Hundreds of parents packed a Dearborn Public Schools board meeting in Michigan Monday night to address the issue of what books to allow in district libraries, and the meeting was forced to end early due to the crowd.
The district recently released updated guidelines for the review of media materials, including avenues for parents to opt to prevent their children from checking out particular materials, or to prevent their children from checking out any materials at all. There is also an updated process for parents to challenge titles they believe shouldnt be available to any student.
A video of the meeting shows several minutes of debate over the three-minute time limit for speakers, which rankled some in the crowd. Once the speakers were set, officials asked excess attendees to leave the space to bring it back into compliance with the fire code.
“However, the crowd refused to settle or disperse, so at the urging of the Dearborn Police Department, trustees decided to suspend the meeting for that night,” the board said in a statement. The meeting was rescheduled for Thursday at Stout Middle School, a larger venue, but capacity is limited to 600.
The board said one parent has brought six books to the districts attention, and they will be the first to go through the updated review process.
“We will not promise to remove every book because we know different parents have different opinions about some materials. But we do promise to take the time to reevaluate items parents may be concerned about if they reach out to the media specialist,” Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said in a statement.
