by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

The influence of the state legislature weighed heavily on two items on the July 13 Franklin County School Board agenda. Rachel Brown, Franklin County School District Lead Librarian, updated the board on efforts to comply with the Age Appropriate Materials Act amended by the legislature during the course of the past school year. On the policy front, nine district policies were amended to comply with state law, adding language defining “sex.”

“The implementation of the Age Appropriate Materials Act presented challenges for school districts all across the state,” Brown said. “While the law outlines what is prohibited content, it did not provide a definitive list of titles we should be looking at.” Brown and her staff came up with a list by looking at what books were challenged in other school districts and other states. Books determined to require additional evaluation are quarantined, placed in a holding spot until the evaluation is complete. The “quarantine” system came into play during COVID when books in circulation were potential carriers of the virus. Students can check out quarantined books, but are asked why they want the book.

“Most of the books on the list are not in a lot of demand,” Brown acknowledged. She anticipates many of the books on the list will be back in circulation, in some cases moved to a different age bracket, with elementary school books moved to the middle school libraries and middle school books moved to high school libraries. Brown said her staff would complete their evaluation by Aug. 6. The review resulted in a pre-school age picture book, “No, David!,” written and illustrated by David Shannon, being removed for nudity in an illustration of a person viewed from behind. Brown expects additional legislative action related to the Age Appropriate Materials Act, but is uncertain what direction that action will take. “Some say it is too strict and others say it is too broad,” she observed.

“The common denominator is the definition of ‘sex,’” said board Vice-Chair Lance Williams, commenting on a group of amended policies presented for approval. “This is straight from state law.”

The definition added to the policies reads: “Sex shall be defined as the ‘immutable characteristics of the person’s reproductive system that identify the person as male or female, as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.’” In all cases, the policies had a clause with the word “sex,” e.g. “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability” or “race, nationality, origin, color, sex,” in policies ranging from Instructional Programs to Sexual Harassment.

“If we’re only defining sex in that way, what if there is a student who identifies in a way outside of that?” asked board member Sarah Marhevsky. “Is bullying still not allowed because it’s bullying?”

“I don’t think our bullying policy says it’s okay to bully anyone,” Williams stressed.

“Anyone being bullied?” Marhevsky replied.

“It’s anyone being bullied.” Williams insisted.

Board member Sara Liechty abstained from the vote.

The board also approved several other policies. The amended Tobacco-Free School policy replaced all the language in the existing policy. The Franklin County Prevention Coalition pushed for the change and urged a comparison to other districts’ policies. “This is a result of our policy not being very strong, and trying to get it stronger,” said Director of Human Resources Jenny Crabtree.

The amended Emergency Allergy Response Plan policy requires “Each school shall maintain epinephrine, either as auto-injectors, nasal sprays, or other forms.”

According to Coordinated School Health Coordinator/Safety Director Chris Hawkersmith, each school will receive two epi pens annually at no cost to the district. Marhevsky asked if the pens “would only be used on students who had a prescription?” “It would be for an emergency if someone got stung by a wasp or had an allergic reaction and their throat was closing,” Williams said. “It would be administered by the nurse.”

All Franklin County school board seats in odd numbered districts are up for election Aug. 6. Sandy Schultz is running unopposed for re-election in District 1; Dave Van Buskirk is running unopposed in District 3 to take the place of Vice-Chair Lance Williams; Sarah Marhevsky, current board member, and Matt Hughes are running for the District 5 seat. Caycee Roberts, current board member, and Ashley Bowers are running for the District 7 seat.