Millburn District 24 withdraws from Reader’s Choice Award program
Book list described as ‘politically and culturally leaning’
Millburn Community Consolidated District 24 has ended its participation in the Reader's Choice Award program for students after assertions by school board members that some books on the lists are politically and culturally leaning.
The school board on Monday voted 4-3 to withdraw from the summer reading program, but the books selected for the program will not be removed from school libraries.
The motion brought by board member Lisa Wooster says the action will “eliminate the promotions and celebration of a program that is not equitable for all the members of the community.”
Dozens of Reader's Choice supporters attended and addressed the board, including Lia Neveu, a junior at Lakes Community High School who successfully fought to have a restricted book put back behind the circulation desk.
“These books are not only award winning but some of them changed my life,” she said. A change.org petition she started had 1,298 signatures as of Thursday afternoon and has been forwarded to Millburn board members.
The long-running statewide program is designed to encourage students to read critically and become familiar with a variety of children's books, authors and illustrators, according to the district. It's comprised of three grade-based levels with the names Monarch, (grades K-3); Bluestem (grades 3-5) and Caudill (grades 6-8).
During a March 11 presentation, board member John Ruggles raised questions and the district's participation in the program was on Monday night’s board agenda as an action item.
Ruggles said he was “deeply offended” by “Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You,” a book his son brought home. On Thursday, he said he used that book as an “illustration of how politically and culturally leaning books are on the list.”
“The issue I have is with the making of a list and directing children toward that list and celebrating them for reading all the books on that list if the list isn't neutral,” he said.
Before the vote Monday, board member Brendan Murphy described the situation as a “touch point for our community.”
“We have a list of curated books by experts for children that are appropriate to their age,” he said.
“They’re not choosing the books based on their political bent. They're choosing books based on their appropriateness for students,” according to age, Murphy added.
Wooster said the argument about what’s appropriate is different for everybody.
“I'm still at the point where I think the best solution is that students should have free choice and pick those books they want to pick and if they want to pick a Caudill book, wonderful,” she said.
The summer reading program allows students in each category to choose books to read from a list of 20 titles. Lists are created from a larger batch of submissions during a yearlong process by a rotating volunteer committee of 70 to 80 educators, school and public librarians throughout Illinois. All the submissions are read and evaluated to create the final lists.
Students who read a certain number of books are eligible to vote for their favorite and the Readers Choice Award is given annually to an author and/or illustrator voted as their favorite by participating children in Illinois.