* SB689 synopsis…
Provides that school districts, libraries, village libraries, library systems and their staff shall not limit access to biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, or any other books or materials in libraries or prohibit the purchase for library collections of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, or any other books or materials based upon the depiction in those books or materials of matters of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sexual and reproductive health, gender identity, religion, human rights activism, or any other subject. Authorizes school districts, libraries, library systems and their staff to impose limitations on access to books or materials in a school library for public safety reasons or based upon the age and developmental level of persons who will have access to those books or materials.
The bill passed the Senate and was stripped of all content in the House and then just sat there.
* The Senate sponsor talked to WAND TV…
Illinois became the first state to prohibit book bans in public libraries earlier this year, but state lawmakers could expand the reach of that law by blocking school districts and staff from banning books in classrooms.
“One of the best and unique gifts of American democracy is that we have free access to information,” Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago) told WAND News. “We can walk into a public library and read about all sorts of topics. We can sit in a classroom and have a curriculum in front of us that has integrity and is not something that is just one viewpoint.”
* Let’s move on to the Yorkville school district…
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is investigating a complaint alleging that the Yorkville School District 115 board violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act when discussing the book “Just Mercy” in closed session.
The board voted 4-2 at its Aug. 7 meeting to prohibit use of Bryan Stevenson’s memoir in the Yorkville High School English II Rhetorical Analysis course. […]
Earlier this year, a parent’s objection to the book triggered the district’s uniform grievance procedure.
Associate Superintendent Nick Baughman investigated the complaint and determined that no board policy had been violated. A letter to that effect was sent to the parent over the signature of then-Superintendent Tim Shimp.
The parent appealed the decision to the Yorkville School Board and the board discussed the matter in closed session before issuing a decision on May 22.
One parent objected. One. The school board decided the book was just “too controversial,” according to WSPY.
* Keep in mind that this is an advanced high school course, and the kids were unhappy…
A group of Yorkville High School students blasted the four Yorkville school board members who voted to prohibit use of the book “Just Mercy” in an English class, during a board meeting on Sept. 25.
“By allowing the opinions of a select few to influence what is taught in our classrooms, you’re sending the message that their beliefs are more important that the quality of our education,” YHS senior Alexis Barkman told the board.
* ACLU of Illinois…
As America marks Banned Books Week, the ACLU of Illinois today strongly condemned a recent, secret vote by the Yorkville Board of Education to bar the inclusion of Just Mercy by civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson in an English course. The Board’s vote in August 2023 reversed a previous Board decision maintaining the title in the curriculum.
“Banning books is not a practice limited to other states,” said Edwin C. Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Illinois in criticizing the action in Yorkville. “What we are seeing in Yorkville is part of a national attempt to curb reading materials based on politics and ideology, to the detriment of students and educators. “
Just Mercy raises critical questions about mass incarceration and racial inequities in our criminal legal system through the story of a young lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, founding the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama to combat systemic racism in Alabama and across the South. It follows Stevenson’s efforts over many years to free Walter McMIllan, a Black man who served years on death row for a murder he did not commit. Yorkville High School has used the title for a number of years in one an English classes on rhetoric—the art of using language effectively and persuasively. Many Yorkville students have read the text as part of that class.
At a meeting in May, the Yorkville Board addressed a complaint from at least one parent about the inclusion of the book. After discussion with school staff and teachers, the Board voted unanimously to continue its use in the English class, while suggesting that staff identify an alternative title that could be offered if some parents object to Just Mercy. During an executive session of the Board in August, a majority reversed that decision – without public explanation – and barred the book’s use from the curriculum.
The Board’s actions have led to a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office alleging a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act.
“The national fever to remove certain books is driven by a desire to stifle LGBTQ+ stories, voices addressing racial injustices, and others who often suppressed in our society,” added the ACLU’s Yohnka. “Yorkville should not join this movement and we hope they will heed the voices – the majority of voices – in the community who do not did not want this book removed from the curriculum by Board members not actually in the classroom.”
Since the Board acted in August to remove Just Mercy, a number of residents – led by students who have used the text at Yorkville High School — have spoken out publicly to condemn the Board’s actions. The ACLU of Illinois encourages those community members to continue their advocacy for an inclusive curriculum.
* A notorious group was active in the recent Yorkville school board election and declared victory…
The Tribune wrote about this race…
They are backed by a local political action committee called the Stamp Act PAC in Yorkville, the Naperville-based group Awake Illinois and the Kendall County Republican Party.
The Stamp Act PAC vows to “fight to preserve our cultural and religious heritage” and “resist attempts by the Left to transform and reshape American society.” Awake Illinois, meanwhile, has gained notoriety for deploying anti-transgender rhetoric in opposing instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools and for generating social media outrage over kid-friendly drag-themed events at a northwest suburban bakery and a west suburban library.
* The roll call…
Those voting in favor of removing the book from the class included [School Board President Darren Crawford] and board members Jason Demas, Mike Knoll and Mike Houston.
Demas, Crawford and Houston were all endorsed by Awake’s founder.
