school libraries and all classroom collections.
Board member Anne Pryor said their policy did not specifically identify libraries, but it did refer to books.
"The Ohio laws said instructional material. Of course, we know books are a very important part of instructional material, it does trickle down to libraries," she said.
Jeff Roush's two children graduated from Bellbrook High School and he still volunteers there. He calls this new policy a needless overreach.
"As a community member, shielding people from information never feels like the right answer."
"As a community member, shielding people from information never feels like the right answer," he said.
"Instructional materials as House Bill 8 is written don't go out to library books. It's only instructional materials. So children and teens especially looking to explore the library and expand their knowledge set isn't an instructional set."
Bellbrook parents now have to fill out a form indicating whether their child can access these materials. Administrators say a majority of the parents for the district's roughly 870 high schoolers have responded.
Some titles in the high school library requiring parental consent include: "Surrender Your Sons," by Adam Sass, "Most Ardently," by Gabe Cole Novoa and "Transgender Life," by Don Nardo. These and many of the books requiring parent permission also have LGBTQ+ and trans characters and ideas.
Parent Andy Wiseman has two children in high school. "The relationships that are being built in that library are bigger than just a book that might include somebody's transgender child or transgender character," said Wiseman.
She believes Bellbrook’s new policy unduly focuses on trans people. During last week's school board meeting, Wiseman reminded the room, "Let's not forget the gender ideology that's included in this policy." She then posed a question to the board members: "Are you saying LGBTQ+ people should not be on a park bench?"
The Parents' Bill of Rights also requires educators to notify a parent if their child wants to be identified by a gender different from their birth sex.
Currently, the Dayton Public Schools District is formulating its policy.
In a recent email, Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Superintendent Doug Cozad assured parents no books have been removed from the high school library, and staff continue reviewing books. He said titles containing inherently private sexual acts or sexual intercourse in any form are not being segregated out. Parents can look up any title in the district’s online card catalog, FollettDestiny.com.
While speaking with board member Anne Pryor, I logged in to look up several titles the district identified as needing parental consent. However, at the time of this story's publication, the system is not "flagging" these books as having sexual content.
Pryor said she’s experienced the same thing and reminded me the execution of the district’s new policy is still a work in progress.
Overall, she emphasized the board created a policy to respect and support a diverse community.
"You know, we have Muslim families. We have devout Christian families. And our goal is to let the parents decide what type of sexuality content they want their own children to receive," explained Pryor. "We're not banning books. We don't want to take books from other kids. We just want the parents to make the decision for their own child."
"We're not banning books. We don't want to take books from other kids. We just want the parents to make the decision for their own child."
According to Bellbrook administrators, materials in the middle school library are also being reviewed. Some books were already identified including, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky, "Identical," by Ellen Hopkins and "Will Grayson, Will Grayson," by John Green and David Levithan. These and all books containing sexual content are being moved to the high school library.
Also, high school teachers who choose to have a classroom library must also adhere to the district’s new policy.
