Following a proposed book ban in Punxsutawney school district dozens of people showed up to a regularly scheduled school board meeting on Thursday to express their opinions on a proposed book ban by one of the board members.
The board member, Deneen Evans cited three book titles during the last board meeting saying they are too graphic and therefore inappropriate to be had inside of the school.
Some of those who spoke during the public comment section of the meeting read aloud graphic excerpts from the books contested by Evan, while others spoke against censorship and highlighted the unconstitutionality of book banning by a school board.
“The biggest problem I have with the literature that was discussed that was read was that it is openly available to the students, So, for the curriculum they talk about, it requires parents signatures I understand, my question is does the signature, a piece of paper that the parents sign, say very clearly that your child is requesting the checked out book that has sexually explicit material in it.”
“It’s very important to me that each individual child and their parent has the right to choose what they read and what they don’t read, I don’t believe that it’s valid for a group to come together and say no you can’t read this book.”
The school board responded to the issue during an open discussion by saying the district is going to be investigating a process that involves the parents more in the educational suitability of books for their own students within the next school year.