* Related…
* NBC 5 Investigates uncovers record number of requests to challenge books in Chicago-area schools, libraries: The majority of the books being challenged – 38 percent — involved books that cover sexual orientation or gender identity topics followed by materials that touch on race, which made up 17 percent of books challenged in the Chicago area. … Shannon Adcock with Awake Illinois represents one of the parents’ rights groups that has called for civic engagement in what materials are available in both school and public libraries. “It really has to do with age appropriateness. What is appropriate for children,” Adcock said. “Are we going to lean into the sexualization of children? Or are we not for organizations that support the fundamental rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children,” Adcock asked. When pressed about the fact parents already have that right, she said: “Well, it’s been challenged, it has been challenged… because if you look at media the depiction of concerned parents is that they’re automatically labeled as book banners or Nazis or fascists or bigots. That’s limiting the conversation and it’s incredibly unfair,” she said.
- Osborne Smith III - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 10:09 am:
I will never understand the logic behind book bans. If you have a problem with a book for its content and don’t want your child to read it, that’s fine - prevent YOUR child from reading it. What gives you the right to say that MY child can’t read it, though? Ugh. Perhaps I’m naive or perhaps I’m just that much of a Liberal, but my position will always be, “If they’re trying to ban it, run to read it and find out why.”
- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 10:11 am:
“One parent objected. One.”
I’m almost certain I know exactly who that is, and they have a grand total of zero kids attending Yorkville HS. I’ll leave out naming them directly here.
Their group was also the ones coming into the nearby Plainfield Park District from Yorkville and protesting the Story Hours.
The park district meeting turned into them basically preaching sermons during the public comment section of the meeting. And not the ‘love each other’ type sermons either.
- Jerry - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 10:13 am:
I thought “conservatives” wanted the gubbamint out of their lives! Yet they want guv’mint regulated speech.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 10:25 am:
Discussing a book in closed session is a clear violation of the open meetings act.
- Dupage Dem - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 10:30 am:
I wonder if those school board members actually read the entire book. Using “excerpts” does not count. Also from my experience if a parent objects to the assigned reading, ever school/teacher has an alternative text for that child to read. Therefore, fine if you want to not have your child read the book but you do not have the right to restrict the rest of the class.
- Jocko - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 10:48 am:
==One parent objected.==
To Osborne’s point. If these topics run counter to your values and beliefs, home-school your kid, join a sect near South Bend, or build a cabin in Montana
It gets worse. WaPo says that ELEVEN people were responsible for 60% of book bans nationwide.
https://tinyurl.com/47bz4zp6
- low level - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 11:11 am:
If you dont care for the message or arguments in the book, sit down w your kid and tell them why you object. By banning the material outright you lose a teaching opportunity.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 11:21 am:
Awake says they are for “parental rights” yet they are forcefully advocating to deny me my rights by making the decision for me on what my kid can or cannot read. They are for “parental rights” alright - just as long as they can control what those “rights” should be. This whole book banning thing makes me sick. If you’re a parent and object to a book then the solution is simple. Don’t let your kid read it.
- ChrisB - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 11:22 am:
If I was on a school board, I’d vote to ban any controversial book and make a BIIIIIIIG stink about it. Let everyone know, especially the teachers and the students. And then a big table with stacks of the aforementioned book would magically appear at the front entrance, free to any student to take and read independently.
Telling teenagers what they can’t do will always have the opposite effect.
- Jerry - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 11:27 am:
If Just Mercy is terrible then we certainly don’t want children reading violent, sex novels like The Bible!
- JoanP - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 11:29 am:
It’s a course on critical thinking. I think the Board needs to take it.
- northsider (the original) - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 12:05 pm:
My kid - my choice
Your kid - my choice?
But freeeeeedom!
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 12:36 pm:
The key is to protect Illinois from phony “grooming” and “White shaming” book bans, when the ulterior motive is to whitewash racism and deny the existence of the LGBTQ+ community, which is blatant discrimination.
- ArchPundit - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 12:50 pm:
===To Osborne’s point. If these topics run counter to your values and beliefs, home-school your kid, join a sect near South Bend, or build a cabin in Montana
LOL–the thing is you don’t need to even do that. You can usually request an alternative assignment. Obviously, that can be taxed if there are a lot of parents requesting, but it’s almost never a lot of parents requesting.
- Tony DeKalb - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 1:56 pm:
Good for those YHS kids for standing up for their right to a decent education. We need to do our best to stand with them. - signed, a YHS alum
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 2:04 pm:
===A group of Yorkville High School students blasted the four Yorkville school board members who voted to prohibit use of the book “Just Mercy” in an English class, during a board meeting…
“By allowing the opinions of a select few to influence what is taught in our classrooms, you’re sending the message that their beliefs are more important that the quality of our education,” YHS senior Alexis Barkman told the board.===
The kids are alright.
The thing about Kendall County right now is the influx of people not relating to “old, white, rural” and thus idea of students here looking to leave Kendall County through education.
Stifling education is part of the small mind you can found out in my county. The good is that the small minds are becoming smaller in number, it seems here it will take longer to move towards broader thinking
- RNUG - Thursday, Oct 5, 23 @ 3:13 pm:
As conservative as I am on some subjects, I just don’t get book banning.
I can possibly see restricting some books to age appropriate levels. But by the time students are teenagers, and especially teenagers in Advanced Placement classes, there should be no banned books.
Heck, a lot of my reading from maybe age 10 or 12 on would probably be banned today. Let me rephrase that, since I just asked the Google about the most often banned books. I know I read 7 of the 20 as a teenager, or possibly even younger. As old as I am, a lot of the others were not even written back then. And of the newer ones, I know my 12 & 14 yo grandkids have read at least a few of the newer ones.
So yeah, if necessary, the GA should prevent the banning of any book. But I could see allowing, in some cases, the addition of an explicit content warning or label.