For nine months, no one seemed to care that a long list of resources recommended by the Central York School Board’s diversity committee had been banned from use in classrooms.
After all, the board had gotten away with indefinitely tabling the diversity curriculum by saying it was too divisive, didn’t show proper respect for police and taught white children that society doesn’t give people of color the same opportunities they enjoy.
Society doesn’t give people of color the same opportunities white people enjoy, but that’s beside the point. Some members of the board didn’t want that fact pointed out to while children, and the rest of the board went along with those mid-20th century views.
So last November, when the board unanimously banned such content as the children’s picture books “Fry Bread,” “Hair Love” and “Like the Moon Loves the Sky,” they probably thought that was the end of the discussion.
And it was — for a while.
But then the four-page list of resources not to be used in classrooms was distributed to teachers by Central York High School Principal Ryan Caufman on Aug. 11, prompting a Sept. 1 article by the York Dispatch — which led to protests. Central York High School students stood outside the school with signs blasting the decision every day for more than a week.
Voices from the community joined them, and soon authors on the list also spoke out against the decision.
And along the way, some women decided to do something about it.
Central York residents JJ Sheffer and Hannah Shipley began to gather copies of the banned books. At first a few for the free libraries they host, and then a few more.
Soon Amazon was making multiple deliveries a day at their homes. Deliveries from across the country and around the county arrived — nearly 7,000 copies of the books donated to make sure those voices that had been banned in classrooms were heard outside the schools.
The outpouring of attention was exactly what was needed — and just what the school board didn’t want.
The same board that unanimously approved the ban last November tucked their tails between their legs in the face of the public’s obvious support for the banned resources and temporarily reinstated all of the resources on Sept. 20.
The lifting of the ban was a temporary measure that the board could backtrack on at any point.
It’s up to communities to keep such issues in the minds of the public to ensure that books aren’t removed from classrooms.
— The York Dispatch
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October 18, 2021 at 01:30PM
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What other newspapers are saying: Stand against banning books a correct one - Williamsport Sun-Gazette
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