Does it create additional problems? It could." "We're stepping out of the lane as the overseers and stepping into the lane as the doers. "I start to get uncomfortable when I start to think about elected bodies overreaching. Gonzalez said she was concerned about trustees' qualifications to review the educational suitability of books, adding that she has valued the input and expertise of district teachers, librarians and administrators, while Klam suggested such a responsibility is outside of the board's purview and could take up too much of its time and energy. That came after more than an hour of public comments about the issue, with parents and other community members expressing both support and opposition for the idea.īoard members Minda Caesar, Chris Gonzalez and Josef Klam voted against what was described as a temporary suspension of the first two parts of the district's book reconsideration process, which involves a review by a committee of staff and community members and potentially upper-level administration upon an appeal. "We've got to do something about them."Īt a time when school districts and public libraries across the Houston area and Texas are having politicized debates about the content of books and other materials, the trustees in Spring Branch discussed the measure for nearly an hour before the split vote. "The point is they're frivolous, they need to go, they're bogging down the system," Earnest said. The move was in response to a request for assistance made by district superintendent Jennifer Blaine, who said during Monday's board meeting that her staff has been consumed with processing 42 book challenges submitted this school year and needs to instead focus on daily instruction and finishing out the 2022-23 academic year.īoard president Chris Earnest described many of the recent challenges as "trivial" and "gamesmanship" designed to distract administrators and bog down district operations, because the complaints are related to innocuous children's books such as "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "The Day the Crayons Quit" and "Peanut Butter & Jelly." The wave of complaints came after the board amended its procedures for book challenges. The Spring Branch ISD board, which serves about 35,000 students in West Houston, voted 4-3 to suspend Levels 1 and 2 of its book reconsideration process and have 14 pending challenges reviewed by the trustees themselves. But in sports, anything can happen.Davis Land Pictured are bookshelves at a school library.Įlected trustees for a Houston school district voted Monday to directly handle more than a dozen pending complaints about the appropriateness of books in its campus libraries – skipping the first two layers of a process that involves professionally trained educators and librarians along with parents of students – in an attempt to alleviate a backlog of book challenges submitted by community members. But he unexpectedly lands a spot on the worst team.Īs Greg and his new teammates start the season, their chances of winning even a single game look slim. Tryouts are a mess, and Greg is sure he won't make the cut. But after his mom urges him to give sports one more chance, he reluctantly agrees to sign up for basketball. In Big Shot, book 16 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series from #1 international bestsetlling author Jeff Kinney, Greg Heffley and sports just don't mix.Īfter a disastrous field day competition at school, Greg decides that when it comes to his athletic career, he's officially retired.
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