Maine School District 6 (MSAD 6) serves 3,500 students in the towns of Buxton, Frye Island, Hollis, Limington, and Standish, and a group of parents at the August 22nd school board meeting requested that two books be removed from the school library. One of the books is “It's Perfectly Normal”: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie Harris, and the other book is “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe.
The school board made the decision at the August 22nd meeting to follow the procedure for a complaint about a book, which involves forming a committee to review the book that has had a complaint filed against it. The committee reviews the book and votes on whether they recommend that the book be removed from the school library or if the book should instead remain in the school library. The committee was tasked with reviewing just the book “It's Perfectly Normal”: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie Harris for the September 6th meeting. After the book committee had reviewed the book, the school board would discuss the committee's decision and vote on whether the board would accept the committee's recommendation.
Nathan Carlow MSAD 6 school board chairman noted that the book review committee spent 70 hours reviewing the book. A discussion was held by the board on the book review committee's recommendation. The MSAD 6 superintendent did remind everyone that parents still do have the right to not allow their child to check out the book. A vote was then held on the committee's recommendation, and the board voted in favor of upholding the committee's recommendation to keep the book in the school library, 10-1.
The board members will have a public hearing on the second book, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, at the September 19th board meeting.
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