A committee's attempt to review books at Lodi Unified School District stirs confusion and controversy (2024)

The Lodi Unified School District has added a new feature to their parent portal which allows families to determine whether certain books are appropriate for their children to read.

The addition came after parents and teachers voiced concerns about the formation of a book review committee that was not advertised publicly.

Earlier this month, there were accusations that the committee voted to ban two challenged books from district libraries on June 4.

At the time, school district officials said "no final decisions" had been made at the committee meeting.

Books under review

Lisa Lennon Wilkins, president of the Lodi Education Association, said she and many of her colleagues were blindsided by the formation of the committee.

"As a courtesy for a lot of these committees, I get asked for recommendations or to make sure that teachers have applications to be on these committees," Lennon Wilkins said. "That happens all the time. That did not happen here."

The books that were being reviewed included "This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story" by Kacen Callendar — a LGBT young adult novel about a boy who develops feelings for his childhood best friend — and "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins — another young adult novel which revolves around five teenagers who are lured into prostitution.

Lennon Wilkins said she was concerned because she believes it's important for her students to have access to books at school that reflect their lives and show other experiences.

"I've always worked at Title I schools in north Stockton," Lennon Wilkins said. "There is no public library in north Stockton where any of our students can walk to the library to get a book."

Additionally, Lennon Wilkins claims that the committee did not read the books and was using the website BookLooks.org as their primary source of information.

The site launched in 2022 to showcase a book-rating system that has also been used by right-wing political activist group Moms for Liberty. It bills itself as a resource for parents and claims not to be pushing political action: ”We donotsupport ‘banning’ books,” the site says.

In less than two years, BookLooks has become the go-to resource for anyone seeking to ban books – especially books about gay people or sexuality – from school and public libraries, according to researchers, library experts and a USA TODAY analysis of book-ban attempts nationwide.

The effort at Lodi Unified School District is not unique. Across at least a dozen states, USA TODAY found attempts to remove hundreds of book titles that directly cited BookLooks reviews.

No books removed from school libraries, superintendent says

In an interview with The Record, Superintendent Neil Young said no books were removed from school library shelves as a result of the committee meeting. He also denied that he had any involvement in the formation of the committee as some community members have suggested.

"I want to make this clear ... I did not personally select the members of that committee," Young said.

The superintendent referenced school board policy 13.12.2, which states:

"The superintendent or designee shall establish procedures which will permit proper consideration of any complaints against the use of any instructional resources, including textbooks, supplementary textbooks, library books, and other instructional materials and equipment.

The board believes the superintendent and staff are well qualified to consider complaints concerning instructional resources. Complainants are advised to consider and accept the superintendent or designee’s decision as final. However, if the complainant finds the decision of the superintendent or designee unsatisfactory, he/she may request that the matter be placed on the agenda of a regular board meeting.

The board’s decision in any such case will be based on educational suitability and will not be influenced by a desire to suppress information or deny students access to ideas with which the board disagrees."

"Nowhere gives anyone but the board of education the final authority on instructional resources," Young said. "I do not have more authority than the board, nor do I believe that it is appropriate for a superintendent to have greater authority than the board of education."

In September 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law barring school boards from banning books, instructional materials, or curriculum labeled as inclusive or diverse.

Who serves on the book review committee?

District staff said the committee consists of eight members, including Morada Middle School teacher Madeline Mettler and Millswood Middle School teacher Laurie Johnson.

Tokay High School Vice Principal You Lor and Westwood Elementary School Principal Joe Ward also serve on the committee, along with McNair High School librarian Michael Gould and Millswood coach Sean Campbell.

Becky Harper and Esitel Uhamaka serve as the committee's parent representatives.

"If you look at the board rule, and if you look at the committee makeup, I will say it was in alignment with the board's rule and it was not a deviation from that," Young said.

However, Lennon Wilkins believes that only certain parents and school staffers were asked to serve on the committee. One of the members was a mother who had filed challenges for the books that were being reviewed, she said.

When asked how parents were notified to apply for the committee, Young said the district's ed services department reached out to principals at middle and high schools in north Stockton to see if they knew of any parents who wanted to serve on the committee.

"I can tell you that we don't have something on our website inviting parents," Young said. "I certainly think we are wanting to make sure that if a review committee is needed in the future — and understand the review committee has no authority to remove instructional resources — but if in the future it is needed, we will certainly make sure that that process is done in such a way that people can volunteer to be a part of that and a selection process will occur."

It's unclear if or when the book review committee will meet again. District officials said they had no update to provide on the committee Tuesday.

New system will allow parents to decide what their children read

In the fall, Lodi Unified families will be able to use the Aeries parent portal to opt their children out of reading certain books.

The message in the portal will read:

"Student access to the entire high school library collection of young adult (14+) and adult level books that may contain mature topics, graphic violence, vulgar language, and/or sexual content. Allow/deny."

District officials said the new feature was developed by certificated librarians, principals, and area directors.

"We understand and respect that we have families with diverse thoughts and come from diverse backgrounds, and we respect everyone," Young said. "The purpose of our data confirmation process is to give parents a voice for their own children, but not to weigh in to whether or not someone else's parents are responsible for their children."

USA Today reporters Will Carless, Chris Ullery, and Alia Wong contributed to this report.

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.comor on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.