BRAINERD — Members of a Brainerd School District committee are reading a fantasy novel about a teenage assassin ahead of a September meeting to determine its fate in the school library.
The ad hoc committee met Friday, Aug. 18, for the first time to learn more about its objective: reviewing a book some parents believe should have no place in a school library. Community members in support of the challenge said they’re appalled at certain excerpts from Empire of Storms, charging that the sexual scenes depicted are too graphic for young readers.
“The excerpts from the material, which were read aloud in the previous meetings, were not only explicit ... with one minor guiding sexual interest,” said Sherry Solstad during the Brainerd School Board’s August meeting. “Exposure to this type of material may easily promote abuse and exploitation.”
The complaint by Shirley Yeager, a retired school librarian, charges the book is available in the Forestview Middle School, but the Brainerd Dispatch reportedEmpire of Stormswas only available in the Brainerd High School Library. Still, the challenge remains to remove the title from all Brainerd school libraries.
"I think these books are attempting to normalize what I would call rough sex, possibly abusive sex. I personally do not believe children should think drawing blood on your partner is a normal part of sexual intercourse. The author of these books, Sarah J. Maas, has at least 11 different titles in the Forestview Library,” said Yeager at the Brainerd School Board’s July meeting.
Empire of Storms is rated for ages 14 and up by the Children’s Book Review, but Maas’ titles have been challenged before. The American Library Association placed A Court of Mist and Fury at No. 10 on the most-challenged books of 2022 list.
Other challenges have surfaced for materials at the Brainerd School District since a July vote to uphold the district’s current book review policy. At issue was the extensive process commencing with each individual challenge. The process for challenging materials includes a discussion with a school building director and an ad hoc committee review process with two meetings before the challenged material comes before the School Board.
Policy 606 sets the parameters of challenging material within the district, both curriculum materials and what is available at a school library. Permission slips are required for younger readers to access mature content at Forestview Middle School. The Minnesota School Board Association generally writes all policies for school boards across the state, which are then adopted into individual districts.
The MSBA is reportedly working on a new set of policies that would separate the process for challenging curriculum materials and challenging library materials.
Kevin Boyles, Brainerd School Board chair, said the board were expected to discuss whether to wait for the association’s guidance or proceed with drafting its own policy, during a board retreat and work session Friday, Aug. 25.
“There’s pros and cons to either way,” Boyles said during a phone interview Tuesday, Aug. 22. “Either we wait for the new materials, or create our own policy, which may have to change again with guidance from the state.”
Community members brought Empire of Storms and other titles believed available at the Forestview Middle School to the board’s attention in June, with a lengthy public comment period during the July board meeting.
"This is not because of books. This is not because of masks. There are a whole bunch of different factors that are playing into it."Kevin Boyles
“I frankly believe this topic is a complete waste of your time. There is already a process in place to keep mature books out of kids' hands,” said Jessica Malady, a parent of Brainerd School students and a former teacher.
“Honestly, if our true motivation here was caring about our children, then we would be focusing on the approximately 50 percent of our kids in this district that are not proficient in reading. They can't read the mature books,” she said at the July meeting.
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Hot topics and declining enrollment
Across the country, school districts have felt the pinch of the post-pandemic education landscape. School districts receive per-pupil funding from the state and the federal governments, and as enrollment has been on the decline, districts like Brainerd grapple with why.
Some Brainerd community members and Brainerd School Board directors argue the access to mature content in libraries may be part of the reason.
“In community forums that were held in public, the public input was on how to stop what I would call hemorrhaging of students from the district," said Doug Kern, whose wife Sue Kern served on the School Board 2013-21. “This is one of the reasons, when you have things like this, where parents are looking at what's in the school, they want to yank their kids out. They want to homeschool. They want to go to a private school.”
Kern brought a large pail of rocks to demonstrate why he believed students were leaving the district during the next public comment period in August.
In the 2022-23 school year, public schools in Minnesota saw a 0.3% decrease in enrollment since 2021-22, while charter schools had nearly a 2% bump in enrollment and private schools saw a 3.4% increase. Homeschooling declined by 5% compared to the previous year.
"Enrollment nationally in public schools has been declining for well over a decade, it's everywhere and you want to know the leading group that's currently homeschooling kids accelerating over what they were doing before the pandemic? African Americans,” said Boyles during the July discussion on Policy 606.
“Which really isn't an issue for us here in the Brainerd lakes area, but they're outpacing every other group homeschooling their kids and pulling them out of public education. There's a whole bunch of different reasons for it, and you can pick the one you like the best or whatever. This is not because of books. This is not because of masks. There are a whole bunch of different factors that are playing into it.”
Statewide, reading proficiency of Minnesota students declined by nearly 10% since 2019, with Brainerd Public Schools down from 67.9% of students meeting standards in 2019 to 55.7% in 2023.
“There's a number of issues that we need to look at in order to retain ... our students and make sure they stay within our district,” said Board Director John Ward. “When we aren't working together to build our system up, then we're tearing it down."
The ad hoc committee tasked with reviewing Empire of Storms, comprised of school district staff, members of the community and a Brainerd High School student, will meet again Sept. 18.